When you think about the word “well-being”, what comes to mind? Health and wealth? Happiness and success? Well, it may be different from what you think of.

Based on the book “Well-Being”, by Tom Rath and Jim Harter, well-being is about the combination of our love for what we do each day, the quality of our relationships, the security of our finances, the vibrancy of our physical health, and the pride we take in what have contributed to our communities.

With Linda’s facilitation, our recent Women Circle gathering at Silver Oak delved into this topic and specifically, how to measure and achieve financial well-being.

Here are our key takeaways:

• These five elements are not separate parts but interdependent on each other, so we need to pay attention to each and balance all of them to live a thriving life. This is especially true when you anticipate a major life transition such as retirement and widowhood, as it tends to impact all the elements of your well-being at the same time, therefore needs to be addressed holistically.
• We can always do something about each element to improve our overall well-being.
• We know the best measure of financial well-being is not the amount of money one has or makes. People who have thrived in financial well-being are satisfied with their standard of living, do not worry about money in their everyday lives, and have confidence in their financial future.

At Silver Oak, we strive to create and enhance financial well-being for each family and individual we work with so that they can improve their overall well-being. That’s our goal and hopefully yours as well.