What is wealth?

[adrianh]

For instant in Africa some people don't have all the money and materials wealth that most of the people in the West have, but these Africans are happier and the family values stay inact.

Good one...No, contrary to what you might believe, when then dance, chant, break and burn stuff it is not because they are happy.

[Just Gone]

Almost as unhappy as the families of the people that are killed in a cinema at a Batman movie !

[Blurock]

@wealth2012, although your perception of Africa may be wrong, the basis of your comment is similar to Maslow's hierarchy of needs which is portrayed as a pyramid.

The theory is that only once a lower level of need has been fully met, would a person be motivated by the opportunity of having the next need up in the hierarchy satisfied. For example a person who is dying of hunger will be motivated to achieve a basic wage in order to buy food before worrying about having a secure job or the respect of others.

Poor people would therefore be more content in having their basic needs met, than to strive for unattainable goals. Likewise, a person who grew up with dirt roads may be content with a tarred road full of pot holes. However, people are motivated in different ways and may have different aspirations based on their own value systems.

[Just Gone]

This "american" reminds me of a group that I overheard a while ago at Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton - one guy was telling the rest of the group in his american slang that the Square and almost everything around the Square was built especially for the 2010 World Cup !!!! And then continued to talk more crap and said that it was basically "wild" before this was built !! I mean WTF !!!

I have also encountered them overseas travelling - they always seem to know it all ............ let me rephrase that - they always seem to think they know it all and then tell other people the biggest load of crap out there !!

So back to "wealth" - wealth is certainly not knowing it all, lots of money, having all the materialistic items money can buy and then seriously lacking in the good ole brain capacity !! so if "most of the people in the west" have wealth ............. then they are welcome to it !

[tec0]

In retrospect our perspective of what wealth is hasn’t really changed at all. The basics remain the same, wealth is excess in every aspect of the word. I remember watching a TV show where they showed off the homes of the supper-elite.

The second truth about human nature is “the more you have the more you want” and considering the toilets made out of gold makes for a good argument.

I personally would love to make my fortune while I can still enjoy it. If you are rich and old then you can end up like that dude with the bunny brand Or end up with your young wife walking away after she accidentally cut your oxygen tube...

Thus in my opinion wealth is how you spend your time. Yes I too would love a supper car ten houses and a private-club. Seeing the world and all those material dreams we have realised. But truth is all of us are on borrowed time...

It is a fact of life.

[adrianh]

So here is a question: would you consider a Tibetan monk living a chosen life of poverty to be wealthy?

[Just Gone]

No - I would not, but what I am saying is monetary wealth does not always bring happiness as much as we all work to it and aspire to it or being comfortable - be that whatever it might be in your personal view.

[adrianh]

In my opinion happiness, contentment and wealth are not directly related.

I am not wealthy or happy but I am content. I am content because I know that I am doing the best that I can under the circumstance. I am not particularly happy becuase I am not yet satisfied with my lifestyle. I am not wealthy because I have to count my pennies.

So, if we are speaking about pure wealth then no, the monk is not wealthy, if we are speaking about contentment then the monk is content and I cannot say whether he is happy or sad.

I want lots and lots of wealth. The object of the game is not to have money, the object is to have freedom, wealth buys freedom. The freedom to do the things that make me happy.

[Just Gone]

Yes sure - if you look at it that way. But if you are poor you certainly wont be happy, and if you are wealthy you could also not be happy.

[adrianh]

One can be poor and happy. Religion teaches exactly that. I think the problem is that we tend to measure happiness and wealth via social standing.

Some might feel poor if they had to drive a secondhand car (living in Sandton surrounded by new Merc's and BMs) and some feel wealthy if the have donkey cart (living in a tiny little fishing villiage)

If I look at the people in my life then I am wealthy in certain ways and poor in others. I think the trick is to find your own measure and forget about comparing yourself to others. If I compare myself to my Zimbabwean employees then I am fabulously wealthy (I am paying off a house every month and I own a beat up car) but on the other hand if I compare myself to my banker brother then I am dirt poor (I don't have a couple of million rand in reserve for a rainy day)

The flaw does not lie in whether one has material wealth or not, the flaw lies in how we attach value to that wealth. Is a Blackberry phone valuable and to be treasured, maybe not to me or you but to my daughter it is the most valuable thing in her life...

[Blurock]

The original post was about the fed up rich guy wanting to start over. Money and status does not guarantee happiness. If your personality is built on the Gucci suit, BMW and house in Sandton, you will lose everything, including your identity when the sh!# hits the fan.

You are a unique person. There is only one of you. So why do you want to imitate someone else? Just be yourself. Play the cards that you have been dealt and try to leave this planet in a better state than you have found it. Hard call, but worth the try!

[Just Gone]

When I mentioned poor - I was not talking about the "average" person that has less than the wealthy wealthy - I am talking about the real poor people - the people that do not have home, the orphans that have been left with nothing and perhaps dont have any sort of guidance to try to make a go of it - those are the poor people I am talking about - You certainly cannot be happy having to beg for your next meal ! So therefore you cannot always be poor and happy !

[adrianh]

You can be poor and happy. If you are a person living in Zambia out in the middle of nowhere and all you know is your subsistance farming life then you can be happy.

The problem is that we measure the state of being poor through our own value system. Being happy is not a function of wealth. One can be happy under any circumstance because being happy is a state of mind whereas being poor is a measure of wealth.

Maybe I just see the world differently to other people....

[Blurock]

Lord, please help my neighbours to stop buying the things I can not afford...

[Just Gone]

And that is also not what I was talking about adrian and I think you know that but - Yep you do see things different.