[EN] What is ”Well-being” for a family office?

Well-being refers to a state of happiness where families are healthy in both mind and body, and feel fulfilled physically, mentally, and socially. While financial capital is important for life satisfaction, it is not a sufficient condition.

In Positive Psychology research, Financial Capital, Human Capital, and Social Capital are called the “three capitals” and are considered the foundation for building life satisfaction.

Financial capital refers to money or assets. In a capitalist society, a lack of money is a major factor restricting freedom. Most people choose jobs and schools to sustain their lives, allocate their daily time, and strive to balance this with what they truly want to do or learn, time with family or partners, and time to immerse themselves in hobbies—though some sacrifice too much of these things.

However, having money doesn't automatically make people happy—which is obvious to those who intuitively understand that there are things more important than money. Yet, having money itself also has pitfalls. It can lead to conflicts over money, distrust of people due to being deceived by those drawn to your assets, difficulty building relationships because of wealth, or having money untapped because of not knowing how to use it wisely.

For those with assets, achieving true happiness is harder than one might think. Because beyond financial freedom lies a long, long road to achieving well-being. Precisely because they have money, they must focus on enhancing their own value—knowledge, skills, abilities, experience (human capital)—and on cherishing connections and trust with others: family, friends, local communities (social capital).

This is a long journey. Preemptive action is key to generativity in next-generation education, requiring constant focus on navigating the erosion between financial capital and other forms of capital: the tendency to neglect self-improvement precisely because of wealth, feelings of guilt over being more privileged than others, struggles to build equal friendships due to wealth, and growing distrust of people.

The vehicle supporting this voyage for the next generation is the family office. Its ultimate purpose is to provide support that weaves human capital and social capital firmly into each individual's life while maintaining economic freedom, and to create a sustainable cycle where the next generation takes the helm and nurtures the generation after that.