Wealth ≠ Money ≠ Status 💎

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Happy Friday everyone!

This week, we had the latest Q&A call with members of Moonshot PRO - and we had some great discussions.

We talked about how to create a location-independent business from scratch, the best platforms to build an audience, how and whether to buy real estate in the US, Italy, Spain, and a lot more.

Unsurprisingly, our members come from all over the world.

For example, one member lives full-time in an RV and manages her businesses and investments remotely as she travels all over the United States.

How cool.

I think what she’s built for herself is incredible. It represents the real reason I write these newsletters to you.

Freedom.

The freedom to do whatever you want, wherever you want, whenever you want.

Look - I believe most of us aren’t motivated just to make more money. But we fall into the trap of thinking we do.

In reality, most of us don’t really care whether we have $1 million, $5 million, $10 million to our name.

These are just numbers.

What we really want is the feeling - of freedom, certainty, abundance.

We want to feel that no matter what happens in the world, we’re going to thrive financially…

… that we can take advantage of everything the world has to offer and experience everything we truly want…

… and that we never have to show up because someone else tells us to… but because we want to.

That’s why I define wealth differently than most people.

To me, the day you are wealthy is the day you stop sacrificing today for an imaginary tomorrow.

It’s when today is complete in and of itself. It’s when you feel free.

That doesn’t mean not working, by the way. It could mean having work you enjoy doing for the sake of it or having your investments pay for your lifestyle.

Yes, this requires money. But endless accumulation for the sake of it is a trap because it will never be enough. It’s the classic hedonistic treadmill.

How much you have isn’t what matters. It’s how you use it to shape the life you want that really matters.

Wealth is a highly individual journey because it’s about creating a life that works for you, not for others.

It’s about deliberately designing it so that it meets your needs for certainty, abundance, and freedom - whatever that means for you.

If you have $5 million in the bank but are slaving away and depressed longing for something different, are you really wealthy?

Wealth isn’t just a number. It’s a feeling.

That’s why I insist so much on individual lifestyle design.

In fact, I believe that optimizing for quality of life should be your first priority.

If your dream is to live in Bali on $3,000/month, you can either work at your office job in London for another 8 years to save money… and then move to Bali…

…or you can figure out how to make $3,000/month from Bali today.

Yes, it will require that you change your paradigm about what it means to have a career, and you will likely have to give up on lots of experiences you associate with success - like prestigious job titles or a cushy income.

Good.

Expensive cars, big houses, fancy venues, and VP titles are all just status symbols.

There’s nothing wrong with them per se - I enjoy some of them too - but chasing them at the expense of what you truly want is a sure-fire way to make yourself miserable.

That’s why I travel so much.

To me, traveling is something I do for its own sake. I don’t do it for some future goal or to impress anyone.

I do it because experiences are what I value the most in life. It’s the single best return on my money - for me.

And I’ve found that beyond a certain base level, the amount of money you spend doesn’t fundamentally change the quality of your experience.

I don’t delude myself anymore into thinking my traveling will get better with more money. The magic of a place like Angkor Wat doesn’t change whether you spend $50 there or $5,000.

So instead of optimizing for some unclear goal (e.g. “I want to make more money”) or arbitrary number (e.g. “I want to make $5 million”), I encourage you to instead optimize for the lifestyle you want and reverse engineer what it will take to create that.

What would your day look like it if were complete, and done for its own sake? And how much would it cost?

Every desire you have is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get it.

So choose your desires very carefully.

You’ll much happier as a result of it.

Sending you much love from the sunny South of France,

Alex.