Wealth can be defined as having your passive/portfolio income exceeding your monthly expenses. What this does for you is give you the freedom to choose what to do with your life. Work, sail, give it away, … Passive/portfolio income also can support you in retirement assuming that you have invested well for cash flow. Defined benefit programs are not reliable and 401K’s in the stock market can implode as well (enron anyone?) as you do not have control over the perfomance of the company.A lack of education in the basics of how our country’s financial system works is one reason there are so many seemingly insightful answers to this question. I’m not trying to criticize, believe me.It has taken me a number of years to educate myself to where I am now, which still has a long way to go to achieve financial independance. Something easier in this country than in almost any other country on earth.
