I’ll dispense with any rich vs. happy comments and focus on the question – what is the definition of rich?

To me, being rich is all about having the freedom and control over your life to do the things you want to do, no matter what that is.

I don’t think about being rich in terms of what you own or posess. It is what you can DO that counts.

Can you surf all day every day and eat lobster for dinner whenever you want? Then you are rich.

Can you fly anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice? Then you are rich.

I’m not saying those specific things make you rich, but can you do whatever you want whenever you want? That’s the question.

Possessing nice things doesn’t make you rich, but it can be an indicator that you might be rich. But, people with nice things that don’t have freedom and control over their lives to do what they want to do are not rich at all. Either they are in debt and will eventually have to pay it back, or they have to spend time working to keep up with their lifestyle.

Of course, cash helps in this regard. If you have lots of cash and you can survive off the interest, that is the first step towards being rich because it frees you from doing things that you have to do to earn money in order to eat.

That is the first step, and from there it is just a matter of degrees – what you eat, how physically comfortable you are, how relaxed you are, how expensive are the activities you do, etc.

If I could spend all day in my shop building stupid shit every day, I would consider myself as rich as I ever wanted to be, as long as I could hop on a plane whenever I wanted to see friends in other cities.