There are 5 types of wealth
Financial (Money)
Social (Relationships)
Physical (Health)
Mental (Mindfulness/Wisdom)
Time (Freedom)
Most people focus on financial wealth and forget about the other types of wealth to their own detriment.
Financial
If you hear about being “wealthy,” this is almost always what people are referring to.
Financial wealth is money or financial assets that someone has. True financial wealth is less about how much someone spends, but more about how much they keep.
Net Worth (wealth) = Assets - Liabilities
For those with a competitive streak, net worth offers a simple scoreboard.
“Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness”
The above statement is true to an extent.
A few research studies have looked at the correlation between time and happiness. In general, once a person earns $75k/year they’ve hit the "emotional well-being” threshold.
Once above this threshold, incremental financial wealth grows much slower (or declines) than incremental happiness.
Financial wealth is often at the forefront of our minds and we often forget about the other important types of wealth…
Social
Social wealth is about relationships with others meeting social and emotional needs. This can be through friends, family, coworkers, mentors, pets, etc.
Socially there are 2 parts that matter - (1) The ability to meet current needs (2) Confidence into the future to meet those needs. A.k.a trust and dependability.
In general with social wealth - the more you give, the more you receive.
The greater the social wealth, the more confident and secure you feel about meeting emotional needs today and into the future (e.g. times of emotional hardship).
Physical
Physical wealth = Health, fitness, and energy.
Physically being able to operate in the world is often an overlooked and a bedrock type of wealth. Physical health can be like a hand of cards… sometimes they are great, sometimes they are poor.
Physical health is built through the long-term compounding of daily actions. There are 3 broad buckets:
Daily movement (Exercise)
Fuel (Nutrition)
Recovery (Sleep)
Health is wealth. Without physical wealth, the other types of wealth just don’t matter.
Mental
Mental wealth is about mental health, mental fitness, and an ability to wrestle with the tangible and intangibles in life.
Much of mental wealth comes back to mindfulness, wisdom, and spirituality (formal or informal). Talking/writing to others, asking for help, learning, and taking care of the other types of wealth play into working your brain and improving mental health.
Mental wealth also covers an ability to wrestle with the intangible or unanswerable in life. Generally achieved through emotional control and ability to focus on the next most important thing. Focus on breathing does wonders here.
Time
Time wealth is about the freedom to choose:
How to spend your time
Who to spend it with
Where to spend it
When to trade it for other types of wealth
Time wealth is also about an appreciation for the precious nature of time—of its value and importance.
Summary
To summarize, there are 5 types of wealth:
The pursuit of financial wealth can rob you of others. Don't let that happen.
End