Here's a topic that is near and dear to many of our wallets: creating and maintaining wealth. I'd like to share with you my thoughts on a question I'm often asked about motivations for creating and maintaining wealth.
A famous saying is often truncated as "money is the root of all evil." And it's true that the pursuit of wealth has caused a great deal of personal heartache and public misery ever since the creation of currency . . . and probably even longer ago than that, if you count wealth as anything of physical value, such as territory, food, and goods of all kinds. Even today, the rampant greed of corporations in search of a few bucks causes untold social, political, medical, and environmental damage all over the world. And so, in light of this evidence, I'm occasionally asked, by people who think that money is the root of evil, if amassing personal wealth is somehow a bad and irresponsible thing.
Of course, my answer is: absolutely not. Money is a resource, and accumulating it for yourself doesn't necessarily mean that you are taking it from the hands of someone who may need it more. Wealth is not zero-sum, meaning that, unlike other resources, such as oil, there is not a finite amount. My having wealth does not mean that someone else loses money, it just means that I have figured out a way both to be of value to someone and not to spend all of the resulting payment. It may also mean that I have figured out a way to put my money to work for me, so its multiplication is not directly tied to my valuable time. These are concepts anyone can learn, and I consider it one of the great tragedies of history that many more people have not learned them.
Money is just a resource. It is neutral. It is not, as a matter of fact, the root of all evil. The saying properly goes, "The love of money is the root of all evil." In other words, evil comes from greed, not money itself. I agree with this wholeheartedly. Just as irresponsible and greedy pursuits of money can cause widespread harm, the responsible accumulation and distribution of wealth can be a blessing to all involved.
Money is neutral. Having it won't necessarily make you a better or happier person. What it can do -- and I do believe this is the point of amassing personal wealth -- is provide a broader experience and free up your other resources to focus on the things that really matter in life. Wealth properly gained provides freedom to experience and appreciate the wonders this world has to offer. It releases you from the stress of making ends meet and allows you to instead spend that energy on the things that are truly important: on your family, on your friends, on your valued interests, and on making the world a better place for everyone.
Accumulate wealth responsibly, and be proud of what you create.
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