Originally written in 2011; substantially edited in 2023

“The man without money is at the mercy of the man who has it.”

– Napoleon Hill

We have read many examples of people who have reached the summit of success starting from scratch. People who grew up in poverty, with difficulty making even two ends meet, but later went on to make their mark in history. Of course, lack of money is not a handicap for success. Not having money or being poor is not an excuse for failure. But that doesn’t mean one needs to be poor to attain success. Having money is always an asset.

I am not going to offer you superficial platitudes and say money doesn’t matter or you shouldn’t try being rich. I will tell you just the opposite. Try to earn lots of money. Be rich. When you have enough money, you can…..well, I don’t need to tell about that, do I? All of us know the importance of having a thick bank account. It gives you a special type of confidence. It gives you enough freedom to take risks, do experiments, and make mistakes. And it is these out of usual performances that create success. When you have too little money, you can never take chances; once you fail, you are doomed! So, we need to get rich! Remember, I am not advocating being rich so that you can buy all those superficial gadgets and pretend to be happy. I am advocating being rich so that you can afford to take risks in life and venture into things that others wouldn’t. That’s the real benefit of being rich. I am not undermining other benefits of having money- with money it’s easier to maintain your personality, afford good clothes, better ties, better shoes, good car, high efficiency laptop, etc. and you can feel good about yourself or at least don’t have to feel inferior to others. In short, your confidence will rise and you will have a psychological advantage above others. Poverty robs people of confidence, hope, and new ideas. However, I repeat, these are not the real benefits of being rich- the real benefit is the freedom to take risks because you don’t need to worry about starving even if your attempt goes wrong.