Wealth versus Money

Wealth versus Money

There is a difference between money and wealth! Money is one of the rewards for creating value for someone, usually one person or one company. Most of us have to do what we don’t want to do or what don’t enjoy doing to get it, and it is hardly enough to meet our needs! We sometimes defer our dreams and happiness in order to get it, and trade our valuable time (even life) to get it. This is the reason why the word ‘money’ has such a negative connotation, even at church. Most of us would rather avoid talking about money lest we get depressed or our mood change for the worse. True? For example, can you tell right now exactly how many much you owe and how much is you net worth, even if negative?

Clearly focusing on money, especially when we (think we) don’t have enough of it and sacrificing so much to get it, is barely a good idea! Remember also that, money loses value everyday and statistically it losses half of its value in about 14 years, thanks to inflation and the reserve printing money almost always. So, if you chase after money you would probably have to work harder each year than the previous year to maintain or increase your buying power. The truth is most of those who work for money are getting poorer each day, each month, each year. The $100 you earned in the last quarter cannot buy you today same number and value of things you were able to buy then! Has your salary increased since the last quarter? Maybe not!

Wealth, however, is what you are left with after you lose all your money. It is who you become and not what you have. It is in ideas, skills, knowledge, networks and good health and not in money. It is in the freedom to do what you want, when you want, where money is NOT a factor. Signing that employment contract takes away this freedom from you, right? Wealth is more in the mindset than in money!

Think about someone who wins the lottery and gets millions. The study has shown that almost all lottery winners become broke merely months after collecting their winning! On the other hand, a wealthy individual who loses most of his money is likely to be rich again in just few years, even months, but remains wealthy nonetheless. Am reminded of a well documented true story about a real estate tycoon who became ‘broke’ and rich again in a short space of time! He has an abundance mindset! Period! What about you? The difference between lottery winners and wealthy individuals is what they know about creating wealth, who they know, their network and more importantly, their mindset!

So here are things I think wealthy people do differently from most;
Footnote: Am just going to share only two here and the rest you will have to read about in my up and coming book, a would-be-a-best-seller!

1. They have wealth mindset. That is, they focus on creating wealth and not on money. They don’t work for money but get their money and other people work for them.
2. They add value first. That is, they are concerned about adding value to customers and market BEFORE asking for value. This is my favorite and I advocate it almost always. Your income is directly proportional to the amount of value you add to others. Serve! Have you noticed that most of those who don’t want to serve nor work are poor? Hmmm!

My last words: It is better to focus on creating wealth and adding value instead of chasing after and working for money. Money is just a byproduct. If you want to be wealthy, don’t do what poor people do! Discard poverty mindset! Discard scarcity mindset!