True Wealth Isn’t What You Think
Lessons on purpose, ego, and the art of becoming who you really are
Original watercolor painting by the author, Desert Sunrise, 2025
If you’ve ever woken up wondering what all the striving is for, the job, the house, the titles, the retirement plan, you’re not alone. Many people reach a point where they realize they’ve done everything “right” yet still feel something is missing.
That missing piece is purpose. Finding meaning and purpose is what the rest of my story is about.
Helping people retire with purpose wasn’t easy
My first business was financial planning and investment management. My job was to discover each client’s needs and help them invest for college or retirement.
I’ll never forget the client who told me his goal was to retire and watch television. This was before the internet, and when I visited his home, he and his wife had two chairs planted squarely in front of a TV. That was it.
That’s retirement without purpose. He worked his entire life to save, invest, and sit.
Then there’s wealth without purpose. A friend told me about a man who bragged that his advisor discovered a few extra million dollars he didn’t know he had. When I asked what the man was like, he said, “He wakes up, drinks, watches TV, goes to lunch at a bar, drinks some more, and passes out.”
That’s wealth without purpose. It’s an existential state of mind that’s pitch black.
There’s also life and work without purpose. It feels like selling your soul for a bi-weekly paycheck. That feeling compelled me to quit a decent career and start my first business at 30, which I later sold.
Wealth is a state of mind, not just money
You can be wealthy and still feel poor inside. You can retire and still feel restless. You can achieve everything the world told you to chase and still not know who you are.
That’s the silent crisis nobody talks about.
Purpose isn’t something you find out there. It’s something you uncover within. And that usually starts by learning who you are not.
You are not your job. You are not your title, your car, your bank account, or someone else’s story.
If I ask you who you are, you might say, “I am John. I am a banker. I am a golfer. I am a foodie.” But what’s the constant in all those statements?
I am.
That’s changeless, eternal, infinite you. Everything else can and will change until the day we return to where we came from.
When others tell you who you are
You may have been told, “You’re the smart one,” “the quiet one,” or “not leadership material.” These are labels—sticky notes someone else put on you. Over time, you collect so many that you forget what’s underneath.
But you can peel them off, one by one. That’s the inner game. That’s the art of life.
Go deep, search inside yourself
The deeper work is noticing what’s no longer you. You grow by subtraction. You learn who you are by shedding what you’re not. That’s the benefit of experience, time, and patience, not trying to be CEO in your third week on the job.
Letting go of the false selves we’ve outgrown isn’t easy. The ego hates change. The soul loves it.
The ego is not your friend, but it wants you to think so
The ego says, “I am my work, my success, what people expect.” But all that can fall apart overnight. And if it does, who are you then?
That’s why Shakespeare wrote: To thine own self be true. In Hamlet, it’s spoken as fatherly advice. A call to integrity. To live in alignment with who you truly are.
When everything else falls away, that’s what remains.
Here’s the good news
It’s never too late to change direction. You can unlearn what no longer serves you and start creating from a deeper, truer place.
Ask yourself, “Who am I?” “What am I pretending not to know?” “If I weren’t afraid, what would I do next?”
Fear is the trap most of us fall into
Look at life as an art school. You’re the artist. You get to create, as long as you trust the higher power driving the bus.
Purpose isn’t always loud. Sometimes it starts as a quiet knowing. A pull in a new direction. A loss of interest in what once thrilled you. Don’t ignore it. That’s your soul doing its job.
Retirement has been replaced by something better
Retirement, as sold to us, is often just another illusion. Marketed as freedom, it becomes a trap if you haven’t done the inner work.
Without purpose, retirement is just a long pause filled with distractions.
Before my father died, I’d visit him in Florida. We’d go grocery shopping, and I’ll never forget seeing the living dead bumping carts into one another.
Ancient Greek wisdom that’s still true today
As Socrates reminds us in Xenophon’s Memorabilia, “He who is not contented with what he has would not be contented with what he would like to have.”
In the end, the search for true wealth, purpose, and peace doesn’t begin with accumulation. It starts with awareness, simplicity, and learning to desire less.
That’s where we uncover the true self. May you search inside yourself and find what matters most.
I’m an author, visual artist, mentor, and strategic guide. Discover how the Clarity S.H.I.F.T. Method™ helps founders, leaders, and professionals to overcome challenges and find clarity, purpose, meaning, and prosperity. Learn more at www.CliffordJones.