I had a mentor growing up that would often say, “It’s no fun being rich if your friends are poor.”

We would meet together often when I was growing up, sometimes working out together on Saturday mornings during my offseasons. At the time, comments about his wealth were just words to me in another conversation.

I never really realized his net worth until Forbes magazine published an article on him last June, calling him a billionaire. I read the article and couldn’t help but think back on all of our conversations together.

He moved from Ohio to Arizona in 2019, so I visited with him during Christmas. I finally asked him what he meant by that phrase, “It’s no fun being rich if your friends are poor.”

He said something to the extent of, “If your friends are poor, they either feel awkward when certain topics come up or they judge you for not doing things a certain way. But I don’t want rich guys as my friends either. I just want my friends to be rich.”

That took me a minute to understand.

“I want my family and friends, the people that I share similar interests with, to have money. And now most of them do! It just makes life more rewarding when we can travel together, eat together, and dream together without a thought on how that will place a financial burden on each other.”

…

It’s my belief that wealth and health are more similar to each other than they are different. In general, following sound principles will yield larger amounts of money and energy that will make you richer and fitter.

So if I were to apply the same lesson from my billionaire mentor to health, it would read something like this: “It’s no fun being fit if your friends are fat.”

The reasons would be the same: “If your friends are fat, they either feel awkward when certain topics come up or they judge you for not doing things a certain way. But I don’t want fit guys as my friends either. I just want my friends to be fit.”

Or in other words…

You want your family and friends, the people that you share similar interests with, to have energy. It just makes life more rewarding when you can travel together, eat together, and dream together without a thought on how that will place a physical burden on each other.

Are you an asset to your family and friends?

Tyler