Building Wealth

As a science graduate, I’m always impressed by the beauty of nature…

Definition

According to a well known dictionary, wealth is

• a large amount of money or valuable possessions that someone has

Background

We live in a society where everyone copy something from each other. Through the years, humanity evolved from producer to consumer. We know that we won’t die in the middle of the city because of a dinosaur or a lion attack on us. This has pros and cons, of course. While you can use your power to think, and assess situations critically today, this wasn’t really possible in the past. I was reading science magazines, solving the published questions to win the prize (did 2 times), posting questions to be answered in the next release of magazine (happened a few times). The questions are answered by the university professors. One of the question I asked when I was 15.

• What happens if we switch on the lights of a car when we are traveling at the speed of light?

The answer is, light has no mass. Therefore, an object which has mass cannot exceed or reach the speed of light.

I question everything, even their definitions, since my childhood. That’s why I decided to study a science degree. The norms defined by some people are not always accurate, nor true, like in the above example of wealth. I prefer defining things with my own experiences or with my own world-view, not someone else. Sometimes even people ask my political view whether I’m supporting liberals or opposite. The answer is, I don’t have one. I analyze every case separately instead of following an ideology. Then ask myself

• Is it good for me?
• Is it good for the society?
• Is it good for the world?

I can take the advantage when it’s good for me, but we cannot ignore the world outside!

Wealth

Such a nice wording, we all learned that wealth is about money, making more money, taking a bath in a bath-tub with full of milk. Today I’ll share the definition of wealth I believe in. Especially today, the generation I’m in focused on stock market to build wealth there. This is not wrong, stocks are still a favorable option. Real estate? It’s another good option. You know that your money doesn’t lose value against inflation, and generates some amount of money from rent, or no more rental cost. Bonds? They bring fixed income for a time period. If you are good at analyzing the situation on the world, and see a good percentage, it might be a good option. It’s often traded by corporates or government. Unfortunately, this is what we are exposed to when it comes to wealth. Financial assets are good to keep your life at a stable level for your entire life. By itself, financial assets cannot define the wealth.

Productivity

To be able to reach financial freedom, you need a good mindset, environment, and health. Your mindset either encourages you or blocks you from the next challenges. As I said, humanity evolved into a consumer role. You need to be back into producer role. I often see my generation like spending time at different cafés, bars. I’m not against having fun, chilling or enjoying time together. The key is to know the limits, and balance. If you live like tomorrow doesn’t exist, you will end up in bankruptcy. Therefore, after a good mindset, you also need a good environment. People around you, should take you higher, not lower. I follow what Charlie Munger suggested here. Meet people, and be quick to decide whom to take in your life or keep at out. Losers are losers, they have no intention to be a winner. So, if you start hanging out with them, they will take you to their league, then you will say goodbye to Champions League. After mindset and environment, you need to protect your health, and stay healthy. Don’t skip routine check-ups, understand the help signs of your body, react to them. You don’t need to be a wrestler, but make your body strong, know the limits of how much workout need to do, neither 0 nor 30 hours every week. Life is a marathon, not a 100meter sprint. If you set up foundations good, you’ll reach financial freedom.

Education

When it comes to wealth, there are more to add in this equation. I can’t tolerate stupidity today. Older people had no access to whatever we have today. It’s simply unacceptable to live like a stupid within the era of knowledge wealth. One must know the difference between books and excellent books. I wasn’t an avid reader, and still not. I find it difficult to find those excellent books. Reviews on Amazon from ordinary people who like giving 5 star to everything is not really helpful. Excellent books inspire you, force you to read the paragraph twice, you can’t read those books like a novel. If you are open to suggestions, here I have 3 for you.

• The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli
• Good Strategy/Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt
• Inspired by Marty Cagan

There are several more books on my Amazon list, I add them based on online feedback. When you read an excellent book, you don’t need to read similar 500 others. As long as you read at least 1 book per year, you are progressing more than anyone. Most of your colleagues don’t even read one. Beside books, the next step is to take some courses. Since I started to work, I am not able to invest in myself anymore. Because organizations have so much troubles, and I spend most of my time to solve the shitty problems. If I have time and chance to make myself better, first I look at these options

• https://www.edx.org/
• https://www.coursera.org/
• https://www.oreilly.com/online-learning/pricing.html
• https://www.linkedin.com/learning/

Beside books and courses, the last thing in education bucket is to have experiences. Be the interesting guy, who has practical experiences on many things, not the guy who has theoretical knowledge, but never applied anywhere. Practical experiences make you someone better. What we see today in this post is a good example. What you think true is not true until you apply it, and learn from it. Building wealth is more complex than you see. In the end, your income is nothing more than the market value of your skill set.

Relationships

Life is a journey, we live and work with other people, as we cannot achieve everything alone. This fundamental truth must be taken into account if someone is interested in building a wealthy future. Networking gains importance. But what does networking mean? For me, having an option to consult, collaborate whenever we need each other. People live different lives in different leagues. Decide where do you want to live, and in which league. Is it Bundesliga 2nd league? Is it Bundesliga? Is it Champions League? Based on your preferences, be the guy who can play in that league, then you will be able to find those people, and they will be welcoming to take you that league and further. After all, the final one is reputation. One must develop a good reputation. But how to develop a good reputation? Be consistent, be predictable. Let others learn your mental models, and personality. Because trust is the most rewarding soft skill of today. We can’t think of a future without it, it’s an absolute must-have in every relationship. We all have that at least one person to work with anytime, anywhere, be that person. Mentally poor people start competing when they see someone smarter than them. Don’t fight, work together!

Conclusion

Now we all know that wealth is not just about money. It’s more complicated. When one of those above is missing, you will remember that money doesn’t bring happiness. Look at one of the brilliant person of our times, Steve Jobs. He had access to everything, but not health. He died at the age of 56.

Those people who play in Champions League desperately looking for someone to trust, and collaborate. People very rarely leave their comfort zone to push for something better. If you live a modest life, and don’t have interest to push any forward, it’s also an option. But remember the questions.

• Is it good for me?
• Is it good for society?
• Is it good for the world?

Never stuck at first question. Maybe living a modest life is good for you, but not good enough for the society. Don’t ignore the outside of your world. I’ll end the article with a quote from Oscar Wilde, he wrote in his book: De Profundis, and it's my WhatsApp status for probably 8–10 years.

Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.

Meanwhile, I’m looking for an answer to

“Whom to spend wealth with?”