What is Wealthy? 🌄

I originally published this article last year on my birthday whilst pondering our individual perceptions of what we consider to be “wealthy.”

It’s a short 4 minute read and I hope you find it insightful.

---

What is Wealthy? 🌄

As I turn 30 today, I’ve been grappling more and more with the question ‘What is wealthy?’. If you ask someone in their early 20s, the answer will most likely be a Lamborghini, a penthouse and other luxury items. This is what brings us happiness, fulfilment and satisfaction, or so we think.

I know this because I was once there myself. You’re at the beginning of your journey in adulthood, you’ve started earning your own money and you’ve been indoctrinated throughout your life through movies and social media to think that success is centered around material possessions and showing other people that you’re successful.

“Look at his/her house, look at his/her car, he/she must be doing well.” 

We endlessly compare what we have with others whilst not fully grasping the role that each of our individual circumstances play in our lives.

Some of us grew up with single parents, others grew up in wealthy families, some of us are the youngest sibling, whilst others have the responsibility of being the eldest. There are a million and one iterations of these circumstances that influence when we can achieve our own preconceived definition of ‘wealth’. 

Personal Experiences

I pondered the title of this article to myself on a recent holiday with the family. What I say next may sound silly to some whilst others may resonate with it. We tend to think our experiences of how the world works is how everyone else sees it.

I have had the great fortune to have travelled widely in the last decade. I’ve been to every continent bar Australasia and South America. Organising most of these trips involved finding the cheapest flight and sticking to a budget. 

When it came to hotels during my travels, my mindset was always one of “this is just somewhere to sleep during the trip.” This doesn’t mean that we always went for the cheapest option, but price was always a consideration to make sure we got value for money. This recent trip away was the first time I booked a hotel where I did not consider or dwell on the price as much as I have throughout my earlier travels.

We walked into the lobby of the hotel at close to midnight local time. Having checked in, I went to grab our luggage knowing that it may take two trips to get all of it up to the 8th floor. To my surprise, the employee at front desk said “It’s okay Sir, we will have your luggage delivered to your room.” 

It took a few seconds for me to register what he had said. Never in my life had I stayed anywhere where I didn’t have to carry my own luggage up to my room. That moment defined my own personal experience of ‘wealthy’.

This interaction allowed me to appreciate and be grateful for everything in my life. To those who may have travelled comfortably with their families from a young age, this may seem a routine experience and their definition of ‘wealthy’ may be levels above this.

Define Your Wealthy

Whatever we want our ‘wealthy’ to be, it’s important to never lose sight of the reasons why. In my early 20s, I wanted the Lamborghini, the penthouse and luxury items just as much as the next person.

Now? Give me a secluded wooden cabin with a hot tub on the shore of a beach or lake with a 1967 Ford Mustang on the drive. Don’t get me wrong, it will still take years of continued hard work and investment to achieve anything close to this.

However, this a totally different mindset compared to when I was younger. One that focuses on peace and control of our time above the material possessions that we buy to signal our wealth to others. Which is a contradiction in itself, because spending money to show people you have money is the quickest way to have less money.

Financial freedom is what we all strive for but it’s just as important to aim for ‘time freedom’. Having the time to do whatever you want, with whoever you want, whenever you want. Focusing on projects that interest you, starting books you’ve wanted to read for years, visiting  the places you’ve dreamt of since childhood, experiencing moments that bring you peace. That is my aim for the next decade.

This aim should not be confused with with never treating yourself. If you have worked hard to achieve success in your job, business, side hustles, then it’s okay to treat yourself, your family and loved ones and give in charity to those less fortunate. But don’t get caught in the trap of being so busy upgrading your lifestyle that you are always taking one step forward and two steps back.

This is why it’s so important to educate yourself on how to manage your money and understand investing so that you can get control of your time sooner rather than later. It requires patience to understand a new topic that you’re unfamiliar with.

Define your ‘wealthy’. Don’t let it be too outrageous. Maybe something that you’ve always wanted to experience but perhaps you’ve thought it’s out of reach. Make a plan of action on how you will get there.

The Bottom Line

The aim of this blog and newsletter is to assist you in achieving financial and time freedom with the right mindset. If you can’t manage £100, you won’t suddenly learn how to manage £10,000. 

Above all else, remember that the greatest form of wealth is freedom.