Money is not just numbers on a screen. It is energy, choice, and the chance to enjoy a life well-lived. My stance is simple: wealth should be felt, not just tallied. Too many high earners delay joy in the name of discipline and call it wisdom. That is not wisdom. That is fear wearing a calculator.
Wealth Is Meant To Be Lived
I don’t buy certain things because I need them. I buy them because I want them, and because they add color and meaning to my days. Benjamin Franklin put it plainly:
“Wealth isn’t just the man that has it, but the man that lives it.”
That line guided me out of the trap I built early in my career. Saving became a scorecard, not a strategy for a great life. I watched others repeat the same mistake. They did well on paper, but their lives felt flat. They confused hoarding with security.
You are your greatest asset. When energy drops and joy dries up, returns do too. As I often say:
“You are your greatest asset. Your energy matters. Your quality of life matters.”
The 3% Living Wealthy Account
Here’s my practical answer: create a “Living Wealthy” account and fund it with a small, fixed slice of income. Make it guilt-free. Make it automatic. I recommend three percent.
“Why not just have a 3% that goes into account for guilt-free spending?”
This tiny percentage does something big. It gives permission. It replaces vague hope with a clear rule. It trades deprivation for design. You do not blow your future to enjoy your present. You calibrate it.
- Open a separate account labeled “Living Wealthy.”
- Automate 3% of every dollar earned into it.
- Spend it monthly on life-expanding experiences or items.
- No rollovers, no guilt, no explanations.
Use it for date nights, a short trip, a class, a massage, front-row seats, or art that makes you smile each morning. The point is not price. The point is presence.
Why This Works
Behavior beats willpower. A small, preset amount removes the inner debate that drains joy. You stop asking, “Do I deserve this?” and start asking, “What will make life richer this month?”
It also protects long-term goals. Three percent does not wreck a plan. It strengthens it by keeping morale high and burnout low. Many clients earned well yet felt empty. They saved obsessively, as I once did, and missed the very life they claimed to be building. This breaks that cycle.
Answering the Saver’s Objection
The common pushback is simple: “But saving matters.” Agreed. Saving matters. Debt reduction matters. Investing matters. Here is the flaw: over-saving can become a new kind of poverty—the poverty of experience. Money that never funds a better life might as well belong to someone else.
A 3% rule is not recklessness. It is a safeguard against joyless accumulation. It builds a habit of receiving, not only earning. It keeps relationships vibrant and creativity alive. And, yes, it often boosts income, because energized people produce more and seize better opportunities.
What Changes When You Live Wealth
Here is what I’ve seen when people adopt this rule:
- Less resentment toward work and money.
- More connection with family and friends.
- Better health decisions because energy matters again.
- Clearer goals, since life’s “why” gets funded, not postponed.
Money is a means. If it never reaches your senses—taste, touch, sight, sound—it stays trapped as theory. Unlock a slice. Let it feed the life you keep saying you’ll start “after you hit the number.”
Choose Living Over Hoarding
I built wealth fast and learned a hard truth even faster: numbers alone do not feed the soul. The 3% Living Wealthy account is a small rule with massive return. You honor your future and your present at the same time.
Start this month. Set the transfer. Pick one experience that lights you up. Repeat next month. Then watch how energy rises, stress falls, and money becomes a tool again—not a master.
Live your wealth now. Not recklessly. Intentionally. Your quality of life matters, and it starts with one simple, funded decision.
