Money is something that everyone wants to have, needs to have and should have, because with money we buy almost anything we need in this world, but it is in this dynamic that many people do not realize that money is a game and as such you have to understand it.
The money game: Do you know how to play it?
The key is to understand that, regardless of whether we have a lot or a little at the beginning, we are the ones who have to control the money, and not the money to us. It sounds abstract at first but it is a simpler concept than it seems.
Because as surreal as it seems, money is a means that allows us to achieve things and, at the same time, it is something that is worth nothing in the strict sense of the term; but rather its value comes from the trust that we all have in it based on the economy of the country that backs it up. Due there is no, as in the past, commodities backing behind the fiduciary money, that is, there is no longer backing in gold or silver or something else; but rather its strength and value depends on the trust and use of all of us who use it.
Knowing all this is how we understand that money is a means and not an end, money is not wealth by itself, but it is a means to create wealth and having it is the irrefutable expression of it.
Therefore, I will ask you a question: A millionaire is a millionaire because he has a lot of money?; or... A millionaire has money because he is a millionaire? The question sounds complicated, right?
I'll put it like this:
Let's talk about two people: Person A and Person B.
Person A won the lottery, and got $50 million.
Person B has 30 million dollars based on his businesses and ventures.
Which of the two people is really a millionaire? At first it seems that both are millionaires, and in a strict sense, defining as a millionaire any person who owns millions of dollars, both people are. But if we want to understand the game of money we have to look much deeper into the matter and understand an essential truth.
Wealth is having many sources of income
Therefore, the issue is not just having millions of dollars in our bank account, that is not wealth, but the expression of our wealth, which is nothing more than our ability to generate income in perpetuity or consistently.
So, wealth as such is currently poorly perceived. We are not rich because we have millions of dollars, but because of the ability to generate those millions of dollars. Because going back to the aforementioned example, if the person who won the lottery is like most people, they will spend the money in a two for three, which will mean that in a short time (days, weeks, months or years); it will be back to being as poor as you were before you won the prize.
But it is even more complex, because let us suppose that person A (the one who won the 50 million dollars in the lottery), realizes that he should not waste his money, but should use it sparingly, in order to not to be left with nothing. Even then, that person is not rich, even though it has more purchasing power than most people today, and even though the money earned may be enough to live on for the rest of its life.
And she is not rich, because that person does not have (although he can acquire it later, if it wants to), the vision to create real wealth, real base of wealth through that money. I mean, that person only understands that if it wastes money, it will be left with nothing, but nothing more, and it is there, in that vision, that he does not go beyond that; because he does not understand that the ideal is to make investments.
But generally, most people don't understand investments, or seek financial advice, or anything like that, they only understand about spending money and saving money to spend when they may need it in the future, but other than that, things like investing and the intrinsic value of money in the long term, are concepts that they fail to understand.
The difference with the rich
The difference between the poor and the rich is precisely that they do understand the value of money, and they understand that their wealth is not money, but that money is a simple and plain basic expression of their wealth, it is a consequence, not a cause by itself.
So the rich know that money must be used to create more money-generating sources, which is ultimately achieved through investment. The rich person, therefore, is never afraid of running out of money, because, I repeat, he has understood that his money is not his wealth, and because he keeps generating money permanently.
So going back to the previous example, person B, who made $30 million through his business, is truly rich, because he knows how he made his money and can replicate it whenever he wants; instead, the one who won the lottery, it is very unlikely that he will ever win it again in the same way (or at all). So, the rich understand the game of money.
And what do you think about the Money Game?