Are rich people greedy?

How this perception affects our own wealth and happiness

by Anna Murphy on December 4th, 2020

What do you think of when you hear the word rich? Are the first thoughts that come to mind negative or positive? Did you imagine yourself living in a lavish Malibu home or Upper East Side Penthouse? Or did you cringe at the word, picturing corrupt bankers and entitled trust fund babes? Did you even think of money at all, or were you focused on another kind of rich, rich in faith, love, or fulfillment? 

The word rich has been around since well before the 1800s, stemming from Middle and Old English words that meant power and wealth. Even before then, every language had a term associated with the accumulation of wealth and prosperity, all the way back to the biblical stories you were probably read as a child. Oftentimes, the word greed was heavily tied to these stories and perceptions, perpetually linking the two terms together. We’ve all heard the phrase ‘rich people are greedy,’ but are the two words really synonymous with each other?

Not exactly. Rich and greed are not mutually exclusive! You can certainly be greedy without being rich, so why can’t people be rich without being greedy? It comes down to what lies at the core of the person’s heart. They may be moderately rich but donate their time and money to charity, pool all their savings into college funds for their children or retirement for themselves and their parents. Not everyone who accumulates wealth deals in nefarious ways or tramples on their acquaintances to get to the top. 

It's hard to know if someone is both rich and greedy without knowing who they are as a person, and the time you spend grueling over these assumptions could be doing you serious harm. The mindset you have around money directly affects your own wealth and happiness.

The Perception of Greed

The problem most people have with greed is that it’s a selfish act. It’s been condemned throughout history, in the stories we read, and the movies we watch. It’s even one of the seven deadly sins. We know that greed is not only wrong, it's destructive to ourselves and those around us. “The greedy bring ruin to their households, but the one who hates bribes will live” Proverb 15:27. But greed is not the same as the accumulation of wealth, it’s the intense and continual desire for more of something. Whether that’s power, resources, money, or material things, it’s never having enough and not knowing when to stop trying to get more. 

So how do we know when working hard to earn money turns into greed? Some say that rich people are greedy when they surpass a level of wealth that’s more than they need or deserve, but who’s to be the judge of what that person deserves? Should a person stop when they’ve hit a point that they can maintain the lifestyle they desire? And who’s to say what lifestyle is too lavish? Does it tip the scales for a wealthy person when they give back to charity? Dedicating time and energy to enhancing your finances in order to ensure yourself a comfortable future without fears of losing your home or paying medical bills is not greedy, it's smart. Busting your butt to secure that vacation dinero is not selfish, it’s self-love. Making money only turns into greed when it’s all you can think about, day in and day out, without significant moments spent appreciating what you have.

Our Mindset on Wealth

Oftentimes, our inherent perceptions and biases have more to do with our decisions than we think. In fact, my blogs, Introspection: Personality and Mindset and Mindset About Money, offer even more insight into this topic. We all have a specific mindset about money that affects the way we see wealth. For a lot of people, this mindset is filled with negative thoughts like, “I’ll never be rich,” and “money is evil.” This mindset creates a nebulous of cynicism that surrounds all of our perceptions of making money and can lead to behaviors of self sabotage. Instead of looking into positive actions like investing and saving, you may think that accumulating wealth is evil so you’ll just spend that paycheck as soon as you get it. This type of fixed mindset can be damaging to your wealth. 

Where did all these bad habits and negative thoughts come from? You probably inherited them from your parents and other loved ones as you grew up. When you take a moment to reflect on the sayings your parents used when talking about money, you’ll start to see the connection to your mindset. They probably warned you that “money isn’t everything” and that “rich people are greedy” when you talked about goals to get rich. Slowly, you started to believe that money, not the people behind it, was inherently evil and you never built a positive relationship with your money. On top of that, you likely inherited a negative bias to those who have a lot of money, assuming that they're selfish and more miserable with their wealth. When you overgeneralize and believe that all rich people are greedy, you subconsciously damage your relationship with money and stunt your own wealth potential. 

Finding Balance

Knowing that the words ‘rich’ and ‘greed’ are not synonymous may make the ethical dilemma a little more unlikely when faced with the desire to pursue our own wealth. With anything in life, the key is finding a healthy balance between our goals and current mental capacity. Creating a healthy relationship with money will take you farther than you may think, and it all starts in your mind. 

Our beliefs about money fuel all of our financial decisions as well as the pride, guilt, or fear that come with them. The pursuit of wealth is not an inherently evil action so long as we don’t let thoughts of more money consume us. While money isn’t everything, we can’t live in this world without it. One of the important things to remember here is not to go into money with a scarcity mindset. Just because your cousin or sister has more money than you doesn’t mean that there is less out there in the world for you to have. Money is a necessity, but fortunately, it’s a necessity that is a renewable resource. Don’t spend your days comparing yourself to others' success instead of looking in on your own. 

If you’re not happy where you’re at financially, establish a set of goals that suit your situation and lifestyle. Take note of your spending and saving habits so you can work to improve them, and keep those negative money thoughts far far away! Looking to the future is a good thing, but focusing on the present is powerful. The mindset you have around money directly affects your own wealth.