Are you a wealthy person? Most of us will answer that question based on our own assessment of our finances. For the majority of us, the definition of “wealth” equals one thing: money.

But that definition may be far too narrow, and discovering the different types of “wealth” might help us all live happier and more fulfilling lives. We encountered that idea last week in a column written by reporter Miranda Levy in which she profiled a man who left a lucrative career to pursue a lifestyle centered around his family.

We’re including a link to the original article in The Telegraph, a British site, but please note that an online account may be required to access that edition of the article. For that reason, we’re also linking to the version that appeared on MSN. We should note that the subject of Levy’s profile, Sahil Bloom, has done quite well financially – he didn’t exactly choose the type of lifestyle most of us might relate to.

Yet his idea that “wealth” has at least five definitions has merit. Let’s dive in.

“If Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness, What Does?”

Levy begins by introducing us to Sahil Bloom, an Indian-American financier and former Stanford University athlete who stepped into a luxury lifestyle at a relatively early age when he landed a six-figure salary at the age of 23, straight out of college. This led to the promise of millions and millions from carried interest, a performance-based pay reward, and the chance to live large: expensive cars, international travel, and five-star hotels.  

But, Levy tells us, at age 30 Bloom pulled back. Something was missing.

“Indoctrinated” to Follow the Traditional Path Toward Wealth

While many of Bloom’s friends in childhood bore the markers of a wealthy lifestyle, such as private jets and personal chefs, he was raised by an Indian mother and Jewish-American father—both academics—and grew up comfortable but not exceptionally well-off. He says, “Growing up, I’d been convinced that material wealth was the fast-track to a happy, stress-free life. It was the way I had been programmed to measure success.”

He adds, “I was indoctrinated. I didn’t have the time to question whether the definition of ‘rich’ was the correct one. I thought my life’s goal was to find out what the wealthiest people did.”

Slowly, then all at once, he started to realize that he was on the wrong path. After a meeting with a friend – an encounter that he now calls a “gut punch” (explained below) – Bloom re-evaluated his circumstances, then quit his job. Now, at 34, Bloom describes himself as an “author, entrepreneur, and investor”; his book, The 5 Types of Wealth: a Transformative Guide to Design your Dream Life, was published on February 4.

Abandoning the Single-Minded Pursuit of Money

While working in finance—a job often requiring 80 to 100 hours a week—Bloom couldn’t even enjoy his own wealth. “It was more like money was a scoreboard,” he says. “I’d sit on my net worth tracking app, and see the number going up and up.”

But this pursuit of money had consequences. When he and his wife, Elizabeth, started to talk about having kids, he would balk: he worried that having children would distract him from his work.

His decision to walk away from this gold-plated lifestyle met with mixed reactions. “On paper, it made no sense,” he says. “Almost everyone told me I was crazy. My firm was supportive and kept me on as an adviser, but I was still turning my back on the enormous carried interest. My mentor told me: ‘This will either work out or be the worst decision you have ever made.’”

Thankfully, it did turn out well. Within two weeks of setting up their home on the east coast near his parents, Elizabeth was pregnant with their son (now two and a half). Bloom decided to concentrate the rest of his life and career on “what matters most”.

Define the Things in Life That Make You Happy

Levy points out to Bloom that the idea that money doesn’t buy happiness isn’t new or groundbreaking. He agrees – but says there’s more to the equation.

“Absolutely: it’s not enough just to say that,” Bloom replies. “But what you can do is define how to measure the right things in your life that create happiness. These are the things you can track.”

Bloom is aware of how this can come across from someone who has clearly made his own tidy sum of money. “Of course, having a certain amount of money allows you to have choices, to take risks and have experiences,” he says. “Money isn’t nothing, but it can’t be the only thing. It is a tool, not the end goal. I’d love people to question their own definitions of a successful life.”

The following is Bloom’s list of the five types of wealth. We think this is a thought-provoking list for all of us to ponder, especially retirees as they peer into an uncertain future and ask, “Am I wealthy?”

Time Wealth: How Many Opportunities Remain to be with Loved Ones?

As mentioned previously, Bloom’s “gut punch” epiphany came after he met up with a friend for dinner, almost four years ago. “He asked me: how old are your parents? Did you know that if you only see them once a year, you are only going to see them 15 more times in your life? The fact that I could count this on my fingers and toes shook me to the core,” he says.

This conversation changed everything. “I could see that my parents were already slowing down,” he says. “So I decided to take those 15 potential meetings and turn them into hundreds.”

Today, Bloom urges people to ponder the ways we actually spend our time compared to how we should be spending it. Levy writes, “For example, in his book, Bloom discusses a tool called the ‘energy calendar’, where the reader goes through their diary, color-coding events green (for energy-creating), yellow (neutral) and red (energy-draining). The goal is then to spend more time on the former, and phase out the latter.”

Social Wealth: Who Might Be at the Front Row of Your Funeral?

“I always wish people had their funerals while they were still alive,” says Bloom. “Close your eyes and imagine your own. Who is sitting in the front row? These people – your front row people – are the ones who truly matter. Make sure you cherish and show up for the people you want to show up for you.”

With this in mind, Bloom encourages us to assess our relationships, grading them from ”highly supportive” to “ambivalent” and all the way to “demeaning”. From this scale, we should decide which ones to pursue and which ones to drop. “Surprisingly,” he says, “while you might expect demeaning relationships to be the most damaging, research has shown that ambivalent and inconsistent relationships create the most trouble for your physical and mental wellbeing.”

He also examines this through the lens of wealth and status. Do you secretly hope to buy respect and admiration through outward displays of wealth? It’s much better, he says, to “earn” your status through cultivating loving relationships, giving your free time, sharing your expertise and wisdom, and gaining respect. These are things that can’t be bought.

Mental Wealth: How Do You Define Your Life Purpose?

“Your time on the earth is finite,” writes Bloom, “so choosing the pursuits – personal and professional – that deliver the greatest returns on that time is essential. Take this time to step back and ask: what is your purpose?”

In his book, Bloom outlines ways to “jump-start” your mental wealth. To do this, write three separate lists: on the first, the things you love doing, that bring you joy. On the second, the things that come easily to you. And on the third, the things that you “need” to do, such as care for family or go to work. (This also makes a good Venn diagram, he says.)

“Your life purpose sits in the middle of these intersecting lists, and is the starting point for you to explore it further,” says Bloom. “Remember that your purpose does not need to be connected to your profession.”

Additionally – maybe uncharacteristically for a list like this – he advises everyone to find one thing that they love doing but that they are bad at, so that you can learn and grow. “For me, it was running,” he says. “But I got better.”

Physical Wealth: Will You be Dancing at Your 80th Birthday Party?

“A healthy body is a status symbol,” says Bloom. Levy adds that Bloom certainly lives out this viewpoint, as a keen sportsman, baseball player, and fan of the gym.

“Treat your body like a house you have to live in for another 70 years,” he says. “You’re in control of the present and future state of your house. Keep the foundation and roof in good order, fix minor issues as soon as they arise, and make the small daily, weekly and monthly investments required for it to last a long, long time.”

In the book, he suggests three categories of physical fitness challenges: gold, silver, and bronze. Levy explains, “Bronze includes moving for 30 minutes a day, eating whole, unprocessed foods for 80 per cent of the time, and sleeping for seven hours a night. Silver and gold [involve increasing] the amount of sleep, exercise and healthy eating (as well as drinking a pint of water when you first wake up).” The idea is to build toward your personal fitness goals.

Financial Wealth: How Much is Enough?

From his time spent among the super-wealthy, Bloom observed that, no matter how much wealth one has, there was always someone with a bigger boat, better car, or fancier house. His rich friends were trapped in an endless game of comparison.

“During my time in finance, I looked around me and there were so many rich, unhappy people,” he says. “There was a billionaire entrepreneur who had four children he didn’t speak to, and a multimillionaire with three divorces.” So, one might ask, how much money is enough?

“The 2010 study from Nobel prize-winner Daniel Kahneman found that money could only boost happiness up to a point — about $75,000 (around £70,000) in annual earnings,” says Bloom. “But while that might be OK in a rural part of the US, it probably wouldn’t be in London, for example. I’d say it’s certainly higher than that.” When Levy pressed, Bloom suggested: “maybe a household income of $200,000 (£162,000)?”  As we said, Bloom has done well despite his career changes.

“But I don’t really want to be drawn on a figure – that’s actually quite dangerous,” says Bloom, as the article draws to a close. “The key point is that money brings you some happiness for sure – it fulfills your basic needs and pleasures and you can take care of people. But once that point is reached, it’s about the other things. Otherwise, you will live your life in disappointment.”

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(originally reported at www.msn.com and www.telegraph.co.uk)