Becoming Rich Is the Most Altruistic Thing You Can Do:

How money drives us to improve society.

«Money is merely a reward for solving problems.»

— Mike Murdock

For those interested in personal finance or business, they know the three fundamental rules of the game:

1. Spend less.
2. Earn more.
3. Learn to invest.

These individuals (including myself, and probably you as you read this) also know that it’s not as easy as it sounds, and it takes years to truly grasp how to… spend less, earn more, and learn to invest.

Years wouldn’t be enough to delve into all three rules adequately. We also know this game doesn’t have just three rules; there are many more beyond the fundamentals, such as building your network or figuring out what work makes you happiest.

My internet history is filled with YouTube videos discussing this topic, full of articles and blogs. My bookshelf also holds many books on the subject, both academic and non-fiction.

However, rarely have I heard about the role of money within our societies. The reason we can purchase goods and services with pieces of paper that have no intrinsic value is because we give them that value.

Understanding how money works and its role in human relationships within society is, in my opinion, a fundamental step if we want to earn more and use money to improve our quality of life.

My name is Simone, I’m 21 years old, studying economics at university, and with this article, I want to delve into the sociological aspects of money.

Modern and Complex Societies.

Human beings do not live the same way across the planet. There are still many differences among various populations. One way to understand these differences and determine where people live better is the Human Development Index.

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a summary measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development: 1. a long and healthy life, 2. being knowledgeable 3. a decent standard of living.

It would be foolish to think that you can understand a population through a single indicator, but the three points this index analyzes tell us a lot about a person’s well-being and the complexity of society.

I was born and live in Italy, a country with a very high score comparable to all Western countries. So, whether you’re French, American, or Australian, everything you read will apply to you and your society.

There are two aspects I want to discuss regarding the complexity of our societies:

1. Interdependence of Work.

Let’s go back to the fundamental rules for a moment: Earn more. To earn, we need to work. Okay, but what kind of work? Are some jobs more important than others? What should I choose? Well, it’s not crucial, here’s why:

If I were to ask 100 people what the most necessary profession in our society is, I’m pretty sure more than a few would say, “Doctor.” Of course, we all want to be healthy…

Have you ever thought about how many other professionals are needed for a doctor to do their job well? Nurses, of course. But who cleans the hospitals? But even before that, someone needs to build them, and so you need an architect, engineers, and builders. You’ll need construction equipment… and someone who previously built them!

Don’t forget the ambulances: someone has to design them, build the materials, assemble them. Then, you need someone to drive them, and don’t forget about the fuel… otherwise, the ambulance can’t move.

This is the level of complexity present in our societies: if a doctor saves a life, it’s not just thanks to them; it’s also thanks to someone who worked in a fuel refinery to ensure the ambulance could rush to the injured.

2. Hyper-Specialization of Work.

Now, let’s realize another aspect of complex societies: the role of the individual and how they create value for the entire society.

I’ll be studying at university for several more years, and perhaps you have done or are doing the same. At the end of my journey, I’ll only know how to do one thing: I will have spent years and know only one thing, isn’t that strange?

Look around you, How many of the things that you use for a good life — like the refrigerator, the windows of your home, the roads you use to buy food… the food itself — have you built yourself? I don’t know what job you do, but if you work with glass, you certainly don’t build refrigerators, and vice versa.

In simpler societies, a person can easily do various jobs, even very different ones. This is not possible today. Most jobs require months or years of training. Nowadays, each of us knows how to do only one thing, and nothing else, but we do it darn well. For everything else, if we want to continue enjoying modern comforts, we rely on the work of others. We must continue to hope that everyone works, or at least invests some of their money.

… How does money work? Work = Producing well-being. For example, if you want to live close to your job, you might rent a house nearby. This house contributes to maintaining your well-being.

In this case, there’s no person spending hours of their life producing goods or services that make your life easier. It doesn’t take hours; it takes money: buying that house costs someone money, and that same money today allows you to live better. In exchange for this well-being, you pay rent.

To recap:

1. If we want everyone to improve their quality of life and well-being, everyone in a society needs to work.
2. Professions are interdependent, and a person can only work well if others do too.
3. Our well-being depends on many different factors, and each profession focuses on only one aspect. All of us rely on the work of others for everything except what we do.

The Toil of Work, Value Creation, and the Role of Money:

Working is hard, it’s exhausting, and even today, despite a thousand laws, people sometimes die at work, even in our advanced Western countries. No sane person would choose to work if they weren’t forced to.

Yet, as we mentioned earlier, everyone needs to contribute. If we all don’t collectively engage in work, well-being declines, and so does the quality and life expectancy. Money plays a fundamental role in convincing people to work.

Let’s address these two questions now.

1. How do we convince everyone to work?
2. What role does money play? Let’s address these two questions now.

How to Convince Everyone to Generate Wealth.

Now that we’ve understood that, here comes the difficult part: understanding how to persuade everyone to do their part.

Throughout history, this problem has been solved in many different ways, not all of them equally effective. To understand which methods are the most useful, one only needs to look at the societies with greater well-being.

One of the methods used in the past, which proved to be a failure, was the use of force: we had slaves, labor camps, and exploitation. Fortunately, in the West, these things no longer exist. They didn’t bring any improvement, and we’ve thankfully left them behind.

What we’ve found works better is the promise of a better future. The hope of continually increasing our well-being.

It’s straightforward: the more you work, the more useful you become to society by creating value, and the more you’re rewarded with quicker and easier access to all the goods and services you need, thus increasing your well-being.

This is where money comes into play. The idea that everyone could work for free and have free access to everything is very appealing, but it remains a beautiful idea. Anyone who studies economics knows that one of the most important concepts is that resources are scarce: not everyone can live in the most beautiful skyscraper, and even if we build more, we’ll move away from the city center, and the first one will still be the most coveted.

So, returning to money. Do you want to live in that fantastic skyscraper? You need a lot of money, and you have only two options to earn a lot of it.

1. Steal or scam.
2. Earn honestly, work, create value, and well-being.

I strongly advise against the first option: jail cells are cold, beds are uncomfortable, and there’s no internet… plus, who will read my articles there? :)

In the simplest terms, the only way you have to access that house in the skyscraper is to make yourself more valuable to society. Very useful, extremely useful!

And if you didn’t want to live in a skyscraper? If a humble life sufficed? Even in this case, you still need to make yourself useful to society; even essential goods like food, clothes, and a decent home must be purchased with money. Whether you want to contribute a lot or a little to value creation, you still have to do it, at least enough to avoid starving.

The Role of Money:

The consequences of this perspective on society and money, in my opinion, are two:

1. Money measures how useful we are to society: The richer you are, the more useful you are. → If many people are willing to pay for our services, and this continues over time, it means we are truly capable of increasing their well-being.
2. Money becomes a reserve of value and well-being. → Money isn’t edible, and we can’t wear it as clothing. Our money is nothing more than well-being stored in small rectangles of paper: banknotes. Every time we need something, we can spend some of our money to meet our needs. However, keep in mind that every time you consume something, you are automatically giving up everything else, at least until you earn new money, or unless you’ve discovered how to have infinite money. (If you have, let me know; I’m very interested)

Final Thoughts

But let’s be honest with ourselves now: is reality so simple? Is it true that the wealthier you are, the more you’ve contributed?

I’m sorry, but unfortunately, prisons are full of dishonest people. Theft and fraud continue to exist. In a perfect society, no one would try to harm others, and the only way to earn money would be through work. What’s even worse is that not all thieves end up in prison. Not all of them get caught. Many fraudsters go unpunished and walk through our cities as if nothing happened.

Don’t be naive; what you’ve read is how — at least in my opinion — complex societies work on paper. But every rule has its exceptions. That’s why laws exist: to prevent people from breaking the rules and taking advantage of others, consuming goods without contributing their share.

However, I advise you not to be discouraged. These dishonest people are very few and are gradually decreasing over time. Our societies, despite having many flaws, which we are slowly addressing, are improving.

There are other ways to run a society, but if I’ve learned anything from studying economics and history, this is the method I consider the best. I was born and raised in this system, and I firmly believe it’s the best.

I’m very open to reading and responding to all comments. Listening to different opinions enriches us!

I realize that I’ve left out many important aspects. It would have been nice to delve into the historical perspective of the origin of money. The modern world and our societies are much more complex than this. It’s impossible to summarize in so few lines how a healthy and growing society functions.

If you enjoyed this article, I recommend two more to you. The first one explains the best way to get rich, and the second one tells you from which amount onwards you can consider yourself wealthy.