30 Modern-Day Signs Of Wealth That Will Most Likely Become Obsolete

Just because you earn a lot doesn’t mean that you’re automatically stress-free. Financial stress can affect you no matter your salary.

CNN reported on the findings of a recent survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, and the results were shocking. 30.8% of American consumers earning between $100,000 and $149,999 a year were worried about making ends meet in the next six months.

Meanwhile, 32.5% of Americans earning $150,000 or more are also worried about paying their bills. On the flip side, somewhat ironically, only 23% of respondents earning between $70,000 and $99,999 per year have the same worries.

Personal finance expert Dogen explained to Bored Panda that there are four types of wealth: financial, time, social, and health. "We often focus too much on financial wealth, neglecting the other crucial forms of wealth. Despite huge medical and technological advancements over the past century improving our quality of life, we need to balance our pursuit of financial wealth with attention to our health, social connections, and freedom," the founder of 'Financial Samurai' told us in an email.

"Once we have enough money to cover our basic needs, we should be intentional about improving our health, nurturing our social life, and gaining more freedom. There’s no point in having money if we have nobody to share it with, and if we don’t have our health, no amount of money will make us happy," Dogen said.

"Eat right, work out, make friends, find love, save, and invest!"

Bored Panda asked Dogen about what resources he thinks might potentially grow in value in the future compared to the present. "Water and clean air, though free today, will likely become more valuable in the distant future. We often take both for granted," he shared his perspective.

"Additionally, the ideal house combines great views with flat, usable land, which is rare because houses with excellent views are typically on hills with less usable land. As a result, if you can find one of these rare houses today, buy it. It will only become more valuable and rare in the future," the expert urged.

"As the world becomes more digitized, data and the ability to analyze it will likely become incredibly valuable. Artificial intelligence technologies are already leveraging data to write code, answer questions, and cure diseases," he said. "Therefore, investing in artificial intelligence through a venture capital fund could be a smart move to gain exposure to this growth sector. These investors seek financial growth opportunities on our behalf, allowing us to benefit from their expertise."

For more great insights about personal finance, feel free to check out Dogen’s blog ‘Financial Samurai,’ as well as his bestseller ‘How To Engineer Your Layoff.’

Wealth—true wealth—is rather hard to define. Sure, you could say that having a Scrooge McDuck-style swimming pool full of gold coins means that someone’s rich. However, there is a caveat. If that person is spending more than they’re earning and quickly eating into their savings, can we really call them well-off?

True wealth is freedom. It revolves around abundance, sustainable spending, long-term investments, being able to enjoy life to the fullest with the people we love, and being able to take care of our nearest and dearest. You do not have to earn mind-melting sums of money each year and have billions in the bank to feel rich if you have the flexibility to do what you want and feel purpose in your life.

If you’re putting food on the table, have a roof over your head, have an emergency fund, are paying off your debt, can travel, and don’t have to stress over fluctuations in the global economy, then you can really consider yourself rich. The actual amount of money in your wallet/account/portfolio/hidden under your mattress doesn’t matter because you’re able to do what you want when you want to.

But beyond even that, it’s really the depth of our positive relationships and our physical and mental health that are worth the most. All the riches in the world don’t matter if you’re constantly ill, burned out, anxious, exhausted, and find no joy in your day-to-day life. Similarly, no fancy salary, job title, or investment portfolio is worth it if you find yourself socially isolated from your family, friends, and coworkers.

According to research, social isolation and loneliness are both linked to higher risks for high blood pressure, heart disease, and obesity, as well as anxiety, depression, cognitive decline, Alzheimer’s disease, and a weakened immune system.

At the same time, a decades-long study from Harvard found that our deep positive relationships make us more resilient to stress and directly make us happier.

So, if there’s one thing that you take from all of this, it is that it’s worth investing more in your social life than stressing out about overtime, far-off promotions, and stock market charts. Who knows, in the far-off future, we might each have our personal emotional health scores to keep track of!

What does true wealth look like in your personal opinions, Pandas? What current signs of wealth do you think will go the way of the dodo in the near future? What kind of salary and expenses do you think would help someone live a stress-free life?

Let us know what you think. We genuinely want to hear your thoughts on all of this.