"Appreciation in the personal finance world has two different components to it:

Quantitative: increasing value of net worth and financial assets
Qualitative: feeling of gratitude for one's finances, resources, and circumstance. This is not dependent on the dollar amount.

These are both important, but the qualitative is the best predictor of increasing wealth and personal wellbeing.

We are programmed by these components, which makes our brain to focus on what is wrong and what is insufficient. We tend to focus on what needs to be fixed than what we already have. When all our attention is on what needs fixing in our lives, our relationships, and our finances, we spiral into negative feelings."

Latifat Alli-Akintade is a gastroenterologist and can be reached at MoneyFitMD.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Appreciation in the personal finance world." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/08/appreciation-in-the-personal-finance-world.html)