What Is Wealth?

Wealth

Man plan; God laughs

Judaic thought

            A story.

            A wealthy former Fortune 500 CEO friend (not client) was concerned all ‘was going to hell.’ His plan:  he bought a get away farm in Australia that, in time, would be self sufficient ‘for when all goes to hell.’ He had his farm hands plan, plow – have everything necessary – including water – even pistachios amongst the crops – for when the ‘inevitable’ arrived. Finally, after 15+ years the farm was fully operational – with plants, water, pistachios etc . And what happened? The parrots ate all the crops.

            Man plans; God laughs, dogs pee, and parrots eat the pistachios.

            While in fee only personal financial practice and doing workshops, it was also inevitable – regardless how ‘wealthy’ a participant was – having ‘enough’ – having a cushion to enough ‘just in case,’ even having way more than enough – there would be a client, a participant – who would have the ‘always another buts’ – inventing low low low probability risks with high high high seriousness. And even if that ‘but’ was satisfied and planned for – ‘but’ number one being solved, ‘but’ number 2 was promoted’ regardless of the wealth of ‘the butt head.’

            Enough Jewish Personal Financial Life Planning – healing personal financial anxiety, puttin’ money in its place to elevate, transcend, align, and connect to one’s significance/assignment – what one is meant to be, meant to do – enough to live for, enough to live on© - despite cognitive acceptance, regardless of FUability© (to not be beholden, to not take sh*t) is typically not enough as enough is not by itself Wealth.

Stipulation: (‘this land is Mine, you are but wayfarers” – Leviticus) All is derived & leased on loan from Hashem aka ‘The Currency,’ and we, at best, can be good guardians owning UP to the assets under our caretaking ‘more or less.’

One thing money doesn’t buy – poverty

My Father, Ellis Schwartz

Dad’s admonition aside, current currencies come and go – remember the wheelbarrows of German Deutsch during World War I. So enduring wealth isn’t ‘money.’

Then what is Wealth?

            Our adaptability and resourcefulness!

Andy yet, to our own adaptability & resourcefulness we give little or no value to nor do banks. Proof: where on a personal balance sheet is there an asset category – let alone a valuation for – our adaptability and resourcefulness – which (other than inheritance and theft) was due one’s efforts and Hashem’s beneficence of abilities one developed?

            Where?

            Ironically, per one recent study (featured first in the insurance industry’s Best’s Review and later in the Wall Street Journal), 80% of the value of the S&P 500 companies value is in intangible assets – patents, trademarks, trade secrets etc. not tangibles i.e. bricks & mortar, receivables, etc as in past decades. This revelation even if half right is a game changer – to securities analysis as it has been known. And what are patents, trademarks, trade secrets, etc other than creative adaptability and resourcefulness? Yet, the same individual who was the inventor of a patent for one of these patents, trademarks, trade secrets for his or her company is given no credit for his or her creative adaptability and resourcefulness on his or her personal balance sheet! Note: some financial planners love to blow smoke up some of their clients’ tushies flattering them with trying to monetize the clients’ ‘human capital’ even though this ‘human capital’ isn’t recognized by the banks (unless with collateral if that).

            Given increased specialization’s manifest requirement to know more and more - at the extreme like the definition of a phd – one knows more and more about less until he or she knows everything about nothing – we have become less adaptable and resourceful – even if we have a self sufficient farm in Australia and paid off the parrots.

            For example, this essayist knows about  to differing degrees  maybe 4 things: a bit about Judaism, something about dogs, relatively a good amount about personal financial planning (relatively given the beauty contest of contest of uglies in the business) and the most about professional wrestling which is life and politics unmasked. Otherwise,  mechanically, for example, I am idiot (1)

Still, if the value of the current currency vamooses along with bit -the dusk- coins, how will I fix the toilet, the leaking this or that? You think Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs will help accept the barter of my pleasing personality? Reciprocity (shalom) endures & completes; sans reciprocity – how about those Broncos?.

Trees that have been trimmed throw off countless branches

Seneca

Some suggest inoculation in the form of goads to prod & build up anti fragility to use Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s term. Per inoculation there is ‘gain from harm’ stipulating ‘harm is dose dependent.’ Anti-fragility is not robustness nor to be confused with resilience per Taleb (aka adaptability as I interpret it) while goads are like inoculation –stimulating immunity by enduring a small dose of the harm to combat the potential larger danger (fragility). Thus, the system becomes anti-fragile..

Paradoxically, thus whereas fragility ‘does not like volatility, nor randomness, uncertainty, disorder, errors, stressors etc’ per Taleb. Antifragility likes volatility (accepting uncertainty, impermanence, and lack of continuity) and as a result the system becomes more resistant due to adaptability & resourcefulness allowing one to arise from like Phoenix in ‘post traumatic growth’ (David Halpern) regardless of current currency – dose dependent for Wealth. (Note one can extrapolate the following: there are no heroes without villains, adversaries, opposition.)

Still resilience, adaptability, or even anti-fragility is no guarantee of sustainable ‘forever’ Wealth given as Rabbi Spitz’s mom once told him, ‘we are only here for a short visit.’ (2)

In the end, all is derivative from Hashem. He creates and derivatively we make/build it (not you Obama & Pocohauntus). Currencies come and go. We may have enough – which for most is never enough.

This transitory ‘wealth’ derived from adaptability & resourcefulness to deal with the fragility and possibly increase anti-fragility still is prone to Black Swans & parrots regardless inoculation, goads, resilience, and tree trimming.

Herein lies the question of faith – the leap of faith – believing in Hashem or as one former client said, ‘believe, trust in God, but row away from the rocks’ and believe, trust in God, but cut the deck twice.’

          Wealth: my two ‘sense’- right on the money