“Enoughness is a completely internal state. It stems from your past and the stories you tell yourself about who you are.” – Jordan Grumet

Scottie Scheffler is currently the best golfer in the world. He earned north of $50 million in prize money each of the past three years. That being said, he is leaving money on the table. In a profile at The Athletic, Brody Miller writes about how Scheffler and his team are doing things differently. He regularly turns down opportunities that would take him away from his family. Miller writes:

“Absurd purse sizes combined with Scheffler’s incredible run mean he doesn’t need to leave home in the offseason to accept an appearance fee in Australia or Dubai. He doesn’t need to appear in constant commercials or watch his bank account. He lives a relatively simple life, and there’s an understanding that he doesn’t need to chase all the money in the world. It’s only jarring because, in this day and age, most people do.”

Scheffler isn’t the only high profile athlete turning down endorsement opportunities. San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama made headlines when he stated that he would not, unlike other high profile NBA players, do ads for gambling companies. Wemby quoted at ESPN:

“In the past, there was a dimension of money,” he said. “Not anymore. Even if I said that, I’ve refused plenty, much, much more money than I’ve made for things that were not [in line with] my values. And now, I want to promote things that have a good impact, have a good influence with who I can share messages and values. Obviously, we earn millions and millions. This is not our biggest strength. Our biggest strength is inspiring. I want to inspire in a good way. That’s the strongest thing I can do.”

It’s easy to dismiss these cases because they involve two very highly compensated athletes. The vast majority of us will never have the luxury of turning down multi-million dollar endorsement deals. But both cases are illustrative. They demonstrate that at some point the pursuit of more money can mean less time and/or less integrity.

The fact is that ‘enough’ is different for everyone. It depends on your upbringing an circumstances. One person’s enough is another person’s jumping off point. Eric Soda writing at Spilled Coffee writes:

“Enough isn’t the same number for everyone. For one person, it’s being debt free with six months of expenses in the bank. For someone else, it’s $5 million. The important part is deciding what yours is.”

Enough is a feeling. It’s not a number. Jordan Grumet writing at The Purpose Code notes we often chase more because we think it might fill some psychological hole we need filling. Grumet writes:

“If you want to feel better, you have to go back and deal with the trauma of your past. You must recognize that the net worth number you are chasing is completely disconnected from the pain you are trying to heal. You don’t have to wait for financial independence to feel secure.”

Enough is a process. It depends on where we are in life. It also depends a lot on whether you can narrow your focus to your own goals and not get distracted by what everyone else is pursuing, which is often more, more and more. Meg Bartelt at Flow Financial Planning sums it all up:

“I think “Enough” is a worthwhile concept to think about at any point in life. It just might be a bit harder to really embrace when you’re younger and you don’t have much yet. I think that as we get older and wealthier, it becomes not only more feasible to declare “Enough!” but also more important to stop squandering our time and emotions on things that simply aren’t part of our rich lives.”

There is no universal number that will make people feel like they have enough. Enough isn’t a number, it’s a feeling. A feeling where you feel comfortable in your financial skin and can focus on those things that really move the needle in your life.