The Wealth Identity Crisis That's Keeping You Stuck

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I was scrolling LinkedIn last week when I saw another "crypto millionaire at 25" story. My first reaction? A familiar knot in my stomach. Here I am, pushing 40, and I'm still measuring my worth by the number in my bank account.

Then I remembered a conversation I had with my neighbor Sarah. She's a pediatric nurse, drives a 10-year-old Honda, and by traditional metrics, she's not "wealthy." But watching her light up when she talks about the kids she's helped recover, seeing how her community rallies around her family during tough times, I realized I was looking at wealth through the wrong lens entirely.

The Day I Realized I Was Wealthy (But Felt Broke)

Three months ago, I was having one of those Sunday scarcity spirals. You know the ones, scrolling through investment portfolios, calculating retirement numbers, wondering if I'd ever have "enough." My wife found me hunched over spreadsheets at 11 PM, stress-eating leftover pizza.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Trying to figure out when we'll be financially free," I said, not looking up from my laptop screen filled with compound interest calculators.

She sat down next to me. "You know what's funny? Earlier today, when you were teaching our daughter how to ride her bike, I watched you from the kitchen window. The way you patiently ran alongside her, celebrating every wobble forward, that's not something money can buy. You already have something most people spend their whole lives searching for."

Her words hit me like a cold splash of water. I was so focused on one type of wealth that I was blind to the other forms of richness already flowing through my life.

That's when I remembered something Sahil Bloom wrote about the 5 Types of Wealth, and it completely shifted how I think about success, identity, and what it means to live a truly abundant life.

The 5 Types of Wealth (And Why You're Probably Ignoring 4 of Them)

Most of us are trapped in what I call the "Financial Wealth Tunnel Vision." We've been conditioned to believe that wealth equals money, period. But Sahil’s framework reveals that true abundance comes from cultivating five distinct types of wealth:

1. Financial Wealth (Money & Assets) This is the obvious one—your bank account, investments, property. It's important, but it's just one piece of the puzzle. The trap? Making it the only piece that matters.

2. Time Wealth (Freedom & Flexibility) This is about having control over your schedule and choices. A corporate executive making $300K but working 80-hour weeks has less time wealth than a freelancer making $80K with complete schedule flexibility. Time wealth is about buying back your hours and attention.

3. Social Wealth (Relationships & Network) Your connections, friendships, and community ties. This isn't about networking for personal gain—it's about genuine relationships that provide support, joy, and meaning. Sarah, my nurse neighbor, is incredibly rich in social wealth.

4. Physical Wealth (Health & Energy) Your body is your most important asset. All the money in the world means nothing if you don't have the energy to enjoy it. Physical wealth includes your fitness, mental health, and overall vitality.

5. Mental Wealth (Knowledge & Skills) This is your ability to learn, adapt, and grow. In a rapidly changing world, mental wealth—your skills, knowledge, and cognitive flexibility—often determines your capacity to build the other four types of wealth.

The breakthrough insight? These five types of wealth are interconnected and reinforcing. When you optimize for all five simultaneously, you create what I call the "Wealth Flywheel Effect."

Here's what I mean: When I started prioritizing physical wealth (working out consistently), I gained more energy for mental wealth (learning new skills). This led to better opportunities (financial wealth), which gave me more flexibility (time wealth), which strengthened my relationships (social wealth). Each type of wealth I built made it easier to build the others.

The identity shift happened when I stopped seeing myself as "behind" financially and started seeing myself as someone actively building wealth across all five dimensions. Instead of feeling like a failure, I felt like an investor in my own complete abundance.

Your Wealth Identity Audit Challenge

This week, I want you to conduct what I call a "Wealth Identity Audit." Rate yourself on a scale of 1-10 in each of the five wealth types. Be honest—this isn't about judgment, it's about awareness.

Then pick the ONE type of wealth that, if you improved it by just 20%, would have the biggest positive impact on the other four areas. For most people, it's either time wealth or physical wealth.

Start there. Build that flywheel.

Which type of wealth, if you doubled it in the next 12 months, would transform how you see yourself and your possibilities?

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Get the Full Framework

This newsletter just scratches the surface of how the 5 Types of Wealth can transform your entire approach to building abundance. Sahil Bloom's complete framework includes specific strategies for building each type of wealth, how to identify your current wealth profile, and practical steps for creating the flywheel effect in your own life. The shift from scarcity thinking to abundance building starts with understanding that you're already wealthier than you think; you just need to see the full picture.

Get the book here

Subscribe to Sahil’s Newsletter, The Curiosity Chronicle here

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