Growing the Wealth Pie

Were you, like me, conditioned into believing that there is only a certain amount of wealth in the world? Therefore to access more wealth means you take from the wealth of others.

This mindset is limiting and keeps you trapped. It allows you to reason why you shouldn't take action to pursue wealth.

But this is simply a mistaken belief that doesn't have sound arguments to support it.

Becoming wealthier doesn't mean that you are taking from others.

This belief often comes from the idea thrown around during economic hardships, when money is tight. You often hear the idea of a limited amount of money circulating in the economy.
But this is the first mistake. Because while there isn't much you can do to increase the money supply at specific points in history, money doesn't mean wealth.

Money Doesn't Mean Wealth

Many people make the mistake of believing that money means wealth. This mistake is often rooted deep in our mindsets based on experiences that we have as children.

For this reason, you believe that if there is only a limited supply of money available, you need to fight skin and nails to get and keep the money that you have. This belief also puts forth the impression that if there is only limited money in the economy, when you get money, someone is losing it.

While this is true at many different times, to fully understand and break away from this idea you need to understand that money is not wealth.

Money is simply a means of storing and transferring wealth.

You can get this confused since you often hear a person's net worth being quoted in terms of money. But you do this simply so that there is an easier way to measure wealth.

Let's look at it from a simple example.

Let's say that you have $10,000 in the bank. You are renting a house. And have a loan on your car. So these two "assets" are not yours. In the end, your wealth is actually in the negatives.

Now you have a neighbor who owns his own house, has money invested, and runs a small business that gives them about $2000 in revenue every month. They don't have as much money on hand as you, but when all their property and investments get added up, they are worth over $200,000.

Who would you say is wealthier?

When you remove the belief that money is wealth, you start looking at all the other things that make you wealthy.

You Can Make More Wealth

Now that we have clarified that money is not wealth. Let's focus on making more wealth.

Unlike money, wealth isn't limited. You can create wealth without robbing someone else of theirs. You can add wealth by adding value to the life of others. You don't need money or a lot of it, to create wealth.

But you do need money to move it around.

So let's say that you got lucky and got an old computer. It doesn't work but you are sure you could fix it up. You spend some money and time working on it, and pretty soon, it's up and running like a new computer.

You sell this computer for more money than you spent buying and fixing it. The person who buys it from you can now work because of having access to a functioning computer.

In the end, you get more than what you put in. The person who buys it gets more than what they paid for it because of all they can do with it.

Now imagine you do this 1000x more. You add value to the world. Your wealth grows. The people who buy from you also receive a way to grow their wealth.

Thus, adding value for others can help you to build wealth without taking from those less fortunate.

So the next time you are worried about growing and getting more. Remind yourself that when you do, if you are adding value, you are contributing to the growth of the wealth pie. You aren't taking away wealth from others.

The Challenge
Evaluate your mindset about wealth this week. Have you been attaching the value of money to wealth? If so, remind yourself that they are not the same. Don't allow the limiting mindset to keep you from taking action to improve your financial position.

Just remember that you are adding to everyone's wealth when you add value.