In their most extraordinary and wonderful book, The 100-Year Life, Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott introduce an extraordinary concept, which is the difference between tangible and intangible assets.
You should read the book or at least listen to it; it's extraordinary, especially for your children. It's very unlikely that I will be living to 100, but I still could have a health span longer than that of my parents, if I'm lucky, and the question is how to get there and what to do with it.
The world has changed dramatically, and the old model of learn, work, retire has been superseded by portfolio lifestyles, but what we must understand, and our children must definitely understand, is that it's a balance between intangible and tangible assets.
Tangible assets are easy to figure out: money, stocks and shares, pensions, property, that type of stuff.
The intangible ones are a bit more difficult: skills, purpose, relationships, and contentment.
It's possible to build these things consciously; it's also possible to completely ignore them in the pursuit of tangible assets. More and more, I'm surrounded by people obsessed with tangible assets, and more and more, I become obsessed with tangible assets myself.
The truth is, I was so lucky to have enough tangible assets to live a worthwhile life ages ago, but the draw towards the tangible as opposed to the intangible is almost unbearable. At that point, you actually get too busy chasing the tangible assets to grow as a person and growing as a person is probably the reason that you have tangible assets.
It's a tough conundrum, isn't it? For all of us, the balance, but strike a balance, we must, because the alternative is dreadful.
Blog Post Number - 4423
Colin Campbell, Chris Barrow, and an intrepid group of dentists will be cycling across the plains of Tanzania from Kilimanjaro in early February 2026. If you would like to support the charity, Bridge to Aid, and this extraordinary challenge, please click here.
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