Abstract
This essay will argue that true wealth lies in the productive potential of the resources that one owns, or possesses within oneself, to satisfy the needs and wants of others. In short, you are wealthy when you possess the creative capacity and insight necessary to increase the utility of others through mutually beneficial exchange. Your bank balance is not wealth, and neither is your happiness. Your wealth is found in your as-yet-unrealized transformation of what you currently possess into something valued highly by others according to their individual tastes and preferences. Victor V. Claar and Christopher Lingle, "Stock-Market Valuation Is Not Wealth, and Neither Is Happiness," Journal of Markets & Morality 23, no. 1 (2020): 149-155.