Can money buy love?  Can money buy happiness?  Maybe… not?

This blog is about personal wealth, but not necessarily about money.  Wealth is more than money.  You may be more wealthy than you think, or perhaps others are not as wealthy as you perceive.

Consider this example:  I had just completed graduate school in 1996 and was getting into living “in the real world.”  I was a few months into my first post-graduate job and learning a lot.  An important career lesson came from a professional athlete in my predominantly Latter-day Saint Community: John Stockton, point guard for the National Basketball Association’s Utah Jazz.

“Stock” is a legend in Utah where I grew up and where I was living at the time.  Although quite short according to NBA standards (“just” 6 feet tall), he is considered by most to be the greatest pure point guard to ever play the game.  He was a free agent that year, which means he could sell his services to the highest bidder in contract negotiations.  The Miami Heat offered him $10 million per year for four years.  Stock wanted to stay in lil’ ol’ Utah and accepted a three year contract for $15 million.  Why?  “I’m not leaving Utah.  If that turns around and bites me, then that’s the way it goes.  I like it here.  This is where I’m comfortable, my family’s comfortable, and I love the team and the coaches…It’d be kind of a joke for me to say, ‘Yeah, I’m going to check my options.’  I’m not.  For me to say I’d go play somewhere else would be a lie.  So why do it?”

He also asked rhetorically regarding the money issue:  “How much is enough?”

Stock knew there is more to life than a paycheck:  family, loyalty, relationships, balance, team interests, and perhaps most importantly integrity.  He refused to bankrupt his family to chase a larger contract.  His personal sacrifice of a bigger contract also enabled his team, the Utah Jazz, to afford other talented players.  His willingness to balance all the dimensions of his own life, to enable the balancing of others’ interests (specifically his family and team) and orientation toward continual growth is a great model to learn from.  Although not a Latter-day Saint, Stockton’s experience reflects the BIG Secret to Latter-day Saint wealth.  The results:  two consecutive NBA Western Conference Championships and trips to the NBA finals in 1997 and 1998.  John Stockton also finished his career as the NBA’s all-time leading leader in assists and steals.  The qualities that made him a self-reliant man also made one of the shortest guys in the league, a living legendary example of the BIG Secret.

Research suggests that money may help make you happy, but only up to a certain point:  the living comfortably level.  In a New York Times Op-Ed, Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton noted, “…additional income doesn’t buy us any additional happiness on a typical day once we reach that comfortable standard. The magic number that defines this “comfortable standard” varies across individuals and countries, but in the United States, it seems to fall somewhere around $75,000. Using Gallup data collected from almost half a million Americans, researchers at Princeton found that higher household incomes were associated with better moods on a daily basis — but the beneficial effects of money tapered off entirely after the $75,000 mark.”

There are many facets of wealth.  While many people associate wealth primarily with financial independence, there are many other less obvious dimensions: love, happiness, peace, fulfillment, friendship, health, intelligence, faith, family, memories, etc.  Wealth in the “things that money can’t buy” is often elusive or ignored.  Those things are not necessarily transacted with money.  They are often non-transferable.  Unbalanced efforts to achieve wealth in one important facet of our lives may bankrupt or impoverish other facets. For example, excessive preoccupation with something good (such as a career) may ultimately compromise something great (family relationships, health, integrity, and spirituality).  Indeed, wealth is more than money:

This blog is about increasing your net worth by discovering wealth in the things money can’t buy.  Future posts will present and discuss “The BIG Secret to Latter-day Saint Wealth.”  As you read and experience this blog, you will learn and apply the BIG Secret and discover “things money can’t buy.”

For now, ponder and post about the following:  In what non-monetary ways are you wealthy?  Ponder on these things for the next several days and pay attention to what happens to your thoughts, feelings, and life.  Please share and post your experience.