What is true wealth? It’s not just about having more money. The podcast explores how understanding one’s needs and desires can redefine our approach to wealth. Rather than constantly chasing excess, the focus shifts to appreciating what we already possess. Insights from Seneca highlight the dangers of craving more, while Stoic philosophy encourages reflection on personal definitions of abundance. Ultimately, achieving contentment may involve subtracting desires instead of adding more to our lives.
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insights INSIGHT
Redefining Wealth
True wealth involves aligning your assets with your wants and needs.
Redefining "rich" can be more effective than increasing your bank balance.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Path to Wealth
Examine your definition of wealth and assess if you already possess more than you realize.
Consider if decreasing your desires is a more attainable path to wealth than increasing your earnings.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Seneca's Example
Seneca, despite being wealthy, was drawn to Nero's service for financial gain.
This highlights the human tendency to constantly seek more, even when already affluent.
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What is wealth? It’s having plenty, right? The variables in the equation are pretty simple. What you have, what you’ve got coming in, and what’s going out. If those are in proper proportion to each other, you’re covered. Except what we tend to miss in this equation is another set of hidden variables that most often take the shape of our relative needs and wants.
Most people accumulate their wealth by earning as much as they can. That’s why they work so hard. Why they take so many risks. Why they invest. But the reason they do this is not to be covered—it’s because they have told themselves that what they need is more, more, more, and that what they have already is not enough.
Seneca, himself a very rich man, did that. The astounding financial benefits of working for Nero had to be partly what attracted him to the tyrant’s service. If only he could have listened to his own advice (which he borrowed from Epicurus): “If you wish to make Pythocles rich, do not add to his store of money, but subtract from his desires.”
The Stoics would say that for a virtuous person, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to be wealthy. It can provide comfort, security and, quite possibly, a platform to do good for the world. They would just urge you to take a minute to think about what your definition of wealth is—and whether you might already have everything you’ve always wanted.
There’s more than one way to solve this tricky wealth equation, and in your case it may just be that subtraction is easier than multiplication. That changing your understanding of what it means to be rich might be more important, and easier, than changing the number of digits to the left of the decimal point in your bank balance.
The Daily Stoic