Chasing money? Read this before you burn out
Two new books – one written by an economist, and the other by an ex-private equity investor – insist more money won’t make you happier
[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.
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.”
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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.
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.
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 the5typesofwealth.com/quiz – 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 sahilbloom.com.)
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
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