Money brings jealousy and bitterness.

When Money Becomes a Comparison

We tend to think money itself is the problem, but what Phil Taylor is really pointing at is something more specific: the comparison trap. Money becomes corrosive not when you have it, but when others have more. A raise that would've felt amazing suddenly feels hollow because a coworker got a bigger one. You get the house you wanted, then notice your friend's is nicer. The money itself didn't change—but your relationship to it did, the moment you measured it against someone else's.

This is worth noticing because it explains why lottery winners often end up miserable, and why rich people aren't automatically happier. It's not about the dollar amount—it's about the mental comparison engine that money triggers. The tricky part is that money is one of the few things in life that's explicitly ranked and compared. Your intelligence or kindness or sense of humor mostly exists in a vacuum; your bank account exists in a spotlight.

The real insight here isn't to avoid money or success. It's to notice when you've slipped into measuring yourself by someone else's ruler. That jealousy and bitterness? Those aren't side effects of having money. They're signs you've forgotten why you wanted it in the first place.