Why You'll Never Be Rich
Without understanding this
It was 2012. I was a wide-eyed freshman sitting in my packed Economics 201 lecture hall.
Professor Coppock stood at the front, talking about imports and exports:
“Last year, the US had a $300 billion trade deficit with China. That means China sold us $300 billion more in goods than we sold them.”
“Is that bad we're giving so much money to China?” he asked.
We all nodded. Of course, it’s bad!
“Wrong,” he said.
“Rich countries spend money to free up their time and resources for higher-value work, like innovation. Cheap goods and services from countries like China and India allow the US to focus on creating more wealth.”
My brain went ding.
As someone raised in a conservative Asian household, I thought hoarding money was good and spending was bad.
But it’s the other way around.
Spending isn’t bad. It’s strategic.
The ability to outsource cheap goods and services is what propelled the US to abundance and innovation.
While workers in other countries make unicorn floaties for kids’ pool parties, American workers spend their time in Nvidia labs designing GPUs that power thousands of AI model trainings.
Back in 2012, I thought I understood this Economics lesson.
It took me 12 years to truly grasp how profound it is.
In 2024, I quit corporate to become a solopreneur.
After going through two tech layoffs, I’ve had enough.
At the time, I had no clue what I wanted to do, so I started writing online - Medium, LinkedIn, Substack.
I wanted to get better, so I did something terrifying.
I bought a $600 writing course.
I spent hours pacing back and forth, rereading every testimonial, Googling to make sure it wasn’t a scam. My heart raced as I hovered over the “Buy Now” button.
But I took the leap.
And something magical happened.
In just 2 months:
I gained 2,000 Substack readers
I doubled my LinkedIn following
People started reaching out, asking for coaching
That $600 taught me a critical lesson: Your time is priceless.
Money isn’t emotional. It’s a tool.
Rich people get this. They use money to:
Buy back time
Focus on higher-value things
Create more wealth
That $600 investment led to another leap:
I spent $13,800 on business coaching in 2024.
Sounds insane, right?
Here’s the craziest part: I’ve already made it back—doubled, in fact.
This is when I realized:
Understanding how money works is a cheat code to life that 99% of the people will never crack.
Because they see money as emotion, status, love, social proof.
Anything but a tool to redistribute resources.
This is why I’m starting to see money like Super Mario coins. You collect them, spend them on tools, and level up faster.
And if you lose them? No big deal. You’ve built the skills to earn them back.
Last Sunday, I met up with a writer for coffee in a local park.
He asked me, “Wouldn’t you figure it out on your own anyway?”
Sure, after years of trial and error. But why take 3 years to make $100K when you can do it in 12 months and grow 10x faster?
Money loves speed.
But here’s the problem:
Most people never crack this code because they see money as something to save, not a tool to invest.
They:
Trade time for money
Hoard money instead of using it to grow
Fear spending, even if it can fast-track their success
Let me ask you this:
If a genie offered you two options, which would you choose?
Pay the genie $2,000 today to get $10,000 in 3 months.
Get $3,000 in 12 months without paying anything.
You’d find a way to borrow that $2,000 to pay the genie, wouldn’t you?
Because it’s faster. And it’s more.
That’s how wealth works.
I’m by no means rich compared to a lot of people.
In fact, I’m only making half of what I used to make as a Lead Data Scientist.
But I’ve never felt richer in my life in 2025.
Because I’ve learned the lesson: Money is not freedom.
Money is just a tool to create freedom.
> Money is just a tool to create freedom.
the most important currency, is time!
great post, smart people use money to make more money :)