https://medium.com/zealionaire/money-and-wealth-interchangeable-a7bd96a582b0 https://medium.com/zealionaire

1. MONEYANDWEALTH,
INTERCHANGEABLE?

2. If you have alot of
money,youare wealthy;
that is whatit is, right?
The amountof moneyis
usually thoughtof as it
signalsthe amountof
wealth.Andwe
oftentimestalkabout
moneywhenweare
referringtowealth,and
wealthwhenweare
referringtomoney.Are
thesetwo
interchangeable?

3. ManyPhilosophersand
Economistssaythat we
shoulddifferentiate
betweenthetwoand
warnthat it is
dangeroustothinkof
themas thesame.
PhilosopherAlanWatts
says that thinkingabout
money,whenweshould
be thinkingabout
wealthis alimiting
belief that hinders
advancement.

4. He says moneyis the
instrumenttomeasure
wealthlike meter
measuresdistanceand
kilogram measures
massandurgesus to
thinkof moneyas if it
werenotanobject.And
he says nottomeasure
ourwealthbythe
materialthingswe
accumulate.According
to him, economic
slumps anddownturns
are the resultsof this
faultyperceptionand
shouldbe avoided.

5. He furtherexplainshow
peoplefindit hardto
thinkof wealthas
differentfrommoney.
Everyoneischasing
moneyandseemsto
neverstopandthink
aboutwhat theyare
doing. He says onewho
pursuesmoneyis
pursuingan
abstraction,not
anythingtangible.

6. I think this is mostly
becauseof the natureof
money.Yes,moneyisa
measureofwealth.But
it is notthesameas
meterandkilogram.
HunterLewisexplains
this differenceinhis
twobooks series:Are
the rich necessary?and
How muchmoneydoes
an economyneed?

7. As he explainsif we
measurethelengthof
ourbackyard andknow
that it is fortymeters,it
alwaysstays forty
meters.Orakilogram of
steelalways staysone
kilogram.That is notthe
casewithmoney.The
amountof moneyyou
oncebought a
refrigeratorwithmight
notbuya loaf of bread
now.

8. He furtherillustrates
this by an example.Let’s
sayyou are in a desert
withsomebodyandyou
have twoapples,and
yourcompanion
has twodollars. Then
the priceof an apple
willautomaticallybe
onedollar. Then let’ssay
yourcompaniongets
twomoredollars from
his otherpocket.Now
the moneyisdoubled to
fourdollars but the
numberof apples
staysthe same.

9. This increases the value
of an apple from
one dollar to two dollars.
The amount of money
is increased but
no wealth is generated.
Money is not a constant
scale of measurements
like that of meter or
kilogram. The scale
varies. The wealth of an
individual, a company, or
a country changes and
that is a must. The value
of money also changes,
when we expectit to not
change as a unit of
measurement.

10. It measureswealthbut
notin a waywe’llbe
able to understand.We
don’tknowa thousand
dollars at sometimein
the pastequaled a
milliondollars now—
orthat a thousand
dollars at sometimein
the pastequaled the
samethousanddollars a
fewdecadeslater —
unlesssomeonewho
knowstellsus.

11. Let’sseeanother
example fromthebooks.
Youadd waterto milk
andit seemsthat the
amountof milk
increased.Thesameis
true forwealthand
money.Youmay
increasetheamountof
moneybutnotwealth.

12. It is always veryhard to
exactlyknowhowmuch
moneyaneconomy
needs.Let’sfollowthe
sameexample and
elaborate.Milkhas 85%
—95% waterin it. It is a
perfectdrinkwiththe
properconstituents.
That meansweknow
the percentageofwater
weneedin milk.
Unfortunately,wecan’t
knowthe amountof
moneyaneconomy
needsforsure.

13. Moneydeceives,wealth
doesn’t.That is one
reasonwhywe should
pursuewealthrather
than money.Whenwe
thinkaboutland, it
doesn’tmatterto think
aboutits measurein
metersandkilometers
orthe landas a farm or
constructionland.We
can’tdo that formoney.

14. The takeawayis that we
shouldbe pursuing
wealthandnotmoney.
Wealthis what shows
ourachievementsand
insteadof measuringit
withmoney,weshould
measureit withvalue,
change,andinnovation.

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