Wealth is what you don't see

Money has many ironies. Here’s an important one: Wealth is what you don’t see.

We tend to judge wealth by what we see, because that’s the information we have in front of us. We can’t see people’s bank accounts or brokerage statements. So we rely on outward appearances to gauge financial success. Cars, homes, instagram photos.

Wealth is the nice cars not purchased. The diamonds not bought. The watches not worn. Wealth is financial assets that haven’t yet converted into stuff that you see.

That’s not how we think about wealth, because you can’t contextualise what you can’t see.

When most people say they want to be millionaire, what they might actually mean is I’d like to spent a million dollars. And that is literally opposite of being a millionaire.

 

The Desire

 

Some also call it greed. It's perfectly normal to desire something better, prettier, more fun, or exciting. People also work for money because of desire. They desire money for the joy they think it can buy. But the joy that money brings is often short-lived, and they soon need more money for more joy, more pleasure, more comfort, and more security. So they keep working, thinking money will soothe their souls that are troubled by fear and desire. But money can't do that.

The reason many rich people are rich isn't because of desire, but because of fear. They believe that money can eliminate the fear of being poor, so they gather tons of it, only to find the fear gets worse. Now they fear losing money. They are terrified of losing it all. The fears that drove them to rich got worse. That weak and needy part of their soul is actually screaming louder. They don't want to lose the big houses, the cars and the high life money has bought them. They worry about what their friends would say if they lost all their money. Many are emotionally desperate and unstable, although they look rich and have more money.

The Fear

People feel fear so they go to work, hoping that money will soothe the fear, but it doesn’t. It continues to haunt them and they continue to work, hoping again that money will calm their fears, and it doesn’t. Fear keeps them in trap of working, earning money, working, earning money, hoping the fear will go away. But every day they get up, and that old fear wakes up with them. For millions of people that old fear keeps them awake all night, causing a night of worry. So they get up and go to work, hoping that a pay check will kill that fear biting their soul. Money is running in their lives, and people refuse to tell the truth about that. Money is in control of their emotions and their souls.