SCFO #010: What Is Wealth? A Solopreneur’s Perspective.
Read time: 3 minutes
Recently, my friend Jordan asked me to write a Wealth Letter for his blog.
The aim of his blog is to provide unique perspectives on what wealth and happiness mean.
To do this, the Wealth Letters is a collection of experiences from all walks of life.
In this article, I’ll share lessons I’ve learned about wealth over the years and how my perspective has changed.
Wealth Letter
After my parents’ divorce when I was 12, a scarcity mindset haunted me for years.
It specifically manifested in my mindset around money and wealth; for the longest time, I inextricably tied the two concepts together.
Money = Wealth
And because of a scarcity mindset, I rarely took chances.
I followed my parents’ footsteps down the traditional accounting path.
✅ Degree
✅ CPA license
✅ Job in public accounting
✅ Corporate controller, then CFO
On the surface, it was a successful career, but I wasn’t fulfilled.
During a 2-hour commute to a corporate controller position I no longer wanted, I can remember listening to Tim Ferriss’ “4-Hour Work Week” and feeling inspired to escape the 9-5 and start my own business.
But doubts about my ability to succeed on my own led me to accept a CFO role for a financial advisory business instead.
For 6 years, I thought about starting a business but didn’t.
During that time, my wife and I started to grow our family.
Right around this time, I started to dive deeper into the FIRE movement, where the aim is to achieve financial independence by retiring early.
On the surface, it felt like the answer to my problem: accumulate enough wealth to opt out of the game entirely.
The only problem?
We were years away from retirement.
But that didn’t stop me from pressing to make early retirement a reality.
I became the “no” guy in our household and put the kibosh on most of my wife’s ideas, like
taking vacations,
furnishing our house, or
purchasing our dream home.
Every decision was viewed through the lens of money and whether a purchase would set us back from reaching financial independence.
At the time, I didn’t realize an overemphasis on money can cause you to miss out on opportunities.
Instead of playing a long game, I was playing a short game, and that short game involved getting to the finish line as quickly as possible.
I now realize that is not real wealth.
Instead, real wealth is about optimizing your life for the present.
Real wealth is about saying no to things you don’t want and yes to things you do.
Real wealth is finding time to:
Prioritize your health
Experience new adventures, and
Create memories with your family
Financial independence is not some magic bullet, especially if it comes at the cost of time.
At the end of the day, time is the most precious resource…and unfortunately, it’s non-renewable.
You don’t get back your youth.
You don’t get back time to fulfill your purpose.
And you don’t get back time with your kids when they’re young.
Jess, at the Fioneers, helped open my mind to a new view:
Make the journey as remarkable as the destination.
- The Fioneers
This quote helped me shift my orientation toward the present.
I started to realize that I’d much rather create more freedom now while my kids are young than wait.
I became more comfortable playing a long-term game.
I started to unwind my scarcity mindset (along with a bit of help from therapy 😀).
After shifting my mindset and overcoming these mental roadblocks, I finally put in my notice and launched my career as a solopreneur.
I now have the freedom to design my ideal life.
A few notable achievements since unwinding my scarcity mindset around money:
I started my career as a solopreneur,
I take a half day on Friday with the kids,
We moved to our dream house and location,
My wife and I do date nights every other Thursday,
And we’re still 20 years away from retirement (our early 50s).
There is now far more space in my life to build real wealth, which to me, Morgan Housel sums up best:
The ability to do what you want, when you want, with who you want, for as long as you want to, pays the highest dividend that exists.
—Morgan Housel, The Psychology of Money
I urge you to read other Wealth Letters so you can define what wealth means to you. My definition is by no means ‘right.’ It’s up to you to determine what it means to live a truly rich life.
Cheers,
Matt
P.S. if you’re a solopreneur and struggling managing your business and personal finances, book a free 15-minute call today.
Let me help you get unstuck, so you can focus on doing the things you love.
