Money Isn’t Evil, Idleness Is

I hear this idea all the time that rich people are automatically evil and that chasing wealth somehow makes you a bad person.

Look, there are a lot of rich people who are pieces of shit. But here’s the truth. Most of them were probably pieces of shit before they had money. Money didn’t change them. It just gave them the resources to be louder, more visible, and harder to avoid.

I’m not pretending my motives are always pure. They’re not. I’m human. They’re mixed. They’re messy. Some are definitely material. But here’s something I’ve been thinking about lately.One of the reasons I keep working and one of the reasons I don’t ever plan on retiring is because I want to stay sharp and I want to stay decent.

Making real money the right way takes work. A lot of it. It’s humbling. It forces you to solve problems, deal with people, own mistakes, and keep showing up even when it would be easier not to. That process does something to you if you let it.

The idea of retiring early and just golfing, bouncing around, eating good food, and drinking wine all day sounds like hell to me. If you’re not working on something that demands effort, you don’t become enlightened. You become self-absorbed.

Work keeps you honest. It keeps your ego in check. It forces growth.

So for me, work isn’t just about money. It’s about not turning into someone I wouldn’t respect. If you do it right, work doesn’t make you worse.

It actually makes you better.