What’s the Point of Being Rich?

Too many people forget to ask “what’s the point of being rich?” The two right answers to that question is for freedom and for self actualization. The wrong answer is to be rich for the money. It gets old quickly and you’ll quit the journey before making meaningful progress.

When I was little, all I just wanted was to be rich. My friend and I were standing outside his out next to the mailbox and we were talking about houses. He declared “I just want a house that’s big”. For the 11-year old me, that sounded exactly what I wanted too.

The life of excess, who wouldn’t want that? I equated having a big house as being rich. And being rich was exactly what I wanted.

Oh, how little I knew.

Now, I know better. Having excess things and stuff is not something that I want at all. Not even in the slightest. These days, I would much rather be rich because of the freedom that it affords me. Not because of any material things I can buy with it.

I religiously practice the minimalist lifestyle and declutter my life. I live in the smallest apartment out of all my friends. There are things that I value much more than having a bigger house.

In fact, I doubt that I will ever own a big house. Not only is having more things wasteful, maintenance costs are meaningful as well. I’m so glad that I asked myself the question “what’s the point of being rich?” earlier in my life than later.

Otherwise, this blog nor my savings would exist!

What’s the Point of Being Rich?

The two right answers to that question is to pursue freedom, self actualization, or both. The wrong answers to that question is to seek wealth for the sake of wealth. Make sure to not get trapped with the allure of wealth and money. All that glitters is not gold.

You could potentially be stuck in the rat race for the rest of your life without understanding that key point.

One way to answer what’s the point of being rich is to SMASH that social share button for the Google algorithm 😊 . BERT, Google’s algorithm, really likes it when everyone understands what the point in being rich is. He loves it that personal finance advice like this is spread and shared across the world.

Let’s be honest, I like it too. So if you could please smash that share button for your friends to be educated, BERT and I both appreciate it!

Point of Being Rich: Having Choices

The first and number one reason to pursue wealth is for the freedom it provides you. Becoming free at last of the commute, office politics, and miserable weekend work is something to strive and towards.

Too many employees in America are beholden to their employers. Some 40% of Americans can’t come up with a $400 emergency expense. If they can’t come up with a $400 emergency expense, imagine them coming up with money to sustain their life.

They end up shopping for more things to distract them from their money problems and make them feel better. As a result, they end up digging a bigger hole for themselves. The horror! Therefore, they end up working because they have to. Not because they want to.

The amount of power employers have over them is enormous. Anything the employer wants, they are likely to do. They have no other choice but to work. Money controls their time and it will continue to do so until they change their habits and lifestyle.

Don’t ever let someone else have that much control over your time and choices. It’s a noble accomplishment to break free from the shackles of money and live a life on your terms.

What’s the point of being rich? Freedom. What’s better than freedom? Nothing.

Point of Being Rich: Self Actualization

Another good reason to pursue money is for self-actualization. This is when you don’t want money for money but you want money to win. Money is a way to keep score and a good way to get on the scoreboard is by having more of it.

This is when you’re wanting money to see how far you can achieve in your life. Maybe at the end, you want to donate everything away to make the world a better place. What you are really after is to see how far you can reach your goals.

Few people answer the question “what’s the point of being rich”? with self-actualization. Be the select few!

I have aspirations from time to time to want to become a billionaire. Not for the money but for seeing what my potential actually was from my starting point. To prove to myself that I could have done it if I wanted to.

To be the top 1% of the top 1%. Now will I actually get there? I’m really doubtful that I can. Even if I never get there, I would still live a perfectly happy life. I am content with just having half a million dollars to float me for the rest of my life.

However, wanting to have that as a personal goal isn’t a bad thing.

Why You Shouldn’t Be Rich

Too many people think, “what’s the point of being rich?” but never think “what’s not the point of being rich”? The three reasons why you should NEVER try to be rich is when you are looking for happiness, status, or for the sake of money.

Let’s explore all of them.

Why You Shouldn’t: Happiness

When you are chasing happiness from the outside, chances are you won’t find it. Even if you find the one person you can’t imagine life without, it’s dependent happiness. Once that person leaves, so will your positive emotions.

It means that you are dependent and once it is gone, your joy levels are gone with it. If you already do not have joy in your own life, there’s little chance money will change it. It doesn’t buy happiness. Yes, it can make life easier and better but it will not give you joy.

Happiness is an emotion you can’t just have at the switch of a button. It takes time and effort to create happiness. Money can solve your money problems but it will not solve how you feel about yourself.

Remember that billionaires and millionaires take their own lives. If money brought happiness, Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk would be the happiest person on Earth. They are not.

Why You Shouldn’t: Status

We all know that the goal is to be rich not to look rich. If you want to be rich to seek status, then you are going about it all wrong. Most of the time, seeking status leads to you losing money. People try to keep up appearances way too often.

What they don’t realize is how expensive keeping up appearances is. The status seeking person doesn’t have wealth, they have stuff. These people has to have the most fashionable clothing.

They may have the shiniest jewelry or watch. What they do not have is money. They’re too busy looking to impress others that they don’t have time to save and invest their money.

You should want to be rich for yourself, not to set expectations for what others should think of you. Chase status and you will never stop chasing status.

It’s OK for others to think you are a failure while you are actually a success. It’s not OK for others to think you are a success while you are actually a failure.

Why You Shouldn’t: Money

The last bad reason to chase wealth is to do it for the money. Don’t do it for the money. It gets old quickly. Money should enable you to do things you enjoy doing. Money should not be the master you feed your time to. You should be the master, not the other way around.

One of the highest paid professions to go into is investment banking. Making $135,000 all in in your first year out of college isn’t uncommon. In exchange for a high salary, their freedom is almost nonexistent. One of my friends in investment banking said he’s chilling and he didn’t seem all that stressed.

Then he goes and tells me stories of working until 11:40pm with his boss telling him that it’s non-negotiable to finish work that day. With that much stress, chasing after money for the sake of having more money gets stressful.

Soon, what you thought was a good thing to chase will suddenly become a chore. You will start to resent money for existing and will quit halfway through your financial independence journey. That’s not a good recipe for success, but rather a good recipe for disaster.

Money is one of the worst motivators. Sure, it will keep you afloat in the short term. Over the long term, it will cause burnout. The answer to “what’s the point of being rich”? should never be for the sake of having more money.

Figure Out When You Have Enough

Once you figure out what realistic amount of money is enough for you to retire on, then it becomes easier. If it’s somewhere in the millions of dollars, then you might be working significantly longer. Many people I’ve talked to said “oh I need ten million to feel safe with money”.

What!!! Ten million dollars?! What in the world?! That is way too much money. At a 7% annual return, it generates a passive $700,000 a year. I bet the people who say they need $10 million to retire will never make $700,000 a year in their entire working life.

The answer to “what’s the point of being rich?” should never be to acquire $10,000,000.

Yet, they’re saying that they need $10 million to retire on. Find the most realistic number that you can find. You don’t need that much money to retire on. Yes, you might want that much money because it’s a personal goal.

However, to retire on, that is unnecessary. It’s beyond what is in the realm of excess. Distinguish between what you actually need and what you actually want. Too many people fail to realize the difference and end up endlessly spinning on the hamster wheel that is working.

Without knowing the number that is necessary for you to reach financial independence, you are going to an unknown destination.

You are only hoping that you can get there. Once you actually even surpass your end goal, you may mindlessly choose to keep going because you didn’t do your due diligence.

Due diligence matters.

Answer the Question “What’s the Point of Being Rich?”

Actually figure out why you are trying to be wealthy and acquire more wealth. After all, personal finance is very personal. There could be some whole other reason that isn’t listed in this article.

Another noble reason is to help your grandmother or parents out with a life that they’ve only dreamed of having. Or it could be to pay off your brother’s health bills.

However, figure out when you aren’t looking to be rich for the right reasons. So many people think money is evil. Money is good. However, money can be evil if you are chasing it for the wrong reasons. There’s nothing wrong with being wealthy but there is something wrong with being wealthy for status and the like.

If it isn’t for the right reasons, shift your mindset. If you don’t, chasing money will make you unhappy over the long term because there are some things that are more important than money. For me, money is third on my list of priorities. The first is health while the second is the people who I love.

Although money can be a priority, it should NEVER ever be your number one priority in life. You’re not going to live a fruitful life in the end, if so. On your deathbed, your regrets will not be that you worked too much. Your regret will be focusing and prioritizing too much on the wrong things.

I’ve done the work and listed out good and bad reasons for you to decide which path is the right one for you. If you’re asking what’s the point of being rich? Two great answers is for freedom and self-actualization.

These are the two pinnacles and overarching themes of striving for the financial independence, retire early movement.