Tuesday Talks with Brian Etherington: What is Wealth?

Wealth can result from a passive action such as a lottery ticket, an inheritance, a discovery or a gift; but for the vast majority of people it is the result of a journey.

Christopher Columbus said that: “You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore”.

The most significant elements of any successful expedition are generally fortitude, expectations, determination, tools, provisions , vision and planning and are built upon a conviction about oneself, an idea or a higher power.

“Dig the well before you are thirsty” says an old Chinese proverb.

Whether Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist we are taught that Faith is the substance of things believed in and the conviction of things unseen. It is a perspective which allows the traveler to understand his or her diminished state; but accept the wonder of a greater or magnified reach and push forward.

That is not to say that atheists, agnostics and secular humanists for example are excluded, quite the contrary as they are all representative of a set of beliefs that could make the journey much more simple and unencumbered.

What propels us in the words of Harriett Beecher Stowe to: “When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you till it seems you cannot hang on a moment longer – to never give up – for that is just the place and time when the tide will turn”?

The second foundational element of course is Family; that sense of having one another’s back. Loving a parent or grandparent or sibling or child or spouse or uncle or aunt or cousin means that in honouring them, looking out for them, learning from them and caring for them we are given a higher purpose than merely self gratification and immeasurably lifted up.

Wil Rose said that: “Success is not counted by how high you have climbed; but by how many people you brought with you”.

The acquisition of training, education, skills and experience come next; but are nothing in the absence of work ethic, integrity, vision, character, selflessness and gratitude.

These latter elements, regardless of the station of life born into, give us a sense of community, of service, of giving back, of reaching out , of helping others, of purpose, of responsibility. Warren Buffet in July, 2006 upon his decision to give away the vast majority of his wealth said: “I know what I wanted to do and it makes sense to get started”.

Yes, financial planning is the art  of accumulating wealth and estate planning is the science of its successful disposition. But in reality, wealth is the sum total of all these things: Conviction, Family, Preparation, Integrity, Vision and Character. If armed with these tools we are already wealthy – the bricks and mortar will follow – but these are the real currency of life.

Brian Etherington is the Chairman at Etherington Generations; a risk management firm that specializes in family life insurance and estate planning. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2004 and a recipient of The Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002 for community service, as well as The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. He is a Founding Chair of the Special Olympics Canada Foundation  and a chair on the advisory council for the 2019 International Youth Games presented by Special Olympics Ontario.