{"id":4336,"date":"2023-09-29T03:20:42","date_gmt":"2023-09-29T07:20:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/is-having-a-lot-of-money-really-something-to-be-proud-of\/"},"modified":"2023-09-29T03:20:42","modified_gmt":"2023-09-29T07:20:42","slug":"is-having-a-lot-of-money-really-something-to-be-proud-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/is-having-a-lot-of-money-really-something-to-be-proud-of\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Having a Lot of Money Really Something to Be Proud Of?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Profit<\/a>
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In today\u2019s world, we praise and celebrate people with money.<\/p>\n

Magazines rank them<\/a>, television networks and websites celebrate their success. Books are written about how to join them<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Closer to home, people with money are often treated differently in our local organizations and at our dinner parties. Most people, it seems to me, would like to join them and have extra money in the bank. <\/p>\n

In fact, if you were to ask a roomful of people, \u201cHow many of you would like to be rich?\u201d Almost every hand would go up.<\/p>\n

Having a lot of money is a symbol of achievement in our society that most people aspire to acquire.<\/p>\n

Even from a young age, many of us fantasized about having a lot of money when we get older and how awesome that would be. And as we get older, it is something we work hard to achieve.<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s pause for a moment and entertain a new, and slightly uncomfortable, thought:<\/p>\n

Is having a lot of money really something we should be proud of?<\/em><\/p>\n

Why are we celebrating it? Why are we chasing it? Maybe it\u2019s not something to proud of\u2026 maybe it\u2019s something we should be embarrassed about instead?<\/p>\n

Before I go any further, let me start with two assumptions about money that should get us thinking differently:<\/p>\n

1. There are, almost always, outside factors that played a role in one\u2019s accumulation of money.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many people who have money were born with it\u2014and I\u2019m not always talking about inheriting a fortune. (Merely starting life in the middle class makes living a middle class lifestyle infinitely easier to achieve.)<\/p>\n

And there are other factors, outside one\u2019s control, that almost certainly resulted in one\u2019s accumulation of excess: the country or city of our birth, the families we were born into, world events, even the innate talents and abilities we were given at birth play a part.<\/p>\n

These advantages often pave a smoother road to prosperity for some than for others.<\/p>\n

Of course, this isn\u2019t to downplay the hard work that someone might put in to acquire wealth, it\u2019s just an acknowledgment that there were other factors, outside your control, that contributed to that accumulation.<\/p>\n

Which brings me to my second point:<\/p>\n

2. Money doesn\u2019t always measure effort (or talent).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Having a lot of money does not necessarily mean you\u2019ve outworked others or are more talented.<\/p>\n

In my life, I\u2019ve encountered countless individuals, particularly in the nonprofit sector, who are incredibly skilled and dedicated. They could have potentially made lots of money but chose instead to funnel their talents toward noble causes. Some, knowing full-well, what they were giving up to pursue the work they chose.<\/p>\n

Additionally, I think of the countless parents who\u2019ve prioritized raising their children over building bank balances. They, too, have made a significant impact with their work and talents, it\u2019s just not reflected in their net worth.<\/p>\n

They chose to chase something else instead.<\/p>\n

I want to mention those two points because I think they are important in helping us reframe the accumulation of money in the first place.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s this next thought that really makes me wonder if having a lot of money is something to be proud of:<\/p>\n

3. Every dollar held in our bank account is a dollar that could be used to help someone else.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Consider this, when we hold onto more money than we need, we do so at the expense of others. Our excess could provide food, family<\/a>, education, work-training, and\/or opportunity to people who desperately need it.<\/p>\n

Over 25% of the world\u2019s population lives on less than $4\/day.<\/a> Literally, every extra dollar in our bank account is a dollar that could be spent to meet the needs of others.<\/p>\n

And here we are, with extra money sitting in bank accounts, investments, or even just things we bought and forgot about. Holding onto extra money means missed opportunities. I wonder if the awareness of that reality should motivate us more than it does.<\/p>\n

Keeping more money for ourselves than we need is a sign that we could be helping others, but are choosing not to. There may be any number of reasons for that decision (and some of them might be healthy), but a large number of reasons are not (greed and worry<\/a> come to mind right off the top of my head).<\/p>\n

Now, I can\u2019t claim to know the personal circumstances of every individual reading this.<\/p>\n

But perhaps today, more than anything else, I just want to raise a question that you\u2019ve maybe never considered:<\/p>\n

Is having a lot of money really something to be proud of?<\/em><\/p>\n

Or is it something we should actually be embarrassed about\u2014given all the need around us?<\/em><\/p>\n

Before I end, it might be helpful for me to clarify a few things that I\u2019m not saying:<\/p>\n