Money is a tool, not a trophy, and leaders who confuse the two end up trading their best years for a scorecard that never feels finished. If you’re building for impact, stop romanticizing wealth as the destination and start treating it as fuel: budget it, steward it, deploy it well. Don’t despise money, and don’t worship it; make it serve your mission. Are you building for comfort, or investing to create, employ, serve, and solve real problems? Give money its proper place in the trunk—useful, necessary, and never in the driver's seat.