Wealth is easy to measure but hard to value. It’s hard to measure, and hard to evaluate, and it can be difficult to measure well enough to be worth it. When George Vanderbilt moved into Biltmore – the largest home in America at 178,000 square feet – one newspaper in 1899 wondered what the point was.
Money buys happiness in the same way drugs bring pleasure
It’s incredible if done right, dangerous if used to mask a weakness, and disastrous when no amount is enough
- The highest forms of wealth are measured differently
- Controlling your time and the ability to wake up and say, “I can do whatever I want today”
When money becomes like oxygen: so abundant relative to your needs that you don’t have to think about it despite it being a critical part of your life
CEOs fall into this category
- They have an abundance of wealth and not a moment of free time or scheduling control even when it’s desired
- Charlie Munger
A high form of wealth isn’t necessarily tied to how much money you have
Desiring money beyond what you need to be happy is driven more by expectations than income.
- A person whose expectations relative to income are calibrated so they don’t even have to think about money has a higher form of the wealth than someone with more money who’s constantly thinking about making the numbers work.
