More Money Makes You a Nicer Person

You know it's true

Imagine you’re walking behind a stranger on a sidewalk.

He reaches into his pocket to pull out his cell phone and accidentally drops a hundred dollar bill on the ground.

You’re going to have two completely different reactions depending on the state of your personal finances.

If everything's peachy and you have a healthy savings account, no problem paying your bills, a reliable roof over your head, etc. etc. etc. then you’ll automatically pick up the hundy and jog to catch up with the guy and say: “Hey man, you dropped this.” He’ll look confused/surprised. “Omg wow that’s crazy. Thanks man, I didn’t even notice.”

You go about your day feeling good about yourself for being an upstanding member of a society - a True Bro to a bro in need. He feels warm and fuzzy because he just had his faith in humanity restored. A win all around.

Now imagine the exact same scenario but with a major difference: You have rent due in six days and you literally don’t have the money in your bank account to pay for it.

I don’t know what you’d do, but I do know that you will - with 100% certainty - at least think about it. The situation that the Healthy-Bank-Balance version of you would react to by automatically doing the right thing would now produce a mini-moral crisis in your head.

First thought: “He obviously doesn’t need the money if he dropped a c-note without noticing. He’s probably some rich asshole. I need to pay the rent next week I should just take it.”

Second thought: “Come on man, do the right thing. Give it back. Just because I need it doesn’t mean I have a right to it.”

The ol’ back-and-forth inside your skull would be intense, and eventually one side or the other would win. Maybe you would be the poor man with a heart of gold and give it back (everyone thinks this is who they are, as long as it’s hypothetical).

But ‘maybe’ is a far cry from ‘certainly’.

Morality follows incentives

There’s a reason why poor neighborhoods are so dangerous and crime-ridden.

It’s because morality follows incentives.

The idea that ‘rich people are assholes’ is such a popular trope in society that no one even questions it. The words “rich” and “asshole” even sound like they go together: “Some rich asshole did [x thing I don’t like]” or “I don’t want to be one of those rich assholes” etc.

Like anything else, the way to figure out the truth is to do/think/say the opposite of what everyone else does/thinks/says.

The reality is the opposite. There’s no one more dangerous to be around than a guy with nothing to lose, especially if he has a chip on his shoulder.

A guy whose life is perfect isn’t going to rob or attack someone. Even if his psychological makeup is a bit unhinged, he’s not going to ‘throw it all away’ over some petty nonsense.

The guy who doesn’t have two nickels to rub together, however, will throw it all away, because the “all” that he’s throwing away is precisely nothing.

That’s why poor areas are more dangerous than rich ones.

And that’s also why - if you want to maximize your chances of being a kind, generous human being - you should make as much money as humanly possible.

The fake-it-till-you-make-it grindset mindset gurus are lying to you: There’s a feeling of ease and weightlessness that comes with financial freedom that can’t be faked.

Whenever you see a guy walking around with a scowl on his face, all tensed up like he’s tension itself personified, you know that he’s struggling HARD in life.

Jealousy, envy, status obsession, insecurity. All these feelings eat away at your soul. The constant nagging feeling at the back of your mind telling you that you’re not good enough will destroy you if you aren’t careful.

Some people say that the best thing you can do to make the bad feelings go away is to accept your lot in life and learn to live with less.

They’re wrong.

The depression and self-loathing is there for a damn good reason. Mental pain exists for the same reason that physical pain exists: To let you know that there’s a real problem that you need to address.

If you don’t, if you try to suppress your ambition and force yourself to accept your mediocre lot in life: You’re going to lash out - at both yourself and others.

Having more money allows you to become who you are.

Money is only shallow if you’re a shallow person.

If “who you are” is a kind, generous human being, then you’ll become even more kind and generous.

Make more money. There is no downside.