Aligning Your Wealth with Purpose

This article was originally featured in Fast Company.

We live in a time when billionaires dominate headlines—some lionized, others vilified. But if you look closer, as Victor Haghani and James White do in The Missing Billionaires, there’s an even more compelling story: There should be far more billionaires than there actually are. According to their analysis, the real culprit isn’t taxation or market dynamics. It’s decision-making—specifically, poor risk sizing, a lack of purpose-driven strategy, and the absence of stewardship thinking.

This isn’t a lament for the ultra-rich. It’s a call to reexamine what wealth is for—and why it so often disappears.

THE BILLIONAIRE MYTH IS A DISTRACTION

Our cultural narrative swings wildly between reverence for visionary founders and resentment of excessive wealth. But both views miss the point. The question isn’t whether billionaires should exist. It’s this:Why do so few wealthy individuals use their capital to benefit others, and why don’t more of them last?

Where are the next generation of Chuck Feeneys, Melinda French Gateses, and Dolly Partons—those whose wealth is stewarded with clarity, purpose, and a deep sense of responsibility?

The truth is, most wealth isn’t managed that way. It’s optimized for market performance, not meaningful impact. And that’s a risk, because wealth without purpose is a fast-burning fuel.

WHY WEALTH DISAPPEARS

In The Missing Billionaires, Haghani and White explore a simple but profound truth: Most people misprice risk. Their now-famous biased coin experiment (where players bet on a coin with a 60% chance of heads) proves how even savvy investors fail when they don’t know how much to bet.

This resonates with what we see in real life. Entrepreneurs often build wealth by concentrating risk. But preserving wealth—and turning it into legacy—requires reframing risk in the context of goals, not just returns.

If you’re betting big without knowing what you’re betting for—your needs, your wants, or your deeper desires—you’re more likely to lose than win. And when wealth dissipates, so too does the opportunity for impact.

FROM RICHES TO RELEVANCE

At my firm, we work with first-generation wealth creators who may not have started with the goal of being rich. They wanted to be free. But freedom only leads to fulfillment when paired with purpose. That’s the missing link between wealth and legacy.

When you define legacy not as net worth, but as what remains in the lives of others when you’re no longer around, you recognize that building that kind of legacy—through your business, your family, your community—requires intention.

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To put it plainly: Wealth is optional, legacy is not. The only real question is whether you’ll shape yours deliberately—or let it slip away.

WHAT PURPOSE-DRIVEN LEADERS CAN DO NOW

Whether you’re a founder, investor, or executive, here’s how you can move from riches to relevance:

1. Reframe your goals. Don’t just ask “How can I grow my wealth?” Ask, “What is this wealth for?” Is it for freedom? For solving a societal problem? For empowering future generations?

2. Size your risks to match your goals. Too many investors chase performance and lose the plot. Instead, align your financial strategy to your purpose—whether that’s funding innovation, backing your employees, or leaving a lasting legacy.

3. Start the legacy conversation now. Don’t wait until retirement or exit. Begin defining and communicating your values early—with your team, your family, and your advisors.

4. Steward capital with courage. The world doesn’t need more billionaires. It needs more worthy ones—those who ask not what they can buy, but what they can build, protect, and transform.

THE STEWARDSHIP CHALLENGE

If you’ve built a company, a movement, or a fortune, you already know how to think long term. Stewardship is just long-term thinking applied to something bigger than yourself.

Let this be the next conversation you have—not just about wealth, but about its highest use. Not just about risk, but about what’s worth risking for.

In the end, the missing billionaires aren’t a mystery. It’s a warning—and a challenge to do more. Because capital alone doesn’t change the world. Stewards do.

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