The fascinating Nile Rodgers story shows that not all wealthy and successful people are solely motivated by making and holding onto money.

It’s a common misconception that all rich people are greedy, money grabbing, only motivated by making money and hoard and keep all their cash to themselves. 

I’ve studied the lives thousands of wealthy and successful men and women, and personally know many very rich people. 

In 95% of the cases I’ve studied and witnessed, the above assumptions are just not true. 

Of course, most self-made people look after and manage their money, and want to ensure that they can leave something for their family when they die. Beyond that, they are usually generous and give fortunes away to charity and worthy causes. 

In my personal experience in working with charities like Rotary International, the busiest and most successful people give up their money (The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated $100 dollars to help Rotary end polio) as well as their valuable time in order to help others. They volunteer and show up when asked to lend a helping hand, as well as putting their hands deep into their pockets to support projects financially. Unsuccessful people usually say, “I haven’t got time”. 

The common belief that the rich and successful are solely motivated by money is rarely the case. 

Successful people have usually found something they love doing, which is why they are successful. To be successful in any endeavour, you have to enjoy and love what you do, otherwise you could not take all of the knocks and setbacks. 

Unsuccessful people are invariably doing jobs they hate, which is one of the reasons they are unsuccessful.

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates loved building computers from a young age. Warren Buffett and Charlie Monger love investing and spend hours and hours reading company reports.

The rich also want to make money, but that is not the sole reason for their endeavours. That’s why they go on working long after they’ve made enough money to live on for the rest of their lives.

You may have heard the expression, “he’s made more comebacks than Frank Sinatra”? That’s because the great, and very rich, singer (who’s private was cleaned by a 14-year-old Nile Rodgers) retired several times but got so bored that he kept coming out of retirement to do more concerts well into his seventies.  

In an interview for the Sunday Times Fame and Fortune feature, multi award-winning musician, writer and producer Nile Rogers said he had no idea how much he earned last year. He said that his accountants organise enough for his needs and the rest is put into trust or goes to charity.

His financial priorities now are making sure that there is enough money to keep We Are Family Foundation going long after he is gone.  

Every year, his foundation takes 35 kids from all over the world to New York to mentor them.  They are kids that he believes will have an effect on or can change the world in a positive way, like Jack Andraka, who as a teenager come up with a $15 screening device for early-stage pancreatic cancer. 

The 66-year-old cancer survivor describes himself as a “worker bee” who has been credited on over 1500 albums, which have gone on to sell 500 million copies. He has worked with a wide variety of artists from David Bowie to Madonna and Daft Punk, with whom he enjoyed a renaissance as a performing artist winning 3 Grammys in 2014. 

In his younger days, Rodgers was a big spender. He received a $4 million royalty cheque for the 7 million-selling single Le Freak when he was just 27 years old. He went on a big spending spree buying a Porsche and a fast boat like the one he saw on the 80’s TV show Miami Vice, even though he lived in New York at the time. Unlike many of the "stars who lost it all" I feature in my book, Yes, Money Can Buy You Happiness, Rodgers successfully maintained his earnings throughout his career while his spending habits gradually mellowed.

He was adaptable and, like the Gibb brothers, went into writing and producing for other artists when he saw that the 70's disco era was over. 

There's a saying that the poor work hard for their money but the rich make the money work hard for them. However, after losing money on Wall Street in the junk bonds scam, Rodgers said he now allows his money to "rest" while he does the work. He “invests” in technical schools in Africa teaching underprivileged young kids to code.

There are of course entrepreneurs who just wanted to be rich, like the Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary who said he set out in his business career to make a lot of money.

Are all rich people nice, generous or mean and nasty? Of course not.

Money is like alcohol; it just amplifies more of who you are. If you’re broke, mean and miserable, money will probably just make you rich and even more mean and miserable!

For Nile Rodgers, money buys him the freedom to do the things he wants to do, to keep on rocking and make a difference in the world. Long may you continue!

Key Takeaways

• Not all rich and successful people are solely motivated by making money.

• Not all rich people are greedy, money grabbing and only motivated by making money.

• The rich and successful, like Nile Rodgers, give an enormous amount of time and money to help others.

• Money amplifies more of who you really are.

You can order my book Yes, Money Can Buy You Happiness, on Amazon: http://bit.ly/2MoneyBook