Four ways for individuals to gain wealth

In the materialistic age, people's pursuit of wealth seems to exceed everything. People seem to judge everything by money as the only criterion. Some people even spend their whole lives pursuing wealth. However, few people can think more about wealth. What exactly is wealth? What are the ways to gain wealth?

Some people regard money as wealth, while others regard family, friends and education etc. as wealth. Wealth under each value evaluation system will be different.

Wealth is divided into broad sense and narrow sense.

In a broad sense, wealth is everything that can make individuals feel satisfied and happy. For example, the money is wealth for poor people, and the water is wealth for the dying in the desert.

The narrow sense of wealth is money, and the following discussion is about this narrow sense of wealth.

There are following four main ways to obtain wealth:

Labor income

This way to obtain wealth is almost the main way for most people to obtain their lifelong wealth. Whether you are a doctor, teacher, civil servant, security guard, cleaner, or salesperson, it is the same.

The main form of obtaining wealth is to exchange a certain amount of labor and time in the market for labor remuneration, which is what we call wages.

If a worker wants to make a living from labor wealth, the income from labor must be greater than the living cost of his life and his family.And the value of labor is related to the learning cost he pays for this skill.

For example, doctors have a high learning time and learning cost, and fewer workers spend their lifetime working without learning and training. Therefore, the labor income that needs training and learning like doctors needs more returns to make up for the cost of learning.

Asset income

Asset income means that you can generate monetary wealth without investing extra time and energy into it. This kind of asset income may be available to everyone. For example, the interest on our bank deposits is a kind of asset income. We do not need to invest in it, but it will generate wealth spontaneously.

However, this income may not be enough to meet your daily life. And it requires a certain cost to have sufficient cash flow.

Business income

For example, a supermarket owner who runs his own shop has no salary. Removing rent, water, electricity and other costs is his own business income.

The advantage is that the upper limit can be very high, and even your company may be listed to obtain huge wealth. The disadvantage is that there are certain costs and risks. The cost is all the means of production, as well as a certain business experience and ability. Moreover, there are risks. Those people who earn such money need not only great courage, but also strong will and even a bit of luck.

Asset transfer

The acquisition of this kind of wealth may not produce "wealth". Asset transfer can be seen as transferring money from one person's pocket to another.

For example, members of the British royal family will inherit a large amount of wealth even if they do not do any work.

The difference between the rise and fall of stocks can be called speculative income, such as stock speculation. Money that does not increase the total social wealth can be called wealth transfer. Wealth transfer has a certain probability mechanism, which is the most attractive part of this wealth.