The Daily Stoic - This Is The Secret To Wealth

Episode Date: August 16, 2019

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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stoke podcast early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today. Welcome to the Daily Stoke. For each day, we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living good life. insight, wisdom necessary for living good life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2000 year old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at dailystoic.com. This is the secret to wealth. What is wealth? It's having plenty, right? It's that comfortable position where your assets exceed your wants. The variables in the equation of wealth are pretty simple. What you have, what you've got coming in, and what's going out. If those are in good relation to each other, you're

covered. Except what we miss is another hidden variable that shapes this equation, and that is our relative needs and wants. Clearly, most people try to accumulate wealth by earning a lot. That's why they work so hard, why they take so many risks, why they invest. But the reason they do this is because they have told themselves that what they need is more and more and that what they have already. It's not enough. Asanaka 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 Pithakles 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 and think about what your definition of wealth is and whether you might already have a lot more than you think. There's more than one way to solve that tricky equation. It may just be that subtraction is easier than multiplication in this case. That changing your understanding of what being rich is might be more important and easier than adding to your bank balance. I have really exciting news. Daily Stoke now makes our Memento Mori design

in a Signet Ring. It's awesome. I wear it on my right ring finger. I just absolutely love it. The Signet Ring is a piece of jewelry that dates back something like 6,000 years. It was a practical component of Roman life. We can imagine Marcus Aurelius,

Seneca, Cato, Cicero, and Epictetus all wearing Signet rings. There was even a later Christian emperor who wore a Signet ring with Marcus Aurelius face on it. This Signet ring comes in gold or silver and it's got the skull on it, the flower, and the hourglass. It says, Memento Mori, which means remember death, and on the inside, it has that famous quote from Marcus Aurelius, you could leave life right now, and then it comes to us to remember that we must let this affect and influence everything we do and say and think. I hope you'll check out the ring,

it's in the Daily Stoic store, it's my favorite piece of jewelry now, besides my wedding ring, and I think you'll really like it. We worked very hard on it. I'm going to love it. Check it out dailystoicstore.com. Hey, prime members, you can listen to the daily Stoic early and add free on Amazon music. Download the Amazon music app today, or you can listen

early and ad-free with Wondery Plus in Apple podcasts.