Prosperity, Wealth and Money

Prosperity, wealth and money are not the same, although people often use them interchangeably.

You need to be clear about their meanings, especially if, like many, your vision and goals include these terms.

Two factors in particular distinguish the terms:

1. How you use it (rather than what you have)
2. The role your internal advisers play

Let’s look at the three terms.

Prosperity

Money and wealth often underpin prosperity. However, “prosperity” comes from the Latin word “prospere,” which means fortunate or doing well.

To be prosperous means to be successful, secure, comfortable and free from worries. Purposeful Prosperity arises when you use your wealth to make a difference and generate meaning and purpose alongside security. When used with intent, prosperity combines making a difference for others with meaning in your life.

Prosperity tends to be the remit of your inner counsellor. Whether you consider yourself prosperous is a subjective viewpoint that includes your views on abundance and scarcity. These are psychological rather than technical criteria.

Wealth

You can measure your wealth by the money you have. Your financial worth (net worth when you deduct liabilities from assets) is the usual proxy for your wealth.

However, wealth also includes your values, goals, stories, skills, connections, intellectual property, experience, abilities and more. With good reason, we talk about people having “a wealth of experience” or ” a wealth of knowledge”. These non-financial assets, after all, created your financial worth in the first place if you used them sensibly.

And that’s the point. Your non-financial assets only become “wealth” when you use them, preferably for the benefit of others, not just yourself.

Your all-round wealth is the domain of your inner technician, who will help you manage it and look for new opportunities to improve it.

Money

Money plays a role in everything you do and influences your life and work decisions.

Economists will tell you that money has four uses. It is a:

• Standard medium of exchange and an alternative to bartering
• Unit of comparison, providing an easy way to compare the costs of two items
• Store of value (and hence the connection to wealth)
• Standard of deferred payment for loans and credit

We use money to simplify economic activity, and it is the preserve of your inner accountant.

But it is also the most emotive asset in your life and can give rise to fear, anger, relief and joy. A mature relationship with money is essential for anyone seeking a lifestyle of purposeful prosperity. Therefore, your inner counsellor must work closely with your inner accountant when making money decisions.

The present and the future

So think carefully about what you mean when you say, for instance, that you want to be rich. Do you mean having lots of money or wealth or living a prosperous lifestyle?

You can get clarity by compiling an inventory of your money and life to see your true wealth and set new goals based on these statements.

Purposeful Prosperity

Your Next Steps

Reflection time

Consider and reflect on these questions.

• Do you aspire to more money, wealth, or a prosperous lifestyle?
• What does the inventory of your money and life tell you?
• Yvon Chouinard is my role model for Purposeful Prosperity. Who is yours?

Taking it further

Attributions and references

Photo attribution

Photo by Todd Cravens on Unsplash

Audio link

https://audio.com/jeremy_deedes/audio/prosperity/

Related posts

Poor self-awareness makes good self-sabotage

Why having a purpose to life is important

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I work with ambitious, family-oriented professionals transitioning to independent consultants to create a 3 to 5-year holistic plan so that they grow wealthy, make a difference and find meaning.

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Your views are important, and your fellow readers would love to hear your opinion, so share your thoughts in the comments box below, and thank you for your time and generosity.