Wealth, and the life it serves

I regard the creation of wealth through honest production and voluntary exchange as an achievement.

Someone identifies a need, applies thought, takes a risk and builds something that other people choose to buy. The customer gains something worth paying for. The producer earns a return. There is a reason both sides come back when the exchange works.

That is the kind of enterprise I respect. Its claim rests on the value it creates, and its responsibility is to deliver what it promises. I have no interest in confusing productive achievement with favours, coercion or access to someone else's pocket.

Wealth also expands choice. It can fund the next venture, buy time to think, support a person or purpose I value, and make room for experiences I want. Its significance is partly in what it allows a person to do with a finite life.

That last point matters to me. A growing balance sheet cannot decide what I love, what I find interesting or whose company I enjoy. I have to make those judgments myself. Owning more things is no substitute for knowing which things are worth owning.

I intend to create, earn and enjoy. I accept responsibility for my choices and expect the same freedom I recognise in others. The wealth has a purpose. The life belongs to the person living it.