Are You Rich Yet? Not me.

So over at The Simple Dollar, Trent Hamm talked about his take on the idea of being “rich”. The post, and the comments, have inspired me a little.

Trent says that money isn’t the true gauge with which to measure how rich you are.

In the end, being rich has nothing to do with money. It has to do with being happy with what you have and not desiring more. Being rich is having enough. Some people working minimum wage jobs are rich and some people with millions in the bank are not.

Awh, how sweet! Let’s take a word that typically conjures up the thought of a wealthy individual or existence, and on a personal finance blog, twist it up to use another definition of the word. Then we can all clasp our hands with glee in knowing that wow… we’re already rich!

And then we wake up the next morning and look at our bank statement and bills, see ourselves to be a hundred or two short, and reality comes crashing down on our heads. Oh, joy.

Not to take much away from Trent – I love the guy’s blog, and he’s been a huge inspiration to me. We’ve disagreed in the past, but for the most part, he’s on target with his writings. Sorry, man… not this time. I feel like you were grasping and straws and basking in the glow of your newborn son when you wrote that. (Genuine congrats, by the way!)

So. That being said, I know that I’m far from rich, and I want to take this inspiration from Trent to talk about what it is that I feel would make me “rich” (in the financial sense, of course).

To me, the definition revolves around being not only financially sound, or having your children be well taken care of, but yes… it’s having the luxury of not worrying about that bill that’s looming. Or the fact that you can take the time to take a vacation wherever you want and spend time making memories. Sure, you can make memories in your living room, but you can’t see the Eiffel Tower in person from there. I’d feel rich if I could have the ability to take off an afternoon and bring a few girlfriends for a full spa treatment – and pay their way. I’d feel rich if I had the cars, home, boat, and abilities that truly wealthy people do.

Does this make me materialistic? Possibly. Does it make me a ruthless greed? No. Does it make me a bad person? Sorry, I know I’m not a bad person. I know that my priorities are firmly in place, and that I’m doing everything in my power to take care of those priorities, and achieve my dreams and goals.

I want a family. I want a career that makes me eager to get to work every day. I want a clean, healthy home. I want my future children to grow up healthy, to be good people. I want to be able to feed them good food, put them in nice clothes, and yes… spoil them a little. I want to continue to volunteer my time when I can, to help others. I want to love and feel love in return. There’s nothing wrong with wanting these things for myself and my future family. If it means that I’d have to be “rich” in order to have these things (and let’s face it, it would), then yes. I want to be rich.

I’m really tired of the idea that life can be amazing and wonderful when you’re broke. It reminds me of an argument I once got in with a woman on a very popular weight loss site. She was a paying member, as was I, and the main purpose for paying is to have tools to help you lose weight. In a message board area, there was a woman bemoaning her lack of love life and blaming it on her weight. At the time, I could more than sympathize with her.

Next thing you know, there’s this woman whose photo and profile showed her to be well over 300 pounds. She comes in and starts telling everyone how happy she is. “Fat and happy” is what she called it. She said that not all fat people are sad, lonely, or depressed (which of course, I’m sure is very true) and she said that there is nothing about her weight that has ever, or would ever bring her down, even for a moment.

Wait. What?

I’m sorry, but you can probably guess where I’m going with this… CLEARLY, if you’re trying to lose weight, you’re unhappy with your weight. If you’re unhappy with it, there’s a reason. It’s holding you back from SOMETHING that would make you happy. Be it a clean bill of health from your doctor, to being able to ride on a roller coaster, to wearing less expensive, pretty clothing. SOMETHING is bothering you. You’re not entirely blissful all the time. At some point, you stood in a dressing room full of clothes that don’t fit and cried. At some point, someone you wanted to know rejected you for your size. At some point, you tried to do something physical that you could not, because of your weight.

Just like I can’t believe that this woman is totally, 100% blissful all the time, I refuse to believe that anyone can be totally, 100% blissful about their finances all the time. Even if you’re not truly wanting for anything, you’ve got a good grip on your money, and you’re planning properly for your future, something will happen at some point in time that will make you wish you were “rich”. Doesn’t mean you don’t feel fulfilled when you play with your kids or make love to your partner. It just means that at some point, you’re wishing that you had MORE.

So that’s the end of my rant I suppose. I know I’m not rich yet. Far from it. Are you?

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