So you wanna be RICH ??!!??

What does it mean to be Rich?

The Mirriam Webster Dictionary defines being rich as, "having abundant possessions and especially material wealth" For most of us, being rich is about Money and Status.

Money, Money, Money

It certainly doesn't buy happiness, but having very little is a real drag. How much makes you rich? Well, to be in the wealthiest 10% globally, you need to have an individual net wealth of US$138,346. Credit Suisse recently?released its data showing that New Zealanders had the fastest increase?in mean wealth per adult in the world between 2020 and 2021. If you live in a developing country, $30,000 annual income would put you in the top 1%. So my guess is that most people reading this aren't too far off being stinking rich!

Status

This is a bit more difficult to define, but a very old game. On the one hand, there are those who virtue signal by attacking the whole enterprise, saying things like, "Money is the root of all evil and you shouldn't want to be rich." What they are really trying to do is become 'high status' in the eyes of others by preaching that they don't want or need money.

On the other hand, status is a zero-sum game. It's basically about hierarchy in society. We have a ranking system and in order to move up the ladder, you need to knock someone off their rung. This is a concept we inherited from the caveman and is probably best suited to survival.

The status game, no matter which way you play it, is simply about putting others down and elevating yourself. A recent survey by Otago Polytechnic, following the suicide of a young entrepreneur, found, “Many of the comments were very sad, with participants telling us their experience of Tall Poppy caused self-doubt, depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, loss of opportunities, or caused them to leave the country. Tall Poppy affects the well-being of individuals and, by extension, hurts our society and economy.”

So if Money and Status aren't the correct metrics for defining being rich, what are they?

In my view, Wealth is a far better indicator of being rich in this life. Wealth at its base level, is where you have more income than your living costs and you are able to generate that income from assets while you sleep. This buys you freedom, and greater financial independence and greatly enhances your overall well-being.

Wealth, unlike status, is a positive sum game, everyone can be rich! It's not about taking money from someone else, it's about creating abundance for all. All wealth today was created by people as a result of their productivity. There can be no doubt that the average person today is better off than they were a couple hundred years ago.

So, if you want to be rich, wealth creation should be your goal. We get there, not by taking money from others, not by luck (or very few of us anyway), or by wishing it will happen, but rather by creating a strategic plan focused on stacking and scaling through compounded growth one step at a time.

Make the world a better place, create wealth, and live your best life now, because you deserve it!