Wealth can come in many forms: financial wealth through savings, investments, real estate and stock dividends; tangible wealth from personal ownership of items of value such as gold, jewelry, rare coins or antiques; and intangible wealth consisting of patents and copyrights. Wealth can also come from the accumulated labor of the current and past generations, such as in the form of Social Security benefits, pension benefits, and employer-paid health care benefits.

Wealth is typically one of the main criteria used to measure the economic wellbeing of a person, country, or region. It is also used to evaluate the overall distribution of resources in a given society, as it reflects the accumulated resources of the wealthy or “haves” relative to the overall population or “have-nots.” In many ways, accumulated wealth can be seen as a form of capital or an asset that provides aspiring people a springboard towards a secure, splendid future, offering the necessary resources to turn their dreams and ambitions into reality.

However, wealth is not only limited to personal holdings but also encompasses collective assets of shared values and resources. The overall wealth of a society is determined by its environmental and cultural endowment, physical and human capital (or its workforce), as well as its social and institutional capital, or traditions and laws. As such, the poor living conditions of many in developing countries, not necessarily caused by lack of personal wealth, can also be attributed to poverty of public resources such as education, health, infrastructure and energy.

Despite the evolutionary economic philosophies that have been the backdrop of much of the world's development, wealth is still an important indicator of a society's economic standing. With careful cultivation of an individual's economic power and an intelligent distribution of collective wealth, economic equality can be brought to the world's most deprived people and countries.