Why Happy People Build Wealth Faster

What does gratitude mean to you?

The English definition misses the mark. It doesn't quite capture that gratitude is a personal experience.

Have you ever thought about what this experience looks like for you?

I was asked this question recently when I went on The Gratitude Podcast. It might not seem intuitive, but we talked about gratitude in the context of building wealth.

When most people think about building wealth, they focus on numbers—savings rates, investment returns, debt elimination strategies. These are undeniably important mechanics, but there’s a crucial element that gets overlooked in traditional wealth planning: gratitude.

For me, gratitude is when I open myself up to the feeling of joy. I almost hate to articulate this, because it sounds too simple. The reality, though, is that the practice has been a life-long challenge. Life is good when it comes easy to me. And when it doesn't- then I know I need to make big changes in my life. Gratitude is not just being thankful. It's not just appreciating, or showing kindness. It is a mind-altering state and it drives how we participate in our own lives.

At first glance, gratitude might seem like a soft concept that has little place in the hard realities of financial planning. But the truth is, gratitude is a powerful foundation for building not just wealth, but the kind of life you actually want to live with that wealth.

What Does “True Wealth” Even Look Like?

Before we can understand how gratitude fits into wealth building, we need to redefine what wealth actually means. It’s not just about accumulating assets or reaching a certain net worth milestone. It’s about having the financial freedom to live according to your values and spend your time on what brings you genuine joy.

This is where many wealth plans fall short. They focus on the destination: retirement, financial independence, or some other distant goal, without clearly defining what that destination actually looks like in daily life.

• What would you do with each hour of your day if money weren’t a constraint?

• How would you spend your mornings?

• What activities would fill your weekends?

• What kind of work would you choose to do, if any?

  
  

These aren’t frivolous questions. They’re the foundation of a meaningful wealth plan because they help you understand what you’re actually working toward. Without this clarity, you risk spending decades climbing a ladder only to discover it was leaning against the wrong wall.

Gratitude Illuminates Your Path to Financial Freedom

Gratitude plays two essential roles in creating a wealth plan that actually serves your life, rather than consuming it.

1. Gratitude Reveals What Truly Brings You Joy

When we practice gratitude regularly, we begin to notice patterns in what makes us feel most alive and content. We start to recognize that joy often comes from surprisingly simple pleasures: the ritual of Sunday morning coffee on the porch, the satisfaction of tending a garden, the connection felt during weekly art classes, or the peace found on nature walks.

This awareness is revolutionary for wealth planning because it reveals that many of our deepest sources of happiness don’t require massive financial resources. The things that bring us the most joy often take up the smallest space in our monthly budgets. This realization can fundamentally shift your financial timeline.

Instead of believing you need to work relentlessly for 15 or 20 more years to afford happiness “someday,” you discover that much of what you’re seeking is already within reach. Your wealth plan transforms from a distant promise into a present reality that can be experienced and refined every day.

2. Gratitude Empowers Your Financial Journey

The second way gratitude supports wealth building is by shifting your relationship with your financial past and present. Too often, people approach money from a place of shame, focusing on mistakes made, opportunities missed, or progress that feels too slow. This shame-based mindset is not just emotionally draining—it’s practically counterproductive. When we’re focused on our financial failures, we’re not directing our energy toward solutions and opportunities. Shame keeps us stuck, while gratitude moves us forward.

Gratitude allows us to acknowledge and appreciate what we’ve already accomplished. It helps us recognize the financial foundation we’ve built, even if it’s not where we ultimately want to be. When we can appreciate the steps we’ve taken- paying off debt, building an emergency fund, contributing to retirement accounts, or simply making it through challenging financial period- we feel empowered to continue making positive choices.

This shift from shame to empowerment is crucial because sustainable wealth building requires consistent action over time. When we feel good about our financial choices, we’re more likely to stick with beneficial habits and less likely to make impulsive decisions that derail our progress.

Practicing Gratitude in Your Wealth Plan

Integrating gratitude into your wealth planning doesn’t require complex strategies or time-consuming practices. Here are some practical ways to weave gratitude throughout your financial journey:

🥰 Create a joy inventory.

Regularly notice and record what brings you genuine happiness. Pay attention to the moments when you feel most content and alive. Notice how many of these moments require significant financial resources versus those that don’t.

🙌 Acknowledge your financial wins.

Instead of only focusing on what you haven’t achieved yet, regularly acknowledge what you have accomplished. This might be paying off a credit card, increasing your savings rate, or simply making it through a difficult financial period without taking on additional debt.

💜 If you need help with this, grab our free resource: 30 Days of Financial Gratitude.

🧘‍♀️ Practice present-moment wealth.

Rather than waiting for financial independence to start living according to your values, look for ways to incorporate what brings you joy into your current life. If nature walks bring you peace, prioritize time for walks now. If creative pursuits energize you, find ways to make time for them within your current budget.

🌻 Reframe your financial story.

Instead of viewing your current financial situation as a problem to be solved, try seeing it as a starting point from which to build something meaningful. Gratitude helps us see our resources- however limited they might feel- as tools rather than barriers.

The Ripple Effects of Grateful Wealth Building

When gratitude becomes a cornerstone of your wealth plan, the effects extend far beyond your bank account.

🌱 You begin to make financial decisions from a place of abundance rather than scarcity.

🕊️ You’re more likely to invest in experiences and choices that align with your values.

💪 You develop resilience during market downturns or financial setbacks because your sense of wealth isn’t entirely dependent on external numbers.

Perhaps most importantly, you begin living the life you want now, rather than postponing happiness until some future financial milestone is reached. This doesn’t mean being financially irresponsible or abandoning long-term planning. It means building a wealth plan that serves your life every step of the way, not just at the finish line.

Gratitude isn’t just a nice addition to your wealth plan. It’s an essential ingredient that transforms financial planning from a numbers-focused exercise into a life-designing practice. By helping you identify what truly brings you joy and empowering you to move forward from where you are now, gratitude ensures that your wealth plan serves not just your future self, but your present life as well.

The most sustainable wealth plans are built on a foundation of clarity about what matters most to you and appreciation for what you already have. When gratitude guides your financial decisions, you create not just wealth, but a wealthy life- one that begins today, not someday.