Latest news with #SahilBloom
Business Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Chasing money? Read this before you burn out
[SINGAPORE] Will more money make you happier? According to economist Daryl Fairweather and former private equity investor Sahil Bloom, not necessarily. In their respective new books – Hate the Game by Fairweather and The 5 Types of Wealth by Bloom – both authors explore what truly makes life fulfilling. And both come to a similar conclusion: money, while important, is not enough. Without time, health, purpose and meaningful relationships, money loses its value. To be clear, money does make a difference – especially in the early stages of adulthood. If you are fresh out of school, struggling with student debt and just beginning to assert your financial independence, money can be a source of great joy. It pays for groceries, work clothes, insurance premiums and even small luxuries you once thought were out of reach. It buys you freedom, control and the psychological security of knowing that a medical emergency won't break the bank. But beyond that, the emotional returns start to diminish. 'Money matters the most for happiness when you have less of it,' Fairweather writes. 'When you don't have enough money, you worry about how you'll pay for groceries or what will happen if you get sick and can't work.' But once your needs are met, the impact of more money on your overall well-being becomes less meaningful. You do not get happier with each raise – you just get busier. Sahil Bloom's book The Five Types Of Wealth argues for a multi-dimensional framework for wealth – encompassing time, social, physical, mental and financial wealth. To check how 'wealthy' your are, visit PHOTO: SAHIL BLOOM Fairweather holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago, and is currently chief economist at American real estate platform Redfin. Her book Hate the Game critiques the systems and incentives that keep people stuck in a zero-sum pursuit of wealth. Her argument is part economic analysis, part social commentary – a call to stop playing by the rigged rules of capitalism typically designed to benefit those at the top much more than those beneath. Using game theory, Fairweather frames everyday decisions as strategic moves in broader systems 'designed by, and for, the winners', she writes. Yet rather than advising readers to opt out of capitalism, she teaches them how to identify unfair games, assess their starting positions and adjust their strategies accordingly. 'I titled this book Hate The Game because I don't want you to hate yourself for playing the game of capitalism in its current unfair form. Despite the numerous issues with the rules, playing to win does not make you complicit in the system's flaws. The reality is that there are severe economic consequences for losing.' A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 2 pm Lifestyle Our picks of the latest dining, travel and leisure options to treat yourself. Sign Up Sign Up The book offers a sort of survival strategy for the modern world – helping readers navigate capitalism on their own terms, taking what they need without being consumed by it. Daryl Fairweather's new book Hate The Game: Economic Cheat Codes For Life, Love & Work offers a sort of survival strategy for the modern world. PHOTO: UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS Bloom's book picks up the conversation from a different angle. His focus differs from Fairweather's, and he goes a step further by offering a new framework for what it means to be truly wealthy. In The 5 Types of Wealth, Bloom proposes that there are five essential forms of capital: financial wealth, time wealth, physical wealth (health), social wealth (relationships) and mental or spiritual wealth (purpose). A Stanford graduate and ex-investor who now writes and speaks on personal development, Bloom knows the draw of chasing money as the ultimate scoreboard. But he also knows the emptiness that can come from achieving financial goals while neglecting everything else. 'Once you've achieved a baseline level of financial well-being,' he writes, 'more money is unlikely to meaningfully affect your overall happiness. The default scoreboard – focused on money – may be a useful asset in the earliest days of your journey, but it is a liability when you're attached to it in the later days.' True wealth, he argues, is not just about net worth – it is about designing a life you do not want to escape from. Can you spend your time as you please? Are you in good health? Do you feel connected to others? Do you wake up each day with a sense of purpose? Without these, a high salary and a big house are little more than polished distractions. In fact, Bloom suggests, they may even mask deeper deficits. A well-paying job with no time, chronic stress and loneliness is not wealth – it is a debt you cannot repay. While much of this may sound familiar – after all, most people instinctively know that money cannot buy love or lasting happiness – Bloom gives language and structure to something that many people feel but have not articulated. By categorising the often-overlooked dimensions of wealth, he creates a framework for self-reflection. Sahil Bloom's book The Five Types of Wealth: A Transformative Guide To Design Your Dream Life gives language and structure to something that many people feel but have not articulated. PHOTOS: BALLANTINE BOOKS Some of the book's most engaging and useful sections are also the most interactive. There is a quiz, for instance, to help readers assess which types of wealth they have in abundance, and which ones they may be neglecting. (The quiz is also available online at – in our view, every working adult should give it a go.) Another highlight is his listicle Seven Pieces of Career Advice I Wish I Had Known When I Was Starting Out, which includes practical nuggets such as: 'Be a remarkable storyteller', 'Be a reliable figure-it-outer', 'Work hard early in your career; work smart later in life' and 'Do the old-fashioned things well – like punctuality, posture, eye contact, handshake and general professionalism'. (The listicle is also available on Bloom's site Taken together, Hate the Game and The 5 Types of Wealth challenge the assumption that financial success is the ultimate measure of a good life. They argue, in different but complementary ways, that fulfilment stems not from how much you earn, but from how well you live – with purpose, connection, health and autonomy. In a culture obsessed with chasing high net-worth status, these books offer a necessary reminder that the richer life you dream of having might just be the one you are too busy to notice. Hate the Game by Daryl Fairweather and The 5 Types of Wealth by Sahil Bloom are available in good bookstores
Forbes
27-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
A Method For Maximizing Memories With Money
Sahil Bloom recently shared a jarring stat: 'By the time your child turns 18, you've spent ~95% of the time you will ever spend with them in your lifetime,' based on research from the American Time Use Survey done by Our World in Data. At first glance, many parents feel a sting of, 'Geez, am I being [or have I been] a poor steward of the limited time I've been given to spend time with my kids!?' But I don't think this is a revelation rooted in guilt. Making Is Great. Maximizing, Even Better. Furthermore, as someone with two older kids (21 and 19) and one much younger (17 months), I can tell you that some of the most priceless moments I've spent with the older kids occurred after they were 18. And perhaps that's the point. This statistic is simply a reminder to heighten our awareness, to better appreciate those younger moments that often feel more like monotony or even drudgery—and then to do a better job crafting experiences that will maximize those valuable memories that we hope will mark our relationships with friends and family at any age. And by the way, spending money on experiences is the way to get the most bang for our buck. Or, as Kumar, Killingsworth, and Gilovich put it in their 2020 study, "People derive more satisfaction from experiential purchases (e.g., travel, entertainment, outdoor activities, meals out) than material purchases (e.g., clothing, jewelry, furniture, gadgets), both in prospect and retrospect." So, how can we maximize these experiences—these memories we're creating—and increase the rate of return on the money we invested? Perhaps from an unlikely place. I recommend applying an evidence-based approach to relationship management that I learned from author, consultant, and former actuary Mo Bunnell: One of the best pieces of parenting advice I ever got was that, to optimize the lessons I hope to instill in my children, I need to give up on the proactive lecture [sigh] and instead be ready to deliver the important (and hopefully concise) insight reactively, at the moment that the kids express their curiosity. While I've not always followed this excellent advice, it has borne much fruit when I have— especially on the big stuff. With stuff like faith, family, work, money, education, sex, drinking, drugs, and rock-and-roll, it's been more natural to address these matters when the kids make a comment or ask a question. And trust me, parents, if we have ears to hear, they will signal their curiosity, and we will learn from our kids. This works no differently in crafting the best experiences of any size or scope, and with anyone, but especially our family members. If and when we become students of those we love, they will show us what interests them. Then, we have an opportunity to pour fuel on the fire of that nascent curiosity. If your kids show interest in trains, why not ask them on a Saturday morning if they would be interested in going to a nearby train station? If they show interest in plants or flowers, ask them if they might like to plant a seedling or build a raised-bed garden with you. They show interest in music, ask them if they'd like to go to a concert. Now, I realize that we can't make every shred of curiosity into an extravagant occasion—and nor should we. Money is great memory fuel, but while most experiences cost something, they need not be expensive to captivate our attention and leave a meaningful mark. And with kids (of any age), we may need to redirect their curiosity into a more reasonable (or less costly) direction—but without putting a wet blanket on their inquisitiveness. 'Well, going to the moon may not be in the cards, but what about a trip to the planetarium?' 'What's a planetarium?' 'Ooh, it's a special place where…' One of the keys to memory maximization is giving our loved ones a chance to have some agency in the experience we're planning. You might love live music, and you may have good reason to introduce your kids to music you love—but what about asking them who they would like to see in concert? Maybe you even create a rhythm of going back-and-forth between who chooses the next musical act you'll see. This is an approach that I have directly benefited from, as I've now had unforgettable experiences seeing U2, Kendrick Lamar (twice), Mumford & Sons (twice), JID, My Morning Jacket, J. Cole, Tame Impala, and many smaller acts, all with my young adult kids—and you can guess which ones were their ideas. (You might be surprised. 😊) Here, we divert from Mo Bunnell's method and back to the wisdom gained from the above-referenced study: 'People derive more satisfaction from experiential purchases … than material purchases … both in prospect and retrospect." (Italics are mine.) You know this to be true, right? One of the key factors adding to our most memorable experiences is anticipating that experience and rehashing thereafter. Before all those concerts, for example, we made up playlists enshrining our favorite songs that we would listen to weeks in advance and on the way to the show. Then afterward, we'd bounce back-and-forth discussing our favorite moments of each show—and creating a sharable playlist from the night's setlist. Now, years beyond any of those events, every time one of those songs comes on when we're all together (or apart), we're immediately taken back to the sights and sounds of these indelible memories. The total value derived from those memories has long ago exceeded any investment—and that is my hope for you. So, what memory can you begin planning to maximize this week? What information have your loved ones already shared that you can use to spark their curiosity? What experience can you build together, anticipate, and remember forever? P.S. I had the opportunity to talk to Sahil Bloom recently about his new book, 'The 5 Types of Wealth," which was the inspiration for this post. You can click HERE to enjoy that conversation.
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Rethinking the notion of a 'wealthy life'
If you've ever felt that your relentless pursuit of money was sabotaging your ability to lead a fulfilling life, you're in the same boat as Sahil Bloom. His quest for more was zapping him. On one hand, he writes in his new book 'The 5 Types of Wealth: A Transformative Guide to Design Your Dream Life," he turned 30 and had achieved every marker of what he believed success looked like. 'I had the high-paying job, the title, the house, the car — it was all there.' Beneath the surface, he was miserable. That led him to the theory that most people have a narrow measurement of wealth, success, happiness, and fulfillment entirely defined by money. And that backfires. For Bloom, the greatest discoveries in life have come not from finding the right answers but from asking the right questions. To learn how to do just that, I asked him to share some of his advice. Below are excerpts of our conversation, edited for length and clarity. Kerry Hannon: How do we play the game wrong when it comes to wealth? Sahil Bloom: Focusing on money as the sole measure of your life is the way that we typically play the game wrong. Money isn't nothing, but it simply can't be the only thing. Money is part of your wealthy life, but it is not the entirety of it. What are the five types of wealth as you define them? Time wealth is the first. This is all about the freedom to choose how you spend your time, who you spend it with, where you spend it, when you trade it for other things. It starts with an awareness of time as your most precious asset, as the only thing that you cannot get back or can't get more of. That awareness is what changes everything. The second type is social wealth: your relationships, the people, the few deep close connections, and then the broader circles of looser connections in your life. This provides a lot of the texture and meaning on your journey. The third type is mental wealth. This is your purpose, growth, and creating the space necessary to actually wrestle with some of these bigger-picture, unanswerable questions in your life, whether through religion, solitude, or spirituality. The fourth type is physical wealth. This is about your health and vitality, taking the controllable actions to fight against the natural decay that your body will go through as you age. And then the fifth type is financial wealth — with the specific nuance of really understanding your definition of enough, what it looks like to live your life with the recognition that expectations are your single greatest financial liability. Because if your expectations rise faster than your assets, you will never feel wealthy. You'll never feel rich. You write that you can cut your expenses only so much, but you can make your income grow forever. Can you explain that a little bit? The traditional wisdom in personal finance is to talk to people about budgeting and expense management. It's oh, stop spending money on the $5 Starbucks coffee. And that's how you walk toward financial independence. While I do believe in expense management as an important pillar, it is very challenging to cut your way to a wealthy life because, fundamentally, you can only cut your expenses so far, but your income and skills can continue to scale in perpetuity. It's actually much more effective to, yes, live below your means and be prudent in how you manage expenses, but focus your attention and energy on growing your income and building the skills necessary to do that. You have a somewhat contrarian view on investing. Let's discuss. Don't get so caught up in all of the details and nuances of your investments. What happens to a lot of people is they'll have $100,000 in investible assets and also $100,000 in income. And they're focusing so much time and energy on how they invest the hundred thousand that they have, rather than taking that same energy and thinking about how to double their income. If you double your income, that's a 100% return. But if you get another 1% return on your investible assets, that's only $1,000. It's a dramatic difference in terms of the impact you can create by focusing on your income versus focusing on the investment of your assets. For someone who is retired or nearing retirement, how can they benefit from learning more about these pillars of wealth? The most important concept to understand as you get close to retirement is what enough looks like. The tendency is to be told by the world that you should be chasing more. You're told that there's this mountain that you haven't climbed yet, this thing that you have to do. You're compared to others and you're told you have to do it faster and faster, do more and more. And that's a recipe for unhappiness. Understanding what enough looks like to you, what that life actually looks like that you are trying to build toward is a recipe for fulfillment and contentment and happiness. The other piece is recognizing that these other types of wealth are going to be the things that drive incremental happiness after you've achieved a baseline level of financial wellness. It's going to be time, people, purpose, and health. So using money as a tool rather than as the goal is where you are trying to get to as you get closer to the end of that work journey. What do you see as the most radical takeaway from your book? The single most radical idea is just to recognize that most of us spend our entire lives rapidly and furiously climbing up these mountains without ever taking a moment to ask ourselves whether they are mountains that we actually want to climb. Define what actually matters to you, not what the world tells you you should care about, not what your friends tell you, and certainly not what social media tells you. And then go take actions to build your life around those things. That answer is going to be different for every single person. I can't give you the answers for your life because you are going to have an entirely different set of priorities and considerations. The point is that we all get to choose. You get to live by design rather than by default. By subscribing, you are agreeing to Yahoo's Terms and Privacy Policy You end the book with some advice that your father gave to you. Talk a little bit about that. When I was graduating from college and about to start my first job, I had dinner with my dad and I asked him what advice he would give me. He said the single most important advice that I can give you is to never think twice about investments in yourself. Books, quality food, fitness, mental health, personal development, those are all investments in you that are going to pay dividends for a long, long time. I thought that that was such an important and powerful articulation because it's very easy to start penny-pinching on things like that, especially in a world where you're told you need to be really disciplined about your budget. Kerry Hannon is a Senior Columnist at Yahoo Finance. She is a career and retirement strategist and the author of 14 books, including "In Control at 50+: How to Succeed in the New World of Work" and "Never Too Old to Get Rich." Follow her on Bluesky. Sign up for the Mind Your Money newsletter
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Harper Collins is proud to announce the publication of 'The 5 Types of Wealth' by Sahil Bloom
Published by HarperCollinsPaperback | Non-fiction | Self Help | 400 pp | INR 599Available wherever books are sold | Out Now Sahil Bloom's modern guide with the power to change your life. NEW DELHI , Feb. 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- HarperCollins Publishers India is delighted to announce the publication of 'The 5 Types of Wealth: A Transformative Guide to Design Your Dream Life' by Sahil Bloom. ABOUT THE BOOK "A powerful call to action to think deeply about what lights you up."Tim Cook,CEO of Apple "Great storytelling, great takeaways and great wisdom."Susan Cain, Bestselling Author of Quiet DISCOVER THE 5 TYPES OF WEALTH AND DESIGN YOUR DREAM LIFE. After years of research and thousands of interviews worldwide, Sahil Bloom has created a groundbreaking blueprint centred around five types of wealth. Through science-backed practices and actionable insights, you will learn how to grow your: TIME WEALTHUnlock more time in your life. SOCIAL WEALTHCreate deeper bonds and build a powerful network. MENTAL WEALTHEngage your purpose to spark continuous growth. PHYSICAL WEALTHMaximise health and vitality through three simple principles. FINANCIAL WEALTHAchieve financial independence and define your version of 'enough'. It's a journey that can start today - and change your world faster than you thought possible. Sahil Bloom says, "I'm thrilled to finally share The 5 Types of Wealth with the world. The ideas in this book changed my life, and I'm confident they have the power to change yours. This book is your modern guide to identifying the things that truly matter to you, and then taking the action to build your life around those things. It's time we all reject the default and live by design." Sachin Sharma, Publisher, HarperCollins says, "This book is not just a great guide to find true wealth but also an eye opener for all who believed that money was the only type of wealth. By the time you finish reading it, you not only get richer with profound wisdom, your outlook towards what matters most in life transforms." ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sahil Bloom is an inspirational writer and content creator, captivating millions of people every week through his insights and bi-weekly newsletter, 'The Curiosity Chronicle'. Sahil is a successful entrepreneur, owner of SRB Holdings, and the managing partner of SRB Ventures, an early-stage investment fund. ABOUT HARPER COLLINS PUBLISHERS INDIA HarperCollins India publishes some of the finest writers from the Indian Subcontinent and around the world, publishing approximately 200 new books every year, with a print and digital catalogue of more than 3,000 titles across 10 imprints. Its authors have won almost every major literary award including the Man Booker Prize, JCB Prize, DSC Prize, The Erasmus Prize, New India Foundation Award, Atta Galatta Prize, Shakti Bhatt Prize, Gourmand Cookbook Award, Publishing Next Award, Tata Literature Live! Award, Gaja Capital Business Book Prize, BICW Award, Sushila Devi Award, Sahitya Akademi Award, and Crossword Book Award. HarperCollins India also represents some of the finest publishers in the world including Harvard University Press, Gallup Press, Oneworld, Bonnier Zaffre, Usborne, Dover, Nosy Crow, and Quarto. HarperCollins India is India's most awarded publisher with seven Publisher of the Year Awards (2015, 2016, 2018, two in 2021, 2022, and 2024). HarperCollins India is a subsidiary of HarperCollins Publishers. Photo: View original content to download multimedia: Sign in to access your portfolio
