Money is a weirdly sensitive topic. We’re taught it’s the root of all evil or some dirty secret you shouldn't talk about at dinner, yet everyone spends forty hours a week—at least—trying to get more of it. But here's the thing: when we talk about why we want you to be rich, it isn't just about you buying a faster car or a bigger house with a pool that nobody actually swims in. It's about the math of the world around you.
Wealth is often seen as a zero-sum game. You win, I lose. You get the bag, and someone else is left holding an empty one. That’s actually a pretty narrow way to look at how modern economics functions. Real wealth creation—the kind that isn't just shuffling paper around on Wall Street—tends to leak out and stain everyone else with success.
Seriously.
The Ripple Effect of Your Bank Account
Why do we care if you’re successful? Honestly, it’s because broke people are expensive for society, and wealthy people are engines. Think about the last time a major company moved into a small town. People focus on the CEO's bonus, sure. But they miss the dry cleaners, the local diners, and the landscaping companies that suddenly have more work than they can handle because there’s new money circulating.
When you have excess capital, you don't just sit on it like a dragon in a cave. You spend it. You invest it. You take risks that people living paycheck-to-paycheck simply cannot afford to take. That risk-taking is where the magic happens for everyone else.
Take a look at the "Angel Investor" phenomenon. These are often just moderately wealthy individuals who decided to throw $25,000 at a neighbor’s weird tech idea. If that neighbor succeeds, they hire fifty people. Those fifty people buy houses. They pay taxes. The local school gets a new library. This isn't some "trickle-down" political speech; it’s just the basic mechanics of how a community breathes. We want you to be rich because your surplus is the seed money for the next person's start.
The Tax Reality Nobody Likes to Admit
It’s fun to bash the wealthy for tax loopholes, and yeah, some of that is valid. But the data from the Tax Foundation and the IRS consistently shows that the top earners carry the vast majority of the tax burden in the United States.
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In 2023, the top 1% of taxpayers paid more in federal income taxes than the bottom 90% combined. That’s wild when you actually stop to think about it. When you become wealthy, you become a primary funder for the roads, the fire departments, and the social safety nets that everyone relies on. We want you to be rich because, frankly, the government needs your checks to keep the lights on for the rest of us.
Beyond the Material: The Freedom to Solve Problems
Have you ever noticed that most of the world's biggest philanthropic breakthroughs didn't come from committees? They came from individuals who had so much money they got bored of buying stuff and decided to fix a problem instead.
Think about the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and polio. Or Yvon Chouinard giving away Patagonia to fight climate change. You can’t do that if you’re worried about your electric bill. Wealth buys you the "headspace" to look at the horizon instead of your feet.
Innovation is a Luxury Good
Most things we use today started as toys for the rich.
Cell phones? In the 80s, they were $4,000 bricks used by "Gordon Gekko" types.
Electric cars? They were expensive novelties for early adopters before they became accessible to the middle class.
Solar panels? Same story.
When you’re rich, you pay the "innovation tax." You buy the version 1.0 of a product that is overpriced and kind of crappy. Your high purchase price funds the R&D (Research and Development) that makes version 4.0 cheap enough for everyone else to buy at Walmart. We want you to be rich so you can be the guinea pig for the future. You fund the mistakes so the rest of society can enjoy the refined results.
The Mental Shift From Scarcity to Abundance
One of the biggest hurdles in understanding why we want you to be rich is the "Scarcity Mindset." This is the belief that there is a finite pie. If you take a big slice, I get a smaller one.
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But the economy is more like a muscle. The more you work it, the more it grows.
When you are financially secure, your relationship with the people around you changes. You aren't competing for crumbs. You start looking for ways to collaborate. You’ve probably seen this in your own life. When you’re stressed about money, you’re short with your spouse, you’re impatient with your kids, and you’re a nightmare to work with. Wealth provides the "buffer" that allows for kindness and long-term thinking.
What Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump Actually Meant
Regardless of what you think of them as public figures, their book Why We Want You To Be Rich hit on a very specific nerve back in 2006. They argued that the middle class was disappearing and that you had to choose a side: be rich or be poor.
While their specific investment advice (like heavy real estate leverage) has been debated, the core philosophy holds up: A society with a large population of financially literate, wealthy individuals is more stable than one where everyone is dependent on a centralized power for their survival. Self-sufficiency is a form of civic duty. If you can take care of yourself and your family, you aren't a "drain" on the system; you're a support pillar for it.
The Difference Between Being "Rich" and Being "Wealthy"
Let's get specific.
Being rich is about income. It's the doctor making $400,000 a year but spending $410,000 on a lifestyle.
Being wealthy is about assets. It's the quiet person next door who owns three duplexes and hasn't had a "boss" in a decade.
We want you to be wealthy.
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Wealth creates stability. During a recession, the wealthy person doesn't panic-sell their stocks, which helps prevent a total market collapse. They have the "dry powder" to keep investing when things look grim. They provide the liquidity that keeps the gears of the economy from grinding to a halt when the credit markets freeze up.
The Ethical Argument for Ambition
Is it greedy to want to be rich?
Only if you define wealth as "hoarding."
But if you define wealth as "increasing your capacity to contribute," then being broke is actually the more selfish path.
Think about it. If you have no resources, your ability to help a friend in a crisis is limited to "thoughts and prayers." If you're rich, you can write a check that changes their life. You can hire them. You can give them a bridge loan.
Real World Example: The "Small Business" Anchor
Take a local hardware store owner. If she’s "rich" by town standards, she’s likely the one sponsoring the Little League team. She’s the one who doesn't fire the guy who’s struggling with an addiction but instead pays for his rehab. She’s the one who stays open during a blizzard because she can afford the loss just to make sure the neighbors have salt and shovels.
That’s why we want you to be rich. Not so you can hide in a gated community, but so you can be the person who has the resources to hold the line when things get tough for others.
How to Get There: The Actionable Path
If you're sold on the idea that your wealth is good for the world, how do you actually get there? It isn't about "hustle culture" or sleeping three hours a night. It's about a few boring, consistent moves.
- Own Your Equity. You will almost never get "rich" trading your hours for dollars. You need to own a piece of the machine. That means stocks, real estate, or your own business. You need to be compensated while you sleep.
- Solve Bigger Problems. Money is just a receipt for value provided. If you want to make $1,000, solve a $1,000 problem. If you want to make $1,000,000, you have to solve a problem for a lot more people or solve a much more painful problem for a few.
- Master the Boring Math. Most people fail because they increase their spending as soon as their income rises. It's called "lifestyle creep." If you make $100k and spend $90k, you're better off than the guy making $500k and spending $495k.
- Invest in Financial Literacy. Read the tax code. Understand how capital gains work. Learn the difference between a liability (your car) and an asset (your rental property).
A Final Reality Check
Being rich won't make you happy. We've all seen the miserable billionaire.
But being rich does remove the obstacles to happiness. It removes the "survival noise" that prevents you from focusing on what matters—your health, your relationships, and your purpose.
We want you to be rich because the world is better when people have the resources to be their best selves. When you aren't worried about the rent, you can be the artist, the inventor, the mentor, or the philanthropist the world actually needs.
Your Next Steps
- Audit your "Value Proposition": Write down exactly how you provide value to the market right now. If it’s just "showing up," your income will always be capped.
- Identify your "Wealth Gap": Look at your monthly expenses versus your passive income. The goal isn't just a high salary; it's a "freedom number" where your assets cover your life.
- Stop the Scarcity Talk: Next time you see someone successful, stop the urge to find a reason why they’re "lucky" or "shady." Ask what problem they solved to get there. Imitate the strategy, not the lifestyle.
- Increase your "Risk Tolerance": Start small. Invest $100. Then $1,000. Wealth is a muscle that only grows when it’s under the pressure of potential loss.