Wealth is well-being or quality of life. That accounts for your mind, body, and relationships..
Ask HN: What is Wealth?
31–40 of 64 posts
Re: Ask HN: What is Wealth?
#32This might not exactly answer the question, but it points out an interesting distinction between being rich and being wealthy.
Chris Rock on Wealth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m37JkkGjAY
Re: Ask HN: What is Wealth?
#33Wealth = how long you could sustain your current lifestyle (same expenses) if your income stopped, today. EDIT: what I like about this definition is that it is not subjective and doesn't imply any need for comparison. As well, it conveys the idea that time and mobility are the new currencies, which I believe. (the definition I use; read it in a french book by Olivier Seban)
What if you have a cushy job that earns you $100k / year working 4 hour a week? (lifestyle business like Ferris like)
Doesn't help you one bit if you are spending $150k/year and going into debt.
Re: Ask HN: What is Wealth?
#34Why do you want to narrow the definition? What about it isn't working for you? I'm going to guess that you intuitively feel that there is "good" wealth, like a bicycle repair shop, and "bad", like speculating on housing prices. The problem is that, at any given moment, you can't tell between the two -- they're both useful, and both have their places, and in some circumstances both are useless and counterproductive to…
In my book, "bad" wealth (so to speak) would be any scheme for getting "money" (the paper thing, or the number in your bank account) without actually doing anything useful to anyone. For example, selling your shares in a bubble/ponzi company at a high price. Sure, these shares might have been something that someone wanted, but it's a form of fraud. What you earned is what someone else ends up losing, for nothing. I a…
I think we can all agree that fraud does not increase the general amount of wealth. That's why it's illegal.
As for your last paragraph, it sounds like you are in the grip of that "money as debt" video, or worse, the labor theory of value. You should also look at some more mainstream economics before you decide that the whole thing is fraud.
I'm sympathetic to your argument that some financial products are just "hacks", and don't generate value, but just like real hacking, there's another side. Such "hacks" expose weaknesses, inefficiencies, and irrationality. Now, there are some who believe in the efficient market theory, and thus believe that ANY self-interested economic action leads to an increase of information (and thus wealth) for everybody else. That's actually been pretty much empirically disproven, so it's true that there are certain financial "hacks" that are never socially beneficial. However, I would caution you not to conclude that the whole thing is just a drain on society.
Re: Ask HN: What is Wealth?
#35Wealth is the ability of an entity to create change.
Skills you know, your business network, your emotional support network, assets you can exchange.
People with great wealth can affect the world in profoundly positive or negative ways. In other words, wealth is closely tied to the notion of power.
A member of congress who has relatively low networth could have as much financial influence as Bill Gates. While this power is not as liquid or easy to exchange as cash, it is still exchangeable and a store of value.
[ To directly answer the OP: No we should not exclude speculation, everything is speculation to some small degree. Even holding everything in cash is a speculation on that nation's currency. We'd have to use other measures to estimate expected security\longevity, like liquidity of assets. ]
Re: Ask HN: What is Wealth?
#36Wealth is anything and everything that has potential future value.
Making wealth is tapping into that value.
Re: Ask HN: What is Wealth?
#37Health.
Years ago, when my father was very sick, I made a stupid remark like, "Maybe you can get some financial benefit from this." He responded, "I'd trade everything to be healthy again."
Sometimes it takes extremely trying circumstances to really put things into perspective. Ever since that conversation, I have never looked at the subjects of health, wealth, or happiness in the same way.
Re: Ask HN: What is Wealth?
#38It strongly depends on the perspective. I think many people would define "wealth" as not having to go to bed hungry and being able to send kids to school.
Re: Ask HN: What is Wealth?
#39In the new Wall Street movie, Gordon Gecko says the most valuable asset is time.
Re: Ask HN: What is Wealth?
#40I have always seen wealth as a function of time and choice. I would echo the sentiments of thibaut_barrere, reasonattlm, and especially bmelton (as it pertains to time and choice). In other words, I would call myself 'wealthy' if I had the opportunity to do what I want when I want to do it. I think in American society when we think of wealth we think of Wall St Bankers with multimillion dollar penthouses in NY, or we…
> wealth would be 'the ability to follow curiosities and interests, whatever they may be.'
How would you differentiate between the terms wealth, freedom, and happiness (or do you consider them interchangeable)?
I think from those 3, 'wealth' has the heaviest connotation of objective comparability and applicability to organizations in addition to individuals. (ex. a wealthy company or a wealthy country)