Our culture today has largely demonized and discredited the concept of money. It is often regarded as a necessary evil that plagues society, drives greed, and brings out the darker side of people. When I talk to people about money, I find that they often don't understand or appreciate what it is and what it does for us as a society. Since currency has been around for thousands of years, it is easy for us to lose perspective on how incredible of an idea it really was. This ancient invention enables us to move forward in life and build an existence for ourselves that allows for all civilization as we know it. Money, as a tool, is one of the greatest discoveries in human history, and I truly believe that having a healthy appreciation for it will allow us to be happier and more powerful in our own lives.
What is money?
First, it is important to understand what money really is, and not just fiat currencies such as the Dollar or the Euro. Money is a tool for holding and transferring value. This tool can come in many forms, from a dollar bill to Bitcoin to precious metals (my personal favorite). Let's say that I sew clothing, you bake cookies and Jacob picks berries. You need a pair of pants so you come to me and offer up some cookies for a new set of jeans. Being good and cookie loving, I take the trade. You also want some freshly picked strawberries from Jacob but, monster that he is, Jacob hates cookies. So again you come to me and offer more cookies, this time for some Bitcoin. Jacob is happy to take your newly earned Crypto because he can use it to buy things that he would actually enjoy.
Silver coins, photo taken by the author.
The Bitcoin in this scenario represented human work. Not any one task, but human work itself. Money is a tool to transfer labor from one person to another, so that sewing can replace baking or baking can replace picking. Normally you must pick the strawberries for yourself, but through Bitcoin you were able to get some by baking cookies. For a human being to survive they must somehow earn food, shelter and water. This used to mean that people would have to labor for each of those items individually. Money allows us to achieve our basic needs through our chosen labor and just that labor. We can put all of our effort into baking cookies (or whatever we happen to enjoy doing) and have that work achieve our needs for food, shelter and so on. It turns labor into a physical commodity that can substitute almost any other form of labor imaginable.
Thinking about money in this way, you can appreciate how revolutionary and enabling this invention really was. People could specialize their labor by doing what they were best at, becoming much more productive as a result. It opened up a whole new world of trade and prosperity. Money enabled collections of wealth that were previously impossible. Instead of collecting storages of food and supplies, people could guarantee these things in the future by collecting gold instead. You may only be able to store a years supply of food, but there is no cap on how much gold you can accumulate to purchase your necessities when you need them. People could simply do more, and they were much freer than they had ever been before in history.
You can do anything
In the current paradigm we are taught that our ultimate goal is to find the nicest job within our reach where we will stay until retirement. After decades of hard work we will be able to enjoy the fruits of our labor in our old age. More and more, young people are told how important and necessary it is for them to go to college to obtain a better career. So they rack up a lifetime of debt, ensuring that they will need to work in their chosen career to make their student loan payments. Instead of being enabled by money, people are indebted and trapped through these social norms.
Bitcoin paper wallets, photo taken by the author.
(Empty of course).
Few people understand their true potential in a money backed economy. They are told that they can be anything, but not that they can do anything. Despite how popular the phrase “money can't buy happiness” is, that is precisely how we are taught happiness is achieved. We will work in a job that we hate so that we can earn enough money to buy happiness later in life. While I think that this phrase oversimplifies the role of money, I have to agree. I don't think that happiness can be bought with unhappy labor. We do not have to work in ways that make us miserable and we certainly don't have to do so for our entire lives. What's stopping you from doing what you truly love, right now? And what will stop you from moving on to your next great adventure should you grow bored or unsatisfied?
In the money economy it is happiness that buys you money. Do what makes you happy, find a way to provide value to others, and the economic system will reward you for your labor. Working in a job is an honorable way to earn a living, but we are not chained to this way of life. Not only can you be anything you want to be, in a free economy you can make money doing whatever you enjoy doing. If you like working with model trains, find a way to make money out of that. Or maybe you like baking cakes, or making clothing. The freer an economy is the more it enables people to work in their chosen labor until ultimately the whole economy is run top to bottom by people who love what they do. When that happens, our greatest potential for productivity will be released.
Cover photo credit: FreeImages.com/Gregg Harris