There is an area of life that’s important, but I didn’t want a hand with six digits, so I put it with the thumb:

Money.*

To phrase it in alignment with Be Well, let’s call it Financial Wellness.

Sometimes models for designing your life omit financial wellness. Sometimes it’s included in the Work area. But we can decouple financial wealth from work.

I place finances with the thumb because Be Well focuses on the physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional energy needed to live our desired lives, and money is congealed energy.

I can spend my energy to clean my condo, or I can use some congealed energy (money) to pay someone else to do it.

To anyone who says money doesn’t matter, I say you’ve never not had enough.

As for wealth, money isn’t the only kind. In The Energy of Money, Maria Nemeth identifies six types of wealth:

• Creativity
• Enjoyment
• Money
• Physical Vitality
• Support of Friends
• Time

Using these six, I measured my wealth before and after retirement. I had more income before retirement but more wealth after (especially Time).

When we’ve got the whole Hand, you may want to align finances to a different digit, but we’ll leave it here for now. We need to make sure Financial Wellness is part of our Hand. Where exactly we put it is less important.

*Almost always Pink Floyd sings in my head when I say that word, thanks to someone in 1974 in the dorm room above ours. They put the song on continuous repeat until dawn. Not the album—the song!

Chewing the Cud of Good

Thankful for YNAB**, because it allows me to boss my money around, rather than be worried about having enough.

**Not an affiliate link, because I don’t believe in them.

? Missed the beginning of this series? It’s here.