The Stewardship of Wealth: Successful Private Wealth Management for Investors and Their Advisors, + Website

Afterword

On Happiness

Happiness, madame, happiness.

—Charles de Gaulle¹

Tolstoy was right: All happy families are alike, and that is true whether the families are rich, poor, or middle class. The characteristics that tend to lead to happiness are simply not wealth dependent. Indeed, science is telling us (we already knew this) that human beings have a genetic predisposition toward being happy or unhappy. We all know people who seem to have every reason to be happy, but who in fact are chronically morose and unpleasant to be around. On the other hand, we all know people who face a mountain of miseries but who are always cheerful and upbeat.

Thus, nothing in this book is intended to suggest that merely being wealthy will inevitably lead to happiness. It won't, any more than merely being poor or merely being middle class will inevitably lead to happiness. Happiness, to the extent that it goes beyond genetically wired predispositions, is almost always earned. We earn it by being productive, by overcoming obstacles that challenge us (but that aren't so daunting that they are impossible to conquer), by living in and helping to create a close and loving family environment, by making and keeping friends and acquaintances. None of this happens without effort, and hence the challenge of being happy is at its essence the same for all socioeconomic levels.

Of course, the specific form each of the challenges takes can be powerfully affected by our level of material well-being and by the ...