Nobody wants to have an honest conversation these days.

We hate it.

Everything is shielded with political correctness, worries of offending somebody and efforts to ensure that everybody feels good about everything.

And yet… everybody is miserable.

All this feel-goodism and everybody still hates everybody. They just hate for new and “better” reasons.

It’s silly.

So let’s have a real conversation. It’s about money… and why you absolutely deserve more of it.

It may offend. It may not make some readers feel good. And some folks will hate us for it.

Oh well.

No Apologies

Here we go… Answer these questions honestly.

Why does Warren Buffett, who is 89 years old and worth $86 billion, still get up and go to work each day?

Why does Jeff Bezos, who could cash in all his chips for $108 billion, bother to show up to run the trillion-dollar company that he started?

Better yet… Why do YOU want to have more money tomorrow than you do today?

Ah. That last one is easy to answer. You need the money, right? It’s money that will fill that oh-so-dark gap between today and future financial Liberty.

But Buffett? Bezos? All those billionaires? They certainly can’t feel that way.

Can they?

We’ve all heard the saying. More money… more problems.

We talked about it the other day with Mrs. Manward. A good friend of ours is having a tremendous year. But it came at the cost of a few lawsuits and serious trouble at home.

For him, mo’ money wasn’t worth the mo’ problems.

If that tends to be the case so often, why do we bother?

Why do the rich want to get richer? Why do we pick up our pen and muse so often about money and how to get more of it? Why in the world do you read my essays?

Are we all just greedy SOBs?

Far from it.

No More Questions… Just Answers

If we had to bet, we’d say that “more money, more problems” was first said by some poor sap who just missed a shot at what he really wanted… and probably deserved.

“Ah, shucks,” he lied to console himself. “I didn’t need the money. It would just lead to more problems.”

We all know the line can’t be true.

Humans are smart. It may take us a while to figure things out, but sure enough we stop doing the things that harm us.

And humans have been going after money for as long as it’s been around.

If it truly hurt us, we wouldn’t want it so darn bad.

But money – or more specifically, greed – has hurt a lot of folks.

That’s why it’s so important you know why you want more money. This is absolutely critical. So please pay attention.

Think of it as a math equation.

If we don’t know why we want the money… if we don’t know what the final value of the money will be, in other words… we can’t properly value the effort that goes into it.

That’s confusing. So we’ll explain.

What a Billionaire Wants

Take Bezos, for instance. He’s got enough for a lifetime. He’s good.

In fact, he’s good for a million lifetimes.

But he’s not looking for financial security. He’s beyond that. Now he’s looking to change the world.

The politically correct crowd we glared at up top would say he should give it all away. They say it’s the government’s job to fix things and that he should be taxed until we’ve all got a slice of what he’s worked for.

Those us of who bother to think, though, say Washington should be paying him.

His yearning to do good has paid off.

He’s done more to help this country than any of those dopes along the Potomac could hope for.

Through Amazon, Bezos has…

• Crushed inflation and left the Fed in the dust
• Employed 647,500 people
• Forced the USPS to reform
• Helped push NASA to the brink of privatization
• Rewritten the rules of corporate transparency and accountability. (You can email him right now at jeff@amazon.com.)

But we’re not writing to defend the man or his money. No man is pure good or pure evil.

We’re writing to defend your right to pursue as much money as you want.

Plenty has already been written on the first part of that sentence. It’s the last three words that we beg you to pay attention to… especially during this holy week.

Don’t just blindly pursue money.

We’re no authority, but that seems sinful.

Instead, pursue money with a purpose. Get as much “as you want.”

Get rich, and give it all to your kids.

Get rich, and smile on some warm southern beach.

Get rich, and transform your community.

Just know why you want to get rich. Bezos does. Buffett does.

And if you don’t… if you blindly pursue riches… we promise you this: The math won’t add up, the effort won’t be worth the reward and more money will surely lead to more problems.

Just ask a lottery winner.

Our modern culture doesn’t want you to get rich. But that’s because it’s broke, penniless and wants to take what others have.

Don’t fall for it.

Get rich. And enjoy every second of it.

Just know what it’s worth.