1. Financial Capital

This is the one most people are familiar with. It includes money, stocks, bonds, and other forms of currency. It's liquid, tradable, and easy to quantify. It’s also often the least fulfilling on its own.

2. Social Capital

The value of your relationships, networks, community, and trust. Think of it as your reputation and the goodwill you've built with others. It’s what gets you in the door and brings collaboration and opportunity.

3. Intellectual Capital

Knowledge, ideas, innovations, and intellectual property. It's your ability to think, learn, and apply wisdom. Books, courses, software, patents, systems - all count here.

4. Spiritual Capital

Your sense of purpose, values, integrity, and inner compass. It’s often the driver behind decisions and your ability to stay grounded through challenge. It's deep and often invisible, but powerful.

5. Cultural Capital

Shared stories, customs, art, traditions, and identity. It’s the richness of your heritage and the values you live by as a group or society. It influences behaviour and unites people.

6. Material Capital

Physical stuff - land, tools, equipment, homes, technology, etc. It's tangible and useful, but can depreciate or break down without care.

7. Living Capital

Natural systems and life itself. Soil, forests, water, animals, plants, seeds, ecosystems. In many ways, this is the foundation of all other capital. If nature is depleted, everything else falls apart.

8. Experiential Capital

The wisdom gained from doing, failing, learning, and evolving. Your story. It’s earned knowledge - lessons from life, not books. Often the most undervalued but most impactful.

Why It Matters:

Thinking in terms of the 8 Forms of Capital helps individuals and communities make more regenerative decisions. Instead of just chasing money (financial capital), you can see how to build a richer, more resilient life by increasing value across all 8 areas.