WHY BUILD SOCIAL AND SPIRITUAL CAPITAL
While the need to build their financial capital might be obvious to all from an early age, many people come to realize the importance of social and spiritual capital much later. Yet all three types of capital affect both the standard of living and quality of life. While financial capital affects your standard of living, social and spiritual capital are key determinants of your quality of life. Standard of living is a tangible and quantifiable measure of the level of wealth, comfort, material goods and necessities available to a certain class of people or geographical area. On the other hand, quality of life is a subjective measure of happiness that varies with individual values, goals and preferences. While standard of living relates to the question how much money is enough, quality of life has to do with general well-being and having the best life possible.
Mitch Anthony, the author of the book ‘Retirementality’, researched on what makes up quality of life and came up with ten aspects classified under the senses of well-being, progress and freedom.
- Sense of well-being:
- Health: Taking care of self
- Relationships: Healthy relationships with family and friends
- Residence: Living in the place you want to be
- Security: Comfort with financial situation
- Sense of progress:
- Learning: Happy with education investments
- Achievements: Getting things done
- Leisure: Enjoying life
- Sense of freedom:
- Freedom: Doing what you want to do in work, relationships and how you want to live
- Work: Feeling good about the contributions you make
- Purpose: Living with meaning
Thankfully, we all have an opportunity to define our quality of life regardless of our God given ability to generate wealth. This eliminates need for comparing oneself to others and enables you to counter peer pressure and focus on what matters most to you.
What are you working so hard for? The more conspicuous standard of living or the less noticeable quality of life? Have you defined your desired standard of life and quality of life? How much money will be enough for you? What will it cost you to attain it.
My ultimate goal is to finish well, not sacrificing my quality of life in pursuit of a higher standard of living. I choose to focus on maximizing my Return on Life (ROL) as defined by Mitch Anthony: Having the best life possible with the financial resources available.
The bible clearly illustrates the folly of focusing on building financial capital and neglecting social and spiritual capital as per a sample of scriptures below.
- Luke 12:13-21 GNT: The Parable of the Rich Fool
A man in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide with me the property our father left us.” Jesus answered him, “Friend, who gave me the right to judge or to divide the property between you two?” And he went on to say to them all, “Watch out and guard yourselves from every kind of greed; because your true life is not made up of the things you own, no matter how rich you may be.”
Then Jesus told them this parable: “There was once a rich man who had land which bore good crops. He began to think to himself, ‘I don’t have a place to keep all my crops. What can I do? This is what I will do,’ he told himself; 19 Then I will say to myself, Lucky man! You have all the good things you need for many years. Take life easy, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself!’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night you will have to give up your life; then who will get all these things you have kept for yourself?’” And Jesus concluded, “This is how it is with those who pile up riches for themselves but are not rich in God’s sight.”-
- 1 Timothy 6:9 NIV: Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
- Proverbs 23:4 GNT: Be wise enough not to wear yourself out trying to get rich.
- Luke 10:41-42 ESV: But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary.[a] Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
- John 6:27 GNT: Do not work for food that spoils; instead, work for the food that lasts for eternal life. This is the food which the Son of Man will give you, because God, the Father, has put his mark of approval on him.”