I have been broke in ways that felt wealthy and wealthy in ways that felt like poverty. The difference was not the number in the account. It was the number of options available to me.
Wealth is the ability to choose. Not to spend — to choose. To decide how you spend your time, who you work with, what problems you work on, where you live, what you commit to and what you walk away from. Every dimension of that choice-making capacity is a dimension of wealth.
Money is one mechanism for producing options. It is not the only one and not always the most efficient one. Reputation produces options — the option to work with people who otherwise would not work with you. Knowledge produces options — the option to see opportunities others cannot see. Relationships produce options — the option to get access, introductions, information and support that money alone cannot buy.
The mistake most people make with money is treating accumulation as the goal rather than option-creation as the goal. A large number in a bank account that is tied to obligations, lifestyle costs and dependencies is not wealth. It is a number. The person with half that amount who has no obligations, low fixed costs and relationships that extend their reach in every direction may have far more actual wealth — far more options available to them.
The profound insight is to evaluate every financial and life decision by its effect on your options, not your balance sheet. Does this increase or decrease the number of things available to me? Does this create flexibility or obligation? Does this expand my range of possible futures or contract it? Optimise for options. The money follows.