I think many of us evaluate our lives and richness based upon what we’ll have in tomorrow’s terms or very much forward looking. Or how much money we have in relation to what we are able to do with it. If you are in your 30s and have 100s of thousands in the bank, your health and the time to spend it, and you don’t evalute life expectancy, then are you rich?
Its a challenge to balance delayed gratification with saving and retirement but I think many of us “savers” probably spend more energy worrying about the future rather than the today.
Having known people at their prime of their lives who died unexpectedly, I learned early on that life is fleeting yet I too forget to embrace today and spend too much energy on my future. Some people call this being driven or goal oriented. Does it all matter though if I learn today that I have cancer and have 3 months to live?
So the definition of “richness” is indeed completely relative to each person’s individual experiences and life situation. I agree with the folks who mention developing countries. We are incredibly rich compared to most of the world.
You are only rich if you think you are. I think its pointless to try to judge how rich you are relative to others monetarily. You can’t put a dollar figure on it. “Doing what you want and buying what you want” is really relative. To some its enough to fly first class but as someone else mentioned, others want their own jet. How big of a jet? There will always be someone richer unless you’re the richest person in the world. If you have billions of dollars, but are no longer mobile and don’t have your health, are you rich if you really can’t enjoy your money? If you have billions but work 100 hours a week, leaving no time to “enjoy” your money, are you rich? Does it matter if you have no loved ones and no one to share you life experiences with?
