What if having more doesn’t mean someone else has to have less?

There’s a money belief I see all the time in genuinely good people.

It sounds noble.

Responsible.

Even moral.

It goes something like this:

There’s only so much to go around.

So if I take more than I need...

someone else gets less.

If I make more money...

someone else must be losing.

If I accumulate wealth...

maybe I’m part of the problem.

And THAT belief can quietly put a ceiling on what you allow yourself to receive.

Researchers call one version of this the fixed-pie bias.

It’s the assumption that if one person gets more, someone else automatically has to get less.

And it affects more than money.

In negotiation studies, people who assumed the other side wanted the opposite of what they wanted often missed outcomes that would have worked for BOTH people.

In one study, 39% of pairs ended up with an outcome neither person preferred because they assumed the other side wanted something different.

Think about that.

Nothing was actually stopping both people from getting a better outcome.

The belief that there wasn’t enough room for both of them did.

And that same pattern can show up around wealth.

A 2011 study of 422 people found that people who agreed with statements like:

“It is not okay to have more than you need”

had lower incomes and lower net worth.

That matters.

Because if some part of you believes having more is morally wrong...

why would your system make it easy for you to create more?

You’d be fighting yourself the entire way.

Meanwhile, the cup is a whole lot bigger than most good people realize.

Global wealth grew 10.8% in 2025.

More than 2,600 people became millionaires every day.

Money is moving.

Wealth is being created.

The question is not whether there is more available.

The question is whether you believe you’re allowed to participate in it.

And this is where I want to get a little uncomfortable.

If good people decide they shouldn’t have more...

who does that leave to claim it?

If people who care about communities...

about fairness...

about the planet...

about helping other humans...

keep rejecting wealth because they think wealth itself is the problem...

then the people least conflicted about having more will continue to accumulate it.

Maybe the problem isn’t good people having too much.

Maybe the problem is good people believing they’re supposed to stay small.

You don’t have to take from someone else to create more.

You don’t have to become greedy to become wealthy.

And you don’t have to apologize for wanting resources that allow you to do more of what matters to you.

The pie may not be nearly as fixed as you were taught to believe.

And maybe it’s time more good people claimed a bigger piece.

💜 Abi

Sources: Thompson & Hastie, 1990; Thompson & Hrebec, 1996; Klontz et al., 2011; UBS Global Wealth Report 2026.