With more wealth comes stability, opportunity, peace of mind, and a unique type of security.
What doesn’t come included in the package are healthier relationships, stronger physical or emotional health, a better mindset, or any ounce of love that something shiny is supposed to bring but we all know fades the next day.
Happiness is all internal and requires hard work to cultivate. It doesn’t come easily yet the first step to unlocking true wealth and the emotional potential it can provide is understanding the breakdown of your time, digging into the abundance mindset, and realizing that things don’t happen to you, they happen for you.
Why do so many billionaires get divorced, depressed, become obese, and lonely? We are all more alike than different and at the end of the day, whether you are sitting in your 20-bedroom mansion overlooking the deep sea, you crave the same things someone in a studio apartment living with their 4 siblings needs: love, appreciation, safety, comfort, and acknowledgment.
The top 10%+ can afford to get married, hire lawyers, attorneys, and most evidently, they just have too many choices to choose from. They sabotage themselves by relying on money too heavily to dictate who they receive love from and where their real happiness lies which should always start within instead.
Believing money will bring happiness is not a total fallacy. Clearly, it does in some situations and some purchases evoke a feeling that lasts longer than others, especially memorable in-person experiences. If you’re under the age of 5, you don’t remember most of what happened to you so it probably won’t’ be worth it to travel the world with your kid then but what everyone wants, regardless of age or social status are basics qualities that always come back to all of us.
You know how moderation is key in everything? That couldn’t be more true here, especially with tangible goods. No one will regret not buying that physical item and instead will regret what they took for granted. The basics in life bind us together and the earlier you realize this once you forge your path into your desired lifestyle, you will soon realize you will want the same things you wanted with half of what you now own.
Stealth Wealthy
Now this is a big bold claim to make and most people don’t believe this until they get there. Trust me, everyone at the level you want to be at will confirm this is the case. After all, those who buy things they don’t need with money they really don’t have for people they don’t know aren’t the people at the top and have stayed there.
Millions ride on the hamster wheel following these destructive money habits because they constantly believe this new product will finally bring this result, this person into my life, this reward, etc. Relying too heavily on anything, from your spouse to a new product is never a good idea. That’s what commercials want to make you believe — to evoke a feeling of an ideal future self that will never come true since nothing is ever as good or as bad as it seems.
What we chase isn’t gratification from items or even happiness, we chase deeper feelings about outlives and the world around us to notice what we own yet to be really satisfied with the good life, you won’t impress anyone except yourself.
Real Life
There have been hundreds of thousands of studies conducted over the years by economists, researchers, investors, pyscholgists, and myself over what the ideal annual income is to finally feel financially free and flexible. Now FEELING vs FACT are two separate things. Many investors especially during these bearish times mix them up. You’re better off in life never conflating emotions to decisions. You’ll thank me later.
The only caveat to this figure is that it is based on an annual income disregarding location, family size, debt load, expenses, etc. so take everything with a grain of salt. Finance is relative after all.
Although I disagree based on inflationary times, cost of living these days, and personal circumstances, ~$75k in annual income is the sweet spot where one’s happiness starts to plateau. We all ride the hedonic treadmill and up to a point, we realize too late that the more we try to provide ourselves, the less we receive back.
I believe roughly ~$200k per year living in an urban area is the ideal income to feel financially secure and comfortable but of course, it varies based on your priorities so don’t @ me. It’s always better to have a little more than a little less here.
This annual income suggestion should be based on how much one keeps and reinvests into the markets and in themselves for further earnings potential. No matter if you are the highest earner in the world or don’t pay yourself anything and instead reinvest your retained earnings back into the business, happiness stems from the priceless things you can gain more of, not how much you own or possibly owe. It’s astonishing to know over 40% of six-figure earners live paycheck to paycheck! An inflationary lifestyle is eating them in the tail!
With more money also comes more problems, another hard truth that isn’t understood until you get there.
Funded Priority
In a recent study of 100k people published by Harvard Business Review, results found that people who prioritize time over money have a better quality of life. You could say time = money yet that can be a dangerous recipe when trying to appreicate life to the fullest.
If you only view it in terms of dollars and cents, it will be hard to enjoy life’s pleasures which oftentimes entails doing absolutely nothing at all. Time wasted is not wasted time but when you do need to get something done, do it efficiently and productively in a flow state up to 5 hours for maximum results.
Plus with an abundance mindset, you believe you have just the right amount of time for everything. Although we tend to overestimate what we do in a year and underestimate what we can do in a lifetime, remember that working doesn’t only entail sitting in an office chair anymore.
Working for a W2 paycheck isn’t sustainable nor efficient for our time especially if you are trading time for money or manual labor. If you enjoy it great, but if you want more happiness, you must put that investment into yourself to earn passive income and not trade your time for earnings. Think outside of the box by having new ideas on the go, revolutionize and renovate the way you work and consume so it isn’t cookie cutter.
To provide your family the support they need starts with prioritizing your time allocation and emergency savings breakdown. You don’t need to earn these annual income figures to feel satisfied. Chase priceless memories to feel content with yourself instead. In fact, in this capitalistic society where competition is rampant, living a good life and not being at the top of your field can serve you much better than you can imagine.
To be able to live comfortably entails spending what you need, not only what you want and planning for the worst, hoping for the best so if a surprise hiccup or lethal once in century pandemic hits or something crazy like that, you won’t have to tap into your investments or see your bank account in the red.
This HBS study shows that 79% of us don’t need money for survival. Most of us are just fine, although many could lower their cost of living and not feel the pinch either way. What you prioritize you become since the quality of your mind is your life. The grass isn’t greener on the other side. Trust me. Check out a variety of articles I’ve written about top-earning individuals and you’ll be shocked how miserable many are.
Whether you are tied to achieving a certain net worth or income, everyone wants something they don’t have since they are falsely convinced it is better on the other side. Just like Eric Adam’s NYC distracted safety driver signs, don’t be blindsided by what looks safe.
Life is so much more than a paycheck and you need less than you think to live beautifully. Focus on safety and security through strengthening your health, mindset, relationships, and diversity of income sources to stay afloat and invest in what will build long-term wealth to provide support in the long run, not what looks hot at the moment because it is most likely tumbling right now. Cough Cough Crypto.