Wealthly within vs wealthy without

Have you ever wondered if those who look wealthy are truly so?

Do you think if you are wealthy you need to show it or it shows through your inner confidence, self-esteem and self-assurance?

Have you ever wondered if that lady next to you wearing a Rolex or that gentlemen with a thick gold bracelet has a high net worth?

Read on to find out if you are just as curious as myself in knowing how well your fellow commuter on public transport is faring in his or her journey towards financial freedom.

A game you can play on public transport
One of the activities I like to do when I take public transport is to observe my fellow commuters. Those of you who take public transport may want to play this little game that I do, guess their net worth! This is just a game and I am not advocating that we judge people by their net worth but rather to examine to see if there might be relationships between how people display their wealth within through showing off their wealth without. :-)

Rich within and without
I've read "The Millionaire Next Door" as well as articles about the legendary thriftiness of billionaires such as Warren Buffet, Ingvar Kamprad and they have inspired myself to do the same. Hence, I believe that many who have high net worth do not indulge in ostentatious displays of wealth while those who have low self worth tend to compensate by appearing to have wealth in terms of jewellery, luxury watches and other more public displays of wealth.

One way of looking at it is that people who have a relatively high net worth know that they have money and do not want to stick out in the crowd with public displays of wealth. Hence, they tend to wear ordinary everyday clothes and accessories that allow them to blend easily in a crowd. The interesting thing you may notice is that people who tend to have gold chains, jewellery, tend to be those whose likely net worth is lower than the average. I've seen many ah-peks who dress is singlets and shorts and spot heavy gold bracelets while travelling in the MRTs. I've also seen more senior ladies who also dress simply but are heavily adorned with gold jewellery. Are they of high net worth? Perhaps. My intuition tells me that it's more likely they don't have too much in their bank accounts and in the way of investments but rather the more flashy on the outside, the less flashy is their investible savings.

You decide on the wealth within or without
How does this relate to you? Life is short, you have the power to decide what you want to do with your money. If it is to use that bonus for an Audermars Piguet timepiece or that Toyota Camry or even that Mont Blanc pen you have been eyeing, so be it. But think about what is more important to you? Having the wealth within as part of investible savings that yields positive cash flows to help build your retirement fund or that Audermars Piguet timepiece that will do wonders for your ego and self-esteem but works essentially the same as a $50 Casio watch?