Do you love money or wonder why some people do? Loving money is not a bad thing. It can actually help set you free, which I’ll discuss below. Despite my failed attempt to ascertain whether some people are just born with a frugal gene and thereby able to amass much greater wealth than the average person, that’s OK!
I’ve found some great takeaways from the post, “The Unfair Competitive Advantage Of The Wealthy: The Frugal Gene,” such as:
- The more people feel guilty about spending money on services they know they can easily do themselves, the more pissed off they will be if you say something. It’s therefore unwise to speak out against how people should spend their money. We all have our own desires, skills, and values. But as a personal finance writer, these are exactly the topics that make for robust discussion.
- DIY can be seen as a side-hustle to make more money. Now there are zero excuse for folks who are unwilling to moonlight, start a side business, or create a product to generate passive income. You can simply increase the amount of DIY projects, like cleaning, to earn more money by saving money.
- In any business transaction, question everything. Be thorough. Stand your ground, while listening to the other side’s point of view. Folks who let their emotions get the best of them in business usually lose. Get things in writing, make things clear, explain your situation, and go from there.
- If you love money, you will probably be better at accumulating more money. You’ll do a lot more research on how wealthy people got rich, what to invest in the stock market, how to get a raise, and all sorts of money attracting stuff. You might even subscribe to a personal finance blog.
The love of money is something I’d like to discuss in this post because I finally read a comment from a reader who admits that he loves money!
We Know Everybody Wants More Money
The most absurd question people in the investment banking industry like to ask prospective undergrad and MBA hires is, “Why do you want to work in investment banking?“
The obvious answer is, “I want to make lots of money!” But, no candidate ever has the guts to admit it.
Instead, candidates respond with contrived answers such as, “I’d like to work on landmark deals that can create new synergies in the marketplace.” Or, “The markets are inefficient, and I believe I can help provide transparency to our clients.“
HUH?! Just say you LOVE MONEY! You want to bathe in it. Shower in it. Throw $100 paper planes off your balcony just because you can. Be honest! Those who provide the most honest answers usually get past the first gauntlet of interviews.
We already know that it is impossible to escape the allure of money. The idealistic summer MBA intern who wanted to change the world at a startup went to work at a private equity shop because they offered her hundreds of thousands more a year to start.
So for all you money hungry folks out there, just know that it’s OK to love money! And for all of you who are hating on folks who love money, stop it already. You know that if you had the opportunity to make more, you’d take it in a heartbeat.
Those Who Become Wealthy Love Money
For example, here’s a quote from reader Jon that I’ve paraphrased for clarity purposes:
Now I know wealthy and poor frugal folks. But the wealthy seem to share a common trait – they love money. Me for instance. I consistently for the last 5 years saved 80-95% of my income depending on the year. That makes me conscious about my frugality. It takes great discipline to accomplish such a high savings rate.
But lets take a step back, why do I do this? Is it because I think things offer no value so I don’t purchase the object/service? No, it’s because I just love the money so much. If I spend $1, I’m really spending $1^Y. In other words, each dollar spent now is future money I won’t have. Therefore, it’s hard for me to justify spending something I love so much and and not watching it grow.
No sane person would save 80-95% of his income if he didn’t love money wouldn’t you agree? It’s clear to me that Jon has a frugal gene and will accumulate much more wealth than the average American who saves just 4% or less of their income.
Why Be Ashamed Of Loving Money?
If you really love someone, you’ll do everything possible to get him/her. Maybe you’ll get a haircut, do three pushups, eat less double cheeseburgers, skip the sweatpants, and actually floss your filthy teeth the next time you meet. You can always let yourself go after you get together. Attractive women with hideous men tell me all the time that it was their persistence that won them over.
If you love money, own it. The more money you have, the more you can give away. Money also buys resources, such as more time to help more people. If you’ve got to slave away at a minimum wage job for the rest of your life to make ends meet, how much can you really help others when you can barely help yourself?
If I didn’t love money, then this site wouldn’t exist because only a crazy person would spend hundreds of hours over the years writing articles and interacting with all of you. Oh crap, maybe I am crazy!
It’s too bad rich politicians (a redundancy) and society make people feel bad about wanting more money. There’s really no changing this perception that the desire for money, or those who have money, are bad. Hence, the importance of Stealth Wealth.
In this post, I’m telling you it’s OK to love money. Because gosh darn it, you’re good enough, smart enough, and people like you.
If you love money, you might:
- Study harder in school
- Work harder at your job to get that raise and promotion
- Take more risks by starting a company
- Allocate resources better and not burn through a whole ton of cash
- Be able to help more people in need by giving away money or time
- Experience financial freedom and do things that you really want to do
- Express yourself more freely without caring what people think
- Be able to stop doing things for money and start do things out of love
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Dude.. whats there not to love about money.. its universal energy, like fuel for engines.
It keeps the world running and growing. Take a look at Bill Gates, he used his money to give, fund and save the world – look at that as an example.
Saying money is evil is like saying “I hate oil-fuel for cars because if you drink it, you will probably die or becomes severely ill”. You’re not supposed to drink it, you’re supposed to use it for your car to run. And when your car can run, it can take you to places you want to go, do, be and give…
So if a person who uses the money to do bad or evil, that’s just him man… don’t blame the money, blame his GREEDY, EVIL, DARK, NEGATIVITY MINDSET A.K.A POVERTY-MINDSET THAT DESTROYED MILLIONS OF TALENTED, POTENTIAL, AMBITIOUS SOULS!
So I believed that the focus here should be about mindsets (abundant or scarce…)
and why not see money as a field of science to be studied about. Think of it as air~… the more air we have the more we can breathe, the less air we have the more we suffocate. (And yes air/oxygen is also a form of limited resources, like money. Cut down all the trees on earth and see what will happen to our planet – same sheeeiiitt)
– Just opinion, no hate, ciao!
May all be well and prosperous!
People hate her en masse, but Ayn Rand wrote the single, greatest explanation of the meaning of money ever put to paper. Do yourself a favor and look up “Francisco’s money speech” and devote yourself to every word of it.
https://youtu.be/u-T0ey0IKDA
F- yes!
That said I’ve never accepted a job solely for the money. It’s usually been a factor but the whole package has to be right. A lot of people thought i took my new job for the $$ but it was only about half of the reason.
Yes, I love it. But, not the actual paper. Just all the opportunities and experiences it can provide for me and my loved ones.