Wealth --- What Does It Mean?

I use to believe wealth meant having resources to purchase what I wanted. In short, I fully bought into the consumer culture. The result, I was broke, I lived paycheck to paycheck, and I had nice worthless things. That is no way to live, and definitely not a way to build wealth. The crazy thing is --- I felt wealthy.

At various points from 1999-2009 I owned (paid off) a “96” Dodge Stratus, “99” Cadillac Seville STS, “02” Cadillac Deville DHS, “04” Volkswagon New Beetle, and “04” Mercedes-Benz C230 sport Kompressor. The cars are just half of the story; I financed a lifestyle that made me feel good and entertained, but kept me from truly building wealth financially. In 2005, I began to save money, and manage my finances.  

It took me five years, 2005 to 2010, to become solvent and establish a stable path to financial freedom. In essence, I had a personal lost decade.

From Wikipedia:

Wealth: the abundance of valuable resources or material possessions.

                 

Sociological treatments with regard to wealth:

Social class is not identical to wealth, but the two concepts are related, leading to the combined concept of Socioeconomic status.

Partly as a result of different economic conditions of life, members of different social classes often have different value systems and view the world in different ways. As such, there are different conceptions of social reality, and different aspirations and hopes and fears. The way the various social classes in society view wealth vary and these diverse characteristics are a fundamental dividing line among the classes.

U.S. Classes:

The Upper Class. Upper class values include higher education, generational transfer of wealth, other the wealthiest people, the maintenance of wealth, social networks, and the power that accompanies such networks. Children of the upper class are typically schooled on how to manage this power and channel this privilege in different forms.

The Middle Class. The middle class places a greater emphasis on income. The middle class views wealth as something for emergencies and it is seen as more of a cushion. This class comprises people that were raised with families that typically owned their own home, planned ahead and stressed the importance of education and achievement. They earn a significant amount of income and also have significant amounts of consumption. There is very limited savings and investments beyond retirement pensions and homeownership. They (the middle class) have been socialized to accumulate wealth through structured, institutionalized arrangements. Without this set structure, asset accumulation would likely not occur.

The Lower Class. Those with the least amount of wealth are the poor. Wealth accumulation for this class is to some extent prohibited. Most of the institutions that the poor encounter discourage any accumulation of assets.

Dictionary.com:

wealth

noun

1. a great quantity or store of money, valuable possessions, property, or other riches: the wealth of a city. 

2. an abundance or profusion of anything; plentiful amount: a wealth of imagery. 

3. Economics .

a. all things that have a monetary or exchange value.

b. anything that has utility and is capable of being appropriated or exchanged.

4. rich or valuable contents or produce: the wealth of the soil. 

5. the state of being rich; prosperity; affluence.

In answering the question today, I affirm wealth means having health --- physical and mental, family, friends, and enough resources.

Health. I aim to live a healthy lifestyle (overweight who cares).

Family and friends. I don’t take my family and friends for granted and enjoy the moments we have together.

Resources. I enjoy the fruits of my labor but within my means based on my reality, not that of expectations set by others.

I was born into the “lower class” where the consumer culture discourages the accumulation of wealth and strongly encourages us who can least afford it to keep up with the Combs’. I earned my way into the “middle class” and increased my consumption accordingly, bought a house, and significantly increased my contributions to my retirement plan. In short, I had bought into the institutional arrangements established for the middle class.

Don’t be defined by class.

I consider myself wealthy, but I am not under any illusions about my net worth. I am not Oprah wealthy, and that isn’t my goal, if I somehow became so, great, but it’s not a level of financial wealth I am aiming for. I am wealthy because I do have my health --- physical and mental --- and I have an opportunity to maintain it. I am wealthy because I have a great family and great friends. I have resources to live a modest life compared to that of Oprah, and an extravagant life compared to that of the homeless, but I am wealthy because I have the resources to live a respectable life based on my value system.

The definition of wealth is open to interpretation; a monetary value is not used to define wealth. There is someone in the U.S. that makes $1 million and spends $1 million, basically they are paycheck to paycheck and one paycheck away from being broke. Athletes are not the only individuals that earn significant sums of money then end up broke when their career is over.

Are you wealthy?

What does wealth mean to you?