What is Wealth?

Money, or what money does, and wealth are often considered one and the same.
If you have a lot of money, people consider you wealthy. If you own many things and assets bought with money, people again consider you wealthy.
I don’t think this is appropriate. If you have a lot of money or assets bought with money, you can at best be called rich in money or assets, but not necessarily wealthy.

From Adam Smith to Karl Marx, many thinkers have struggled with the definition of wealth.
They considered wealth as the product of labour. For them, land and labour worked together to produce wealth. Wealth, in their view, was something tangible and physical.

But it seems wealth is not necessarily tangible. It can be defined in two ways:

How wealthy you are depends on your level of contentment and your knowledge.
If you are knowledgeable, you have the raw materials to create money and to fund your contentment. The only factors that matter are your willingness to apply yourself and the play of chance. Not all wealthy people seek money or try to become rich.

For rich people to become truly wealthy, they must cultivate contentment and acquire knowledge. Not everyone has the capacity or willingness to do so.

What I am trying to say is that wealth and money are not the same.
In India, we have the concept of the Goddess of Knowledge (Saraswati) and the Goddess of Riches (Lakshmi). Have you seen some of Ravi Varma’s paintings?

Saraswati is often depicted as a beautiful lady in a simple white sari, sitting on a hard rock, lost in contemplation. Lakshmi, on the other hand, is shown balancing on a lotus, clad in a bright red sari, surrounded by activity, with elephants trying to garland her. Riches require continuous servicing, watchfulness, and care. If you are rich, beware: unless you balance well, you may fall!

Whether you are wealthy or not, money is still crucial for subsistence and independent existence.If you are rich, money requires constant attention and management. This makes it necessary for everyone to learn and understand money, its properties, and some basic money-management skills.

Everything, in the end, boils down to one simple but profound fact: Knowledge is Wealth.

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