I’m a big advocate of value-driven wealth creation. In simple terms, this means recognising that we have limited time and resources. We’re all mortal, and one day we will die. So, we have to make the most of the time and resources we do have.

We have to face facts: most of us can rely on a single salary and don’t have unlimited cash to fund our goals and dreams. As a result, we have to focus. If we focus our time and energy on our resources, we can dramatically increase the  probability of creating wealth.

Those who spend time and resources social signalling and showing off material wealth communicate they are not introspective. These people don’t know who they are, what they want or why they want it. Instead, they spend all their time and energy trying to conform to a consumerist-driven societal standard of success.

What is your purpose, and what gives your life meaning?

Many of us do this because introspection is tough. One of the hardest things you’ll ever have to do as a human being is figuring out who you are. Those who define their worth purely in monetary terms struggle to see the money for what it is, a tool instead of a goal. 

Even after consistently levelling up in their lives and careers, most people still feel unsatisfied or uninspired. This is because they haven’t quantified what is enough. So, they keep lurching from one level to the other, looking for fulfillment to smack them in the face. 

But this will never happen until they clearly define what they’re looking for. If the goal is more money, there can never be enough. Chasing more money is a futile journey that will only lead to stress and perpetual frustration. Why? 

Money is meant to be motion, circulating from us to other people then back to us again. Even when we save money, we’re simply storing it for later use.

Don’t let money define you

But if we are to make a subtle change in how we think about money, from ‘needing more’ to ‘using better’, only then can we appreciate money as a tool. And tools are meant to be used, not hoarded.

When you make money a tool or object, you depersonalise it and make less emotional decisions about using it. Money ceases to define our worth. How much we have and how we use it no longer needs to evoke feelings of guilt, fear, greed or happiness. 

Instead, we use a tool that helps us obtain our three core needs: competence, connection and autonomy. But fulfilling these needs isn’t a one-time job but a lifelong journey. In other words, our core psychological needs are the driving force behind every project, relationship or goal that we choose to pursue.

Once we fulfill these goals and satisfy our core needs, we experience true happiness. The true power of wealth is to have authority over ourselves and our contexts.

Define yourself first

Define yourself and what money means to you. Introspection is hard, but the benefit of setting values and defining your world is incredible. Don’t allow money and material objects define who you are. If you define yourself through money, you’re not likely to learn to use money for its true purpose. 

This shift in thinking can change our feelings about money and how we use it because we no longer need to think about good and bad, positive or negative. This kind of thinking focuses us instead on the outcome of our actions.

When we use money today, we’re not spending it or blowing it. We’re using the best tool available to get the job done. Money is a tool that we can use to help us achieve what we want to set better goals for ourselves, and our finances will bring more fulfillment and satisfaction to our lives.

Mduduzi Luthuli is an investment manager who specialises in building equity, fixed income and balanced portfolios appropriate to investors’ objectives. His broad experience in the financial market and tenure in the business has given him the informed perspective—from both sides of the trade—to identify situations that reflect greater future value.

Inc