It's the end of the school year, so it's time to get a little philosophical.

Answer: Will vary

The motivation for this question came from this Schwab Modern Wealth survey completed by 1,000 Americans. Here were the top 3 ways they defined wealth:

1. Living stress-free/peace of mind (28 percent)
2. Being able to afford anything I want (18 percent)
3. Loving relationships with my family and friends (17 percent)

Questions:

• Why do you think people define wealth in so many different ways?
• Do you think your definition of wealth will change over time? Explain. 
• How much do you think you need (the number) in order to be wealthy? Explain your reasoning. 

Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom. 

Behind the numbers (Bloomberg):

There were some heartening signs amid the numbers. While 18 percent defined wealth as being able to afford anything they desired, 17 percent said it was “loving relationships with family and friends.” That jibes with how Joe Duran, chief executive officer of money manager United Capital, said he likes to think of “wealth.” After building and selling his first company, “I realized that money is nothing more than fuel,” he said. “It is a resource that lets you have choices, but if you don’t think about what you are working for, you will die rich but not live rich.” 

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Have your students take the Modern Wealth Survey (the last screen will ask for email; you can bypass to get results without one). Tell them the goal is for them to get the highest score since many of them won't have enough experience to truthfully answer the questions. 

• Keep a running list of the positive behaviors that are described in the survey. 
• Identify concepts from the survey that they are not familiar with.
• Optimize to get the highest score. Figure out what actions/answers helped achieve that score. 

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.