Financial professionals make money by making money with money.
This distinction separates the FPs from virtually all other occupations.
Even a sales professional, in another industry, who is fixated on driving revenue, is still selling a product or a service, to make money.
In the financial services sector, the commodities are financial vehicles and products. By necessity, the financial services professional develops a more intimate relationship with a more complex concept of money than in any other arena.
For any livelihood, aside from philanthropic endeavors, money as compensation is one way we measure aptitude and success. However, unlike the architect, the music producer, the tradesman, the artist, or the doctor—where success is also measured by quality of what is produced or created—too many in the world of finance view money as the only benchmark of success.
Unless the financial professional can identify other ways in which he can be creative and successful in his job, his self-esteem can become too caught up in the numbers alone. Production does not a human soul make.
There’s much more to life than metrics. It should be about more than the money. There is potential to create more than wealth. Money is a centerpiece of our culture and the back story of history. And, money can be used as a very powerful tool to accomplish other objectives, such as developing a brand, enhancing a reputation, nurturing long-lasting relationships, establishing a foundation.
However, while accumulation of wealth must be a priority, it need not be the exclusive objective. Money can be the means to more ends that generate fulfillment.
Sometimes, money can buy happiness, if you know how to spend it the right way and you invest more of yourself in other areas.
But again, financial professionals make money by making money with money. Though it always comes down to the money, that mindset of obsession need not consume you. Strike the balance where you have a healthy interest in money, yet understand how to use resources to produce professional and personal fulfillment. This is the philosophical cornerstone of the Gyroscope methodology.
Greed can be good, but only if you know how to channel the fruits of your labor to nurture true fulfillment. Greed by itself is not good. There are fine lines between greed, money lust, and brutal work ethic on level playing fields.