The Nature of Money

Money is the allocation of resources; I often think of it like malloc in C. I believe this is the essence of money. Unfortunately, when looking at money, many people only see the “money” itself without considering what lies behind it. This creates many blind spots in how we perceive wealth.

For example, stranded alone on a deserted island with 10 million dollars, you still wouldn’t be able to do anything because money cannot be converted into resources. You can only rely on your own strength to gather resources, and at that point, money is completely useless. The example above reflects two key characteristics of money: resource allocation and exchange. Exchange (or transaction) is what makes money effective, while resource allocation is the meaning behind it.

Once you realize this, you understand that the amount of money does not actually reflect the amount of resources. There is only so much food, so much oil, and so much labor—printing more banknotes doesn’t change that. Therefore, I view saving and investing as “control over future time and resources.” Yet, from the perspective of resource allocation, it inevitably compresses your allocation toward other things, such as buying less coffee or fewer games.

I don’t want to live in a world where everyone is rich; that’s not something we should strive for, nor is it meaningful. I want to live in a world where money genuinely rewards those who create value—that is how society truly progresses.