"Wealth - is it just a state of mind?" Article by Steve Marsten

I came across an interesting scenario recently and I will change the names to protect the innocent. I was having a coffee with a good mate who I hadn't touched base with for a while. Let's call him Tony. With the crazy work schedules in Gladstone for certain industries, this is not unusual nowadays. He is a tradesman working for one of the big companies in town. He is happily married with three beautiful children and his wife works part-time.

I have known them for over 25 years. Tony coaches his lad’s soccer team while his daughter attends dance lessons and his other lad has music lessons, so he is often full on with his life. He has a happiness that fills his everyday life and he constantly speaks of the family. They live in a nice home, both Tony and his wife drive good cars and each year they take a holiday out of the city and get away from it all with the kids.

While having our coffee, one of my major clients walked in with a business associate. He saw me and came straight over and shook my hand. I said Allan this is Tony. We shared a short conversation and then he moved down the back of the cafe to have a quiet meeting with his colleague. 

To my surprise, Tony said - "wow - imagine being that guy?" Now Tony's reaction can be understandable when you realize Allan who is a talented businessman, built his business up from scratch. He built 5 businesses actually all performing incredibly. But he worked incredible hours, smoked hard and drank hard to numb the pain and tension along the way. He too has a couple of young children who probably see him for a couple of hours on Sundays. Allan is a wealthy man but he also carries debts that Tony couldn't even fathom and stresses that Tony would never understand.

It dawned on me while listening to Tony rave about how great a life Allan must lead that, one can have lots of money but still feel poor. I look at Tony who drives a modest car, lives in a modest home filled with love and happiness and who is assessed by his bank as not being wealthy and you realize that: Wealth is not the state of your bank account but the state of your mind!

How do you define “Wealth”?
How do your family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances define “Wealth”?
Have you come across conflicting points of view on this?

At Sothertons, we are committed to supporting you in [Business] + [Life]; if your would like to talk about your definition of wealth, call us on (07) 4972 1300.