New Thoughts about Old Ideas

By: Edward Viljoen on Wednesday, October 15, 2008

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One day, the father of a wealthy family took his son to the country with to show him how poor people live so the son could better appreciate the great wealth of his family. They were hosted on a farm by a poor family. On the way home the father asked his son, 'How was the trip?'
'It was great, Dad.'
'Did you see the difference between how we live and how they live? ' the father asked.
'Oh yes,' said the son.
'So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?' asked the father .
The son answered:
'I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.'
The boy's father was speechless and in the silence the son added. It helped me to understand what poor means.



Adam Smith, in his seminal work The Wealth of Nations, described wealth as "the annual produce of the land and labor of the society". This "produce" is, at its simplest, that which satisfies human needs and wants of utility. In popular usage, wealth can be described as an abundance of items of economic value, or the state of controlling or possessing such items, usually in the form of money, real estate and personal property. An individual who is considered wealthy, affluent, or rich is someone who has accumulated substantial wealth relative to others in their society or reference group. In economics, net wealth refers to the value of assets owned minus the value of liabilities owed at a point in time.

What defines personal wealth for you?