What if wealth isn’t just about money? In the book, The 5 Types of Wealth, entrepreneur and investor Sahil Bloom argues that genuine prosperity requires building financial resources, time freedom, meaningful relationships, mental well-being, and physical health simultaneously.
Bloom draws from his experience in private equity and venture investing to challenge society’s narrow definition of success. This book overview focuses on his practical framework for achieving balance across all five wealth types, exploring specific strategies for each area and examining how progress in one domain amplifies the others to create lasting transformation in your life experience.
The 5 Types of Wealth Book Overview
In his book The 5 Types of Wealth, Sahil Bloom challenges the conventional wisdom that money equals success. Instead, he argues that true wealth encompasses five areas—financial resources, an abundance of time, meaningful relationships, mental well-being, and physical health—and that you must build wealth across all five domains simultaneously, rather than optimizing one at the expense of others. Bloom applies this framework for wealth to every aspect of modern life—from career choices and daily routines to personal relationships and long-term goals. He says that rather than chasing society’s narrow definitions of success, you should identify and prioritize what actually creates lasting happiness in order to design a genuinely fulfilling life.
Bloom is an entrepreneur, investor, and content creator who publishes the biweekly newsletter “The Curiosity Chronicle.” He serves as managing partner of SRB Ventures, a $10 million venture investment firm, and owns SRB Holdings, a personal holding company. Previously, he spent seven years as a private equity investor.
In this guide, we’ll explore the philosophy behind Bloom’s approach and offer strategies for building wealth in each area. We’ll then examine how progress in one type of wealth strengthens the others, creating positive momentum that transforms your entire life experience.
A Different Definition of Wealth
Bloom says that most of us have been sold a lie about success: “Work hard, make money, buy things, and happiness will follow.” Yet despite unprecedented global prosperity, people’s rates of anxiety, depression, and general life dissatisfaction continue climbing. Even people who achieve traditional financial success often find themselves asking, “Is this it?” Bloom argues this happens because we’re measuring wealth all wrong. True wealth cannot be captured by your bank balance or net worth alone. Bloom acknowledges that money is necessary, but research reveals a clear threshold: Once you achieve basic comfort and security, additional money rarely increases happiness.
According to Bloom, people continue to pursue wealth because of a psychological “glitch.” They remember how money solved their early problems—rent, food, health care—and mistakenly think more money will bring the same relief. This creates a “financial treadmill” where satisfaction stays forever out of reach.
The Five Types of Wealth
If not defined by money, what does constitute a wealthy life? Bloom identifies five interconnected areas of wealth: financial resources, time freedom, meaningful relationships, mental clarity and growth, and physical health. He argues that true wealth means finding balance across all five areas rather than optimizing one at the expense of the others.
According to Bloom, working with this expanded definition of wealth will transform how you approach major life decisions. Should you take that high-paying job with terrible hours? How do you build a career without sacrificing your health? When is it worth saying no to opportunities that don’t align with your values? The five types of wealth provide a decision-making lens that goes beyond simple financial calculations.
In the following sections, we’ll explore each wealth type in detail, highlighting the key principles that drive results and practical strategies you can implement right away. Most importantly, we’ll see how progress in one area amplifies the others, creating momentum that builds wealth across all five areas of your life.
Financial Wealth
Remember that “financial treadmill” where satisfaction stays forever out of reach? Breaking free starts with redefining what financial success means to you. According to Bloom, financial wealth isn’t about having the most money—it’s about having enough money to feel secure and make choices based on your values rather than just your bills. Start figuring out what “enough” looks like by answering specific questions: Where do you want to live? What do you need to own? What do you want to spend your days doing? How much money in savings would make you feel secure? Write down detailed answers and create a clear picture of this life. This turns “enough” from a vague idea into a specific target.
The Three Pillars of Financial Wealth
Bloom identifies three key areas for building sustainable financial wealth:
1) Income Generation: Create stable, growing income through your main job, side work, and passive income streams. According to Bloom, the most sustainable approach is to develop versatile skills that work across different careers and can be used for both steady employment and profitable side businesses. Start with one marketable skill that interests you—whether it’s writing, design, sales, or data analysis—and get good enough to earn money from it. Then gradually expand to related skills that compound your earning potential.
2) Expense Management: With your income flowing, Bloom suggests the next step is managing it wisely. Control your spending by making sure your expenses don’t outpace your earnings. Focus on four key practices: Create and follow a budget, automatically save money each month, build an emergency fund with six months of expenses, and resist spending more just because you earn more. This creates a surplus—money left over for you to invest.
3) Long-Term Investment: Finally, invest the money you’ve saved. Bloom recommends starting with index funds that track the stock market or target-date funds that automatically adjust as you age. These require no special knowledge or daily monitoring but still grow your wealth over time. Focus on investing consistently—$100 invested monthly for 10 years (a $12,000 investment) typically grows to around $15,000-$20,000 over that same period. The key is staying invested for years and letting compound interest work for you—time is your biggest advantage, not picking the perfect, winning stocks.
Don’t forget to invest in yourself as well. According to Bloom, money spent on books, courses, health, and skills development often provides the best returns of all, improving your earning potential and quality of life for decades.
Bloom emphasizes that money is a means, not the end goal. Once you reach your definition of “enough,” you can shift your energy from earning more money to investing in relationships, health, and personal growth—the things that create a fulfilling life. This shift requires more than just financial resources—it requires control over your most precious asset: time.
Time Wealth
Despite having longer lifespans and better technology than ever before, most people feel increasingly rushed, scattered, and busy, with never enough time for what matters most. According to Bloom, the solution isn’t working harder or faster—it’s being intentional about how you spend your time. Time wealth means having control over your schedule and the freedom to spend time on what matters most to you.
The Three Pillars of Time Wealth
Bloom explains that time wealth builds on three progressive pillars: awareness, attention, and control:
1) Awareness: Before you can improve how you spend time, you need to know how you’re spending it. According to Bloom, most people underestimate how much time they waste on low-value activities. To develop more awareness, track what activities energize or drain you for one week by color-coding your calendar events: green for activities that energize you, yellow for neutral ones, and red for those that drain you. After the week, look for patterns and use those insights to schedule more green activities while reducing the red ones.
2) Attention: Next, Bloom suggests identifying which activities deserve your attention so you can focus your mental energy on what matters instead of scattering it across endless, meaningless tasks. Make two lists—one for personal and one for professional priorities. Write down what feels most important, then circle only your top few items on each list. Focus most of your time on important but not urgent items, as these create the biggest long-term impact.
3) Control: Awareness and focused attention let you actively choose how to spend your time rather than letting others or circumstances decide for you. To maintain focus on your priorities, Bloom recommends creating a routine that signals it’s time for deep work. Design a personalized ritual using multiple senses—perhaps lighting a candle, playing instrumental music, clearing your desk, having tea, and stretching. Start with short focus sessions and gradually increase the time as your concentration improves.
Once you’ve established your deep work routine, Bloom says you can protect your time by learning to say no strategically. Before automatically agreeing to requests, pause and ask: “Does this align with my priorities?” and “Will saying yes prevent me from doing something more important?” If the answer to either is concerning, politely decline.
These strategies serve one goal: spending more of your time on what matters to you and the people you care about. Bloom argues that when you gain control over your schedule, you create space not just for productivity, but for the relationships and experiences that make life meaningful. This naturally leads to the third type of wealth—having people in your life who genuinely care about your well-being.
Social Wealth
Despite being more connected digitally than ever, many people feel increasingly lonely. Americans spend more time alone than before, and teenagers spend 70% less time with friends in person than 20 years ago. Men are hit hardest—15% now report zero close friendships, five times more than in 1990. According to Bloom, the solution isn’t more digital connections—it’s building real relationships. Social wealth means having people who genuinely care about you and whom you care about—from close friends and family to community connections. You build it by investing time in relationships, showing genuine interest in others, and contributing meaningfully to your community.
The Three Pillars of Social Wealth
Bloom explains that building social wealth requires intentional effort across three areas: depth, breadth, and earned status.
Depth: A fulfilling social life depends on having a small inner circle—people you trust completely and can call in a crisis. These deep relationships provide stability and emotional grounding, but they only last if you actively maintain them.
Bloom recommends investing in your closest connections through consistent, intentional effort. Start with a brief daily gratitude practice: Spend two minutes expressing appreciation to someone—thank a colleague for their help, acknowledge something specific your partner did well, or send a quick note to a friend. Specific gestures feel more genuine and strengthen bonds over time. Beyond daily gratitude, schedule regular check-ins with your inner circle—recurring dates with your partner, weekly calls with close friends, or dedicated family time. Use these moments to share updates and talk honestly about how the relationship is going. This ongoing attention keeps your most important connections strong, even when life gets hectic.
2) Breadth: Beyond your inner circle, a broader network provides varied support—career opportunities, social activities, and community connection. Bloom suggests you start by assessing your current relationships: Create a relationship map listing your closest contacts and rating each by how they affect you (supportive, neutral, or draining) and how often you interact (frequent or rare). This helps you identify which relationships to nourish, strengthen, or consider letting go.
Bloom says once you understand your existing network, you should actively seek new connections by finding places where like-minded people gather—farmers markets for health enthusiasts, book clubs for readers, volunteer organizations for community-minded individuals. When starting conversations, ask engaging, story-inviting questions rather than yes/no or purely factual ones. For example, instead of “What do you do for work?” try “What’s something you’ve always wanted to learn more about?” Follow up by sharing relevant information or making useful connections, turning casual interactions into meaningful relationships.
3) Earned Status: Social wealth depends on respect and trust from others based on your character rather than your possessions—unlike status from luxury goods, which fades quickly. According to Bloom, when you focus on being a good friend and community member rather than impressing people with what you own, you attract others who value the same things. The result is a network of people who choose to be in your life because they genuinely care about you—and you about them. Having people who believe in you makes it easier to believe in yourself and pursue meaningful goals.
Mental Wealth
Strong relationships provide external support, but they work best when you have internal clarity about who you are and where you’re going. Most people start life naturally curious, but we become less open to new ideas as we age. Daily pressures—work stress, bills, and social expectations—push us to play it safe and stick with what we know. According to Bloom, building mental wealth means fighting this tendency. Mental wealth means having purpose and direction, continuously learning and growing from your experiences, and maintaining mental well-being through practices that promote clear thinking and emotional balance.
The Three Pillars of Mental Wealth
Bloom identifies three essential elements of mental wealth: purpose, growth, and time for yourself.
1) Purpose: This comes from knowing what creates meaning in your life and living according to your own values rather than others’ expectations. However, before you can live with purpose, you need to identify what that purpose actually is. According to Bloom, you can use the overlap method to find your sweet spot: Make lists of what you love doing, what you’re naturally good at, and what your world needs from you. Your purpose lies where these three areas meet. Remember, your purpose doesn’t need to impress anyone or connect to your career—it just needs to feel right to you.
2) Growth: To build mental wealth, you need to believe that your intelligence, abilities, and character can develop throughout your life, which drives you to continuously learn and improve. Once you’ve clarified your purpose, you can focus on expanding what you’re capable of. According to Bloom, the most effective approach is to learn new skills by teaching them: Pick a topic you want to master, write down what you think you know, then try explaining it to someone who knows nothing about it. Their questions will show gaps in your understanding that you can fill through more study. Bloom argues this teaching method works because it forces you to move beyond the passive consumption of information to active application and synthesis.
3) Time for yourself: Bloom recommends taking one full day each month to step away from daily demands for reading, journaling, and reflecting on bigger questions like “If I keep living exactly like I am for the next year, would my life improve or stay the same?” This monthly practice helps you step back from urgency and think strategically about your life’s direction.
Support this monthly practice with daily habits: Take device-free walks of five to 15 minutes to boost creative thinking, and establish an evening shutdown routine where you check final emails, note tomorrow’s priorities, then completely disconnect from work. These boundaries protect your mental energy and create space for relationships and personal interests.
Physical Wealth
Mental clarity and purpose provide direction, but they require a physical foundation strong enough to support decades of meaningful work and relationships. Physical wealth means having the energy and strength to do what matters to you. Bloom argues that taking control of your physical health proves you have the power to create positive change in any area of your life. According to Bloom, building physical wealth isn’t about perfection or extreme measures; it’s about consistent habits that create vitality now and help you thrive as you age.
The Three Pillars of Physical Wealth
Physical wealth builds on three key areas:
1) Movement: According to Bloom, regular exercise that includes cardio, strength training, and flexibility work reduces your risk of death by 30-35% and is one of the most powerful ways to improve both how long and how well you live.
Bloom suggests you commit to 30 minutes of daily movement in whatever form feels sustainable—walking, dancing, hiking, or basic bodyweight exercises. The key in this stage is consistency over intensity, with a focus on making movement a daily habit. Start with a simple two-minute routine: five push-ups, five squats, five lunges, and a 30-second plank. Then spend at least 15 minutes outside, ideally walking without your phone. This natural light exposure regulates your circadian rhythm and provides mental clarity for the day ahead.
Once daily movement becomes automatic, progress through structured training levels. First, build on your bodyweight foundation by gradually increasing repetitions. Next, add dedicated cardiovascular sessions like brisk walking or light jogging. Finally, incorporate resistance training with weights or bands and activities that promote flexibility and stability.
2) Nutrition: Bloom argues that nutrition doesn’t require complex meal plans or restrictive diets. Instead, you can follow the 80/20 approach: Eat whole, unprocessed foods 80% of the time, and eat foods you enjoy for the remaining 20%. Focus on single-ingredient items—foods that exist in nature without requiring nutrition labels. The key is food quality, not complicated diets—getting the basics right delivers most of the benefits.
According to Bloom, you should prioritize protein at every meal, aiming for roughly 1.7 grams per kilogram of body weight daily. This keeps you satisfied longer and supports muscle maintenance. Also include vegetables or fruits at every meal, drink plenty of water throughout the day, and stop eating when you’re about 80% full rather than when you’re completely stuffed.
3) Recovery: Getting consistent, quality sleep helps your body repair itself. Good sleep improves brain function, physical performance, and longevity, yet one-third of adults don’t get enough. Bloom recommends establishing consistent sleep and wake times, even on weekends, to regulate your body’s internal clock. In the evening, create a wind-down routine—dim your lights, put away your devices, and avoid screens within an hour of bedtime. To make winding down even easier, create an optimized sleep environment that’s cool, dark, and quiet. Use blackout curtains or an eye mask, and keep your bedroom temperature slightly cooler than comfortable.
Integrating the Five Types of Wealth
With all five types of wealth defined, the real work begins. Bloom argues that understanding these areas is just the starting point—the challenge is building them all without sacrificing one for another. Most people struggle with this integration. They build financial wealth while destroying their health, pursue time freedom while neglecting relationships, or focus intensely on one area of life until a crisis forces them to address what they’ve ignored.
According to Bloom, the solution isn’t perfect balance—that’s impossible to maintain. Instead, you need clear decision-making frameworks that work across all five areas. Bloom offers two complementary tools: your guiding principle for daily decisions and your life blueprint for long-term planning.
Your Guiding Principle
When different priorities compete for attention, most people freeze or make reactive decisions. You might skip the gym to meet a work deadline or cancel dinner plans to catch up on emails. You want control over your time, but you say yes to every request. Bloom argues that instead of trying to balance everything perfectly, you need one clear decision-making rule. Your guiding principle is a single statement that defines who you are and guides your choices when priorities conflict. According to Bloom, it acts like a filter, instantly clarifying what aligns with your values when you’re pulled in multiple directions.
Bloom explains that an effective guiding principle should be:
- Controllable: It’s entirely within your power, regardless of circumstances.
- Ripple-creating: When followed, it creates positive effects across multiple areas.
- Identity-defining: It reflects who you are at your core.
To find your guiding principle, Bloom suggests completing this sentence: “I’m the type of person who…” Look for the single commitment that, if honored consistently, would create the life you want. Examples include “I’m the type of person who keeps commitments to family,” “I’m the type of person who invests in my future self daily,” or “I’m the type of person who chooses growth over comfort.”
Use your guiding principle as a decision filter. When facing competing priorities, ask: “What would someone who lives by this principle do?” The answer usually becomes clear. Bloom recommends reassessing your guiding principle periodically as it may evolve through your different life stages.
Your Life Blueprint
While your guiding principle handles moment-to-moment decisions, your life blueprint provides the strategic framework for building all five types of wealth over time. According to Bloom, it prevents you from undermining progress in one area while chasing success in another. To design your life blueprint, start by defining what you want to achieve in each wealth area over the next year. Be specific: Instead of “get healthier,” write “exercise four times per week and sleep for eight hours every night.” Clear goals give you direction and measurable targets.
But Bloom argues that goals alone aren’t enough. Most people only set goals for what they want to achieve, which misses a crucial second element: anti-goals—specific outcomes you refuse to accept while pursuing success. An entrepreneur might aim to build a successful company (financial wealth) while refusing to sacrifice family tisme (social wealth) or destroy their health (physical wealth). According to Bloom, these anti-goals aren’t limitations; they’re guardrails that force you to find creative solutions that build wealth in multiple areas.
Ways to Balance the Five Types of Wealth
Bloom recommends building habits that serve multiple areas at once rather than trying to optimize everything separately. Focus on the 20% of actions that generate 80% of your results in each area. For example, a morning routine might include physical movement (physical wealth), reflection time (mental wealth), and family breakfast (social wealth). This approach creates benefits across multiple areas rather than forcing you to choose between competing priorities.
Also, instead of treating the five wealth areas as equal priorities at all times, Bloom suggests adjusting the intensity of your focus based on your current life stage. During career-building phases, you might put more energy into growing your financial and mental wealth while only maintaining your physical, social, and time wealth. In family-focused periods, you might prioritize social and time wealth while keeping other areas at maintenance levels. Bloom’s key principle is to never let any area drop to zero, since neglect creates damage that takes years to repair.
Bloom emphasizes that your life blueprint requires regular check-ins to ensure you’re building real wealth rather than just staying busy. Set aside 15-30 minutes every month to ask if your goals still match your values. Are your daily habits helping all five areas? Are you avoiding your anti-goals? These strategic sessions help you adjust course and stay aligned with what matters most across all areas of your life.
