[Money block #4] – “Rich people are assholes”

Note: I’m doing a special series this week on “money blocks” that hold you back form making more money

One of the biggest money blocks that held me back for years was the idea that “rich people are assholes”.

Here’s what I mean by that…

I grew up in your typical blue-collar family in a small town in Ohio.

My dad works in a factory that makes conveyor  belts for the coal industry.

And my mom has held every job from waitress to preschool teacher.

So we were never rich growing up.

We were your typical middle class family.

And usually in middle class families (especially ones that are blue-collar) there is a disdain for rich people.

This is because blue-collar people usually feel inferior to rich people.

So to deal with that feeling, they say things like…

“I might not be rich, but at least I’m not an asshole”

That was the kind of thinking that went on in my house.

And it was always on display.

I remember a specific situation when I was at a 4th of July party with my parents (I think I was in like 7th grade at the time) and my parents and the other parents there were making comments about the “rich people” that lived near the house we were at…

Basically the rich people were shooting off fireworks that were bigger and better than the little bottle rockets we had…

And all of a sudden all the parents started making comments about it.

“I’m sure that’s Matt’s fireworks, such a prick”

“Maybe we should roll this grill over his way and show him a real explosion”

Everything they said just reeked of jealousy.

And being a kid, I just absorbed all this.

I heard similar stuff for years.

“They might have money, but that doesnt make them nice people”

“They need to be knocked down a peg or two”

“They should be more generous with that money”

Basically everything that my parents said about people with money was not good.

So by the time I left for college, it was ingrained in me that “rich people are assholes”.

And here’s the thing…

Are some rich people assholes?

Yep.

But guess what…

There’s a lot of poor people that are assholes too.

Being an asshole has nothing to do with how much money you have. 

But that’s not what I thought…

I was convinced that if you had money, you were automatically an asshole.

Think about that…

If I believed that being rich was going to turn me into an asshole, then why would I ever want to be rich?

It’s like I was going to turn into this thing I hated if I was successful…

So I sabotaged myself.

I was doing all the right things in terms of trying to make more money…

But unconciously I had the brakes on.

I wouldn’t let myself make more money.

And for me, this money block took a bit of time to break through.

And what helped the most was actually hanging out with rich people.

Cause I learned pretty quickly that they weren’t the evil demons I made them out to be.

They were normal people.

And in most cases they were a lot nicer than the people telling me they were assholes. 

Which was eye-opening for me.

I had all these thoughts of rich people being the evil Scrooge McDuck in my head…

But they were just normal people…

And they happened to make a lot of money.

So simply seeing that…

And being around that really opened my eyes.

It made me realize that my parents beliefs about rich people weren’t necessarily true.

And if I wanted to have different beliefs…

I could.

I didn’t have to believe the same crap my parents believed.

 And now-a-days I’m of the belief that most rich people are generous and helpful.

Cause that’s what I’ve experienced.

And that’s been a big shift for me.

So if you struggle with this money block…

I’d highly suggest digging into where that came from…

And trying to look at it a different way.

You’re not going to suddenly turn into an asshole if you start making a bunch of money. 

So make as much money as you want…

That’s my 2 cents.

Hope this was helpful for ya.

Enjoy your Friday.

– Justin