We are over a month into the New Year, and the personal finance articles that are popping up in my feed are still talking about money and your goals for 2026 in terms of spend less, save more, top up your Kiwisaver, pay down the mortgage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t disagree with any of this; they are all very valid things to do.\u00a0 But before we get into the practical aspects of money, I think a better place to start, is to work out what wealth means to you.<\/p>\n
I have been giving this \u00a0a lot of thought in my own life, \u00a0and how that shapes how I choose to live my life this year.\u00a0 Probably, not surprisingly, it isn\u2019t all about money.<\/p>\n
But often, we talk about wealth as if it\u2019s only about money.<\/p>\n
Your bank balance. Your investments. The size of your mortgage (or the lack of one).<\/p>\n
And yes, financial security matters, particularly as we mature. \u00a0It gives us choices, reduces stress, and creates stability.<\/p>\n
But over years of talking to people about money, I\u2019ve learned something that\u2019s both simple and confronting:<\/p>\n
Money can fund a life, but it can\u2019t fill one. You can have a solid income, a healthy savings account, and still feel like you\u2019re running on empty. You can be financially \u201csuccessful\u201d and still feel disconnected, tired, or overwhelmed. Wealth isn’t just about what you have.<\/p>\n
It’s about how your life feels.<\/p>\n
The psychology of wealth: not \u201chow much?\u201d but \u201cenough for what?\u201d.\u00a0 Research shows that money increases happiness up to a point.\u00a0 This point will be different for everyone.\u00a0 Your age, your culture, where you live, how far up Maslow\u2019s hierarchy of needs you want to go. But there will come a point, where the money can\u2019t do anything more for your happiness.\u00a0 Then it becomes more about being aligned with our values. Meaning: having more money doesn\u2019t automatically create a better life. It\u2019s what that money allows you to experience, protect, or prioritise.<\/p>\n
That shift, from accumulation to alignment, is where true wealth lives.<\/p>\n
When I work with clients, I don\u2019t just ask for their financial goals. I ask:<\/p>\n
What does a good day look like?
\n\tHow do you want to feel in your life?
\n\tWhat matters most to you in this season?<\/p>\n
These questions are uncomfortable because they force us to move beyond numbers and face the psychology underneath: our beliefs about worth, safety, and identity.<\/p>\n
The Five Types of Wealth<\/p>\n
To make this practical, let\u2019s widen the lens. Think of wealth in five dimensions:<\/p>\n
Financial Wealth \u2013 money, assets, choices.
\n\tTime Wealth \u2013 control over how you spend your days.
\n\tMental Wealth \u2013 calm mind, emotional bandwidth.
\n\tPhysical Wealth \u2013 energy, vitality, wellbeing.
\n\tSocial Wealth \u2013 relationships, connection, community.<\/p>\n
Most people focus 95% of their effort on the first one for too long and neglect the others. Then they wonder why life still feels tight.<\/p>\n
Time Wealth: the freedom to choose your yes<\/p>\n
Many people tell me they\u2019re \u201cbusy all the time,\u201d yet feel like they\u2019re not living.<\/p>\n
Busyness can become a badge of honour, something we use to prove our value. But here\u2019s the psychological twist: being busy and being fulfilled are not the same thing.<\/p>\n
Time wealth isn\u2019t having more hours; it\u2019s having more choice.<\/p>\n
A simple exercise:<\/p>\n
For one week, do a time audit.\u00a0 Track your time from when you get up to when you go to bed. Write down where your time goes. You will get quite a few surprises.
\n\tCircle what energises you.
\n\tCross out what drains you.
\n\tWhat can you do differently to have more time for you?<\/p>\n
The goal isn\u2019t productivity, it\u2019s alignment.<\/p>\n
When you choose how you spend your time, instead of reacting to whatever demands it, your nervous system relaxes. You feel open, spacious, alive.<\/p>\n
Mental Wealth: stop letting your \u201cfuture self\u201d clean up your overcommitment<\/p>\n
Most of us say yes far too often.<\/p>\n
We want to be helpful. We don\u2019t want to disappoint. Or we underestimate how much energy things will take, and suddenly Future Us is paying for Past Us\u2019s enthusiasm.<\/p>\n
Mental wealth grows when we practise boundaries. Not harsh ones. Just gentle, consistent ones like: \u201cNo, that doesn\u2019t work for me right now.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to do the first few times, but it gets easier with practice.<\/p>\n
Every time you choose yourself, you reinforce a powerful internal message:
My energy is worth protecting.<\/p>\n
Physical and Social Wealth: deliberate trade-offs<\/p>\n
Everything has a cost. Not always a financial one, often an emotional or energetic one.<\/p>\n
Sometimes the cost of saying yes to work is saying no to connection. Sometimes the cost of saying yes to chores is saying no to rest. The goal is not to eliminate trade-offs, but to make them consciously.<\/p>\n
Choose what gives you more energy than it takes. Choose what brings connection rather than obligation. Because both your body and your relationships are part of your net worth.<\/p>\n
Financial Wealth: redefining \u201cenough\u201d<\/p>\n
This is the one we\u2019re taught to chase endlessly. And yet, every income level believes they\u2019d feel secure if they just had a bit more. More savings. More buffer. More surplus.<\/p>\n
The problem? \u201cEnough\u201d keeps moving.\u00a0 Remember your very first job.\u00a0 How much did you earn, if you were like me, I felt so rich when I got my first pay packet.\u00a0 Looking back now, $95.43 doesn\u2019t seem very much and it certainly doesn\u2019t\u2019 go very far\u2026<\/p>\n
Try this instead:<\/p>\n
Instead of asking \u201cHow much should I have?\u201d
Ask \u201cWhat do I want my life to feel like?\u201d<\/p>\n
Money becomes meaningful when you give it a purpose. When you see money as a tool\u2014not a scoreboard\u2014you shift from:<\/p>\n
comparison to clarity
\n\tscarcity to sufficiency
\n\tfear to agency<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when money starts supporting your well-being rather than controlling it.<\/p>\n
A simple tool: your decision filter<\/p>\n
Write a one-sentence identity statement for this season of your life:<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m someone who prioritises ____.\u201d<\/p>\n
Examples:<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m someone who prioritises connection.\u201d
\n\t\u201cI\u2019m someone who prioritises simplicity.\u201d
\n\t\u201cI\u2019m someone who prioritises peace.\u201d
\n\t\u201cI\u2019m someone who prioritises growing my financial wealth\u201d<\/p>\n
Then make decisions that support that statement. It\u2019s amazing how many choices become easy when you know what you stand for.<\/p>\n
The life that feels rich<\/p>\n
True wealth is having:<\/p>\n
time to enjoy your life,
\n\tenergy to be present in it,
\n\tpeople to share it with,
\n\tand enough financial stability to feel safe.<\/p>\n
Of course money matters. But the purpose of money is to give you a life that feels good on the inside, not just one that looks impressive from the outside. The richest people I know aren\u2019t the ones with the most assets.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re the ones who can honestly say: \u201cMy life feels full.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what I want my life to be, I hope you do too.<\/p>\n
*Lynda Moore is a Money Mentalist coach and New Zealand\u2019s only certified New Money Story\u00ae mentor. Lynda helps you understand why you do the things you do with your money, when we all know we should spend less than we earn. You can contact her here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We are over a month into the New Year, and the personal finance articles that are popping up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[45,49,48,133,131,132],"class_list":["post-479677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-finance","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}