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Redefining Wealth

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I googled wealth the other morning and nearly spit out my cereal when I read the definition:

No.

This especially annoys me:

an abundance of valuable possessions or money

At its core. Financial Independence means having enough money to not have to make any more money. Got that? In other words, we worry about/save/invest money when we’re young so we don’t have to think about it later.

Money shouldn’t be the primary goal though. And possessions? Don’t even get me started.

Anyway, in my post today over at InvestmentZen, I redefined wealth. Click over to read my new definition.

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  3. When I was in college I distinctly remember a CFP speaking to my honors club. It was my earliest exposure to the idea of FIRE, and I was astonished by his definition of wealth. He said “Wealth means living below your means. If you live below your means without debt, you are wealthy.”

    It was freakin’ mindblowing at the time, but looking back on it, he made so much sense. At the time I thought what he was saying was IMPOSSIBLE since I grew up believing debt was the norm.
    Mrs. Picky Pincher recently posted…How A $7 Planner Saves Me Thousands Every YearMy Profile

  4. Its almost asking, What would make you happy, if 30k a year would make you happy, then you are wealthy. I look at wealth more as a gauge of how happy you are with your life and how much you enjoy it and not the size of the bank account.
    Dividends 4 Future recently posted…Mid-January 2017 UpdateMy Profile

  6. My favorite part of that definition is, “he used his wealth to bribe officials.”

    That’s the best example they could come up with. Wealth means having enough money to bribe officials.

    Wow!

  7. I’d probably agree with the official definition. Wealth would be I have a decent amount of money(more than average), If I’m considered wealthy, it’s synonymous with rich. Rich to me would be I don’t have to work or worry about money.
    The funny thing is the gray area where you have people who have lots of people who have millions but can’t afford to retire and at the same time you also have people with less than a million who can afford to retire. And the gray area of people considered rich who still need to work and people not considered rich but do not have to work.

  8. We couldn’t agree more! Money is simply a tool we need to obtain in order to achieve our goal of reaching financial independence. In our view money=freedom, not “material possessions” as it states in the definition. We believe the true measure of wealth is in the life we’ve built (family, friends, home etc).

  10. You knocked it out of the park with this liberating post. A friend remarked after seeing my series on DGI vs Indexing series, this is splitting hairs while most of America is trying to grow a single hair follicle on their (financially) bald head. I’ll let you figure that one out. ?

    Posts like these are important reminders on why “FI is mandatory, RE is optional” as I often say. Expose your CSU college students to some articles in our PF community and you’ll be doing them a great service. Far better ROI for the college kids than seeing some more cat videos on You Tube.
    Ten Factorial Rocks recently posted…Dividend Investing vs. Indexing – Part 3My Profile