Money has a good and a bad side. It is the root of much evil, but also the root of much good.

Pursuing a lot of money can lead people to do horrible, unethical things. Wars, corruption, murder, and even just turning a blind eye to others’ wrongdoings. These things happen daily.

It doesn’t always take a bad person to do bad things. A strong enough incentive can cause a decent human to lose their principles and integrity. To cross the line and unfairly try to get ahead in this formidable money game. This is where the phrase “selling your soul to the devil” comes from^[1].

One example comes from a man named Bernie Madoff. He orchestrated the largest Ponzi scheme ever, with the fraud estimated at around $65 billion. His clients were a mix of wealthy individuals, but also charities, non-profits, and feeder funds to which many modest individuals had their wealth invested. His actions devastated thousands of innocent lives, many of whom never fully recovered.

What you may not know is that before he was a fraudster, Bernie was a legitimate titan of Wall Street. He was a successful marketmaker in the 60s and a pioneer of the technology now known as the NASDAQ. Before his wrongdoings, Bernie’s brokerage was so successful that it was processing around 12% of all trading orders for the New York Stock Exchange by the 90s. He was already a multi-millionaire many times over.

It’s still debated whether Bernie was a sociopath. Evidence also found that his fraudulent activities may have begun much earlier than he admitted. So he might’ve been a bad person all along, but we’re not certain. One thing we do know is he never needed to cheat. He was already a respected, successful businessperson with more money than he’d ever need. Maybe he got lost in the money. Maybe his fear of losing it outweighed all else. Maybe he did sell his soul to the devil.

Like using illegal performance-enhancing drugs in athletics, the lack of morality in business is cheating. Actually, it’s deeper than that. Money is so intertwined in all humans’ lives that cheating in this game can and does ruin lives. It harms not only the perpetrator but also, in some cases, thousands of innocent lives in the crossfire—both metaphorically and literally.

These money-hungry parasites have a selfish, near-sighted objective. They will steal from a hard-working family. Defraud a student. Embezzle employee money. Bribe country officials, weakening the rule of law. Launder money coming in from illegal avenues. Produce dangerous or deadly products. Manipulate the market for a quick profit at the expense of rule-abiding investors. The list goes on.

It is more righteous to not play the game at all than to play with a morally corrupt approach. These people actually regress society from the damage they cause. Their approach is zero-sum and comes at the expense of others^[2]. Instead of creating wealth and being additive to society, they take and destroy.

To make matters worse, they influence the impressionable youth to also chase money at all costs—including the cost of morality. To accumulate by any means and then spend on luxuries and opulence instead of productive uses that benefit people and society^[3]. In this light, money is quite clearly bad.

Pursuing a lot of money isn’t all bad, though. It does have good outcomes. For one, it can turn a troubled, lost soul into his best self for the greater good.

Many of the greatest entrepreneurs in history were rebels and misfits. They got bad grades and were disobedient. Early on, they couldn’t fit in or follow authority. Those traits could have led them to a path of crime and societal outcast. Those same traits are also what enabled them to ignore the experts, operate to the beat of their own drum, and disrupt an industry for the better.

One extreme example was Steve Jobs, founder of Apple. From reading his biography written by Walter Isaacson, you’ll find many examples of how stubborn and demanding Steve was even at a young age. One day in high school, his parents found weed in his car and angrily demanded that he stop. Young Steve vehemently refused and threatened to move out.

No matter the authority, be it his parents, teachers, or industry experts, Steve was relentless. He always had to have his way. This unyielding attitude could have led him to a life full of trouble. Instead, that same attitude led him to build one of the largest companies in the world against the odds. People like Steve were lucky to have found their outlet in job creation and wealth generation.

Apple has improved the lives of millions through their smartphones, computers, tablets, cloud services, and other innovations. Before the Apple II, computers were massive, intimidating machines reserved for scientists and corporations. Apple democratised computing. They then birthed the app economy, which led to entirely new massive industries such as ride-sharing, mobile banking, and remote work tools. Their “think different” motto, along with the MacBook Pro, iPad, and software like Logic Pro or Final Cut turned individuals into studios. They popularized end-to-end encryption and app tracking transparency.

Apple’s stock alone bred thousands of new millionaires and contributed to hundreds of thousands of retirement funds around the world. The incentive of money is strong enough to incline people like Steve and his early stakeholders to endure the pain, suffering, and risk involved in building a great business. To channel their eccentric, maverick, and downright disruptive character towards something constructive. Great businesses like Apple contribute to society.

Not too long ago, humans spent most of their waking hours hunting and farming their own food for sustenance. Now we can pay someone to deliver any meal we can possibly think of to our doorstep and spend the rest of our time as we please. At one point, we had a cold, bumpy horse and carriage or a loud, greasy steamship that took weeks to travel across our fierce oceans. Now we have silent, climate-controlled cars that can drive themselves or cozy, incredibly safe planes that can fly you anywhere on planet Earth within 24 hours at a relatively affordable price.

The pursuit of money has greatly extended our life spans. While government-funded research often initiates the discovery of a technology or scientific breakthrough, private investment is often the driving force that converts those discoveries into scalable, life-saving products. The pursuit of money has driven improvements in technology and our quality of life. We brought electricity to almost every home, we cured countless deadly and debilitating diseases, and we have personal superintelligent computers in our pockets. In this light, money is quite clearly great.

These two sides coexist simultaneously.

I grew up in a household where the topic of money was a bit taboo. It was wrong to desire money. On one end, this attitude was very beneficial. I learned to appreciate the objectively more important things in life. Health, happiness, love, and kindness. Money is absolutely worthless in the absence of health and happiness. But I later learned about the other side of money. The good side.

I have ambitions of building schools and orphanages in Ghana. I also want to grow the motorsport industry in the country. I use capital to fund new and exciting projects and innovations that may someday change lives. Selfishly, I want more capital to support my family. I want to fund exciting experiences and opportunities. I also genuinely love the game of money and creating things. These, I believe, are positive reasons to pursue money. It not only gives me purpose, but also progresses society.

I call it a spectrum vs two sides to money because the good and bad can blur at times. Wealth is always positive-sum at a macro scale and over the long term. But in the short-term and within industries, business is competitive. And as in any competition, there are winners and there are losers. There is no room for handouts in business, and in that sense, it can be brutal even when it is fair.

Another example is layoffs. Are layoffs really bad if they’re done fairly (with severance) to improve the productivity of the business? If a business is not run optimally, be it from having too many employees than needed, you may risk destroying the entire business and thus hurting many more people.

There will probably always be cheaters and “unsportsmanlike” players. The only thing we can do is ensure we have just laws and enforce them fairly and rigidly. There’s a saying in Japanese culture, “the downfall of society begins with the individual.”

Society is fragile, and it only works when most people do the right thing. The only reason we’re able to drive cars on the road together is because everybody stops at a stoplight. If we had anarchy, driving would be completely impractical, and many would not make it to their destination unscathed. We need some order to function collectively.

Do the right thing. As long as you play within the rules, you are free to play the money game as you please. Let money motivate you, but don’t let it consume you. Remember what is most important. Never lose sight of that.

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[1] The phrase “money is the root of all evil” explains the immensely powerful incentive of money. It is sometimes so intensely desired that it can cause people to act in horrible ways to accumulate it. It is not all bad, though. Love is just as intensely desired and is a powerful incentive. People kill and act horribly over love or the lackthereof. So is love also the root of all evil? Obviously not.

[2] It should be said that sometimes genuine mistakes do happen. Sometimes these mistakes happen with drastic outcomes. It can be challenging to have complete control over the output of a large company. Genuine mistakes shouldn’t be treated quite the same as negligence or deliberate misconduct.

[3] Not that there’s anything wrong with spending money on the finer things in life, or treating yourself. Also, I wouldn’t say it’s bad to be motivated by money to afford luxuries. However, I believe there should be a balance. Not only for selfless reasons, but also for a more fulfilling life. Many quotes from wealthy businessmen in the past warn of this, my favorite coming from Andrew Carnegie, the wealthiest man in the world at the time, “He who dies rich, dies disgraced.”