The Rules of Wealth, 4th Edition

RULE 14

Don’t make money by being bad

I like Google’s corporate motto – ‘Don’t be evil’. It’s probably an anagram of something but I still like it. If you have to lie, cheat, steal, defraud, lose sleep, hide, dodge the law in any way, break the rules or generally behave badly to make your money, then don’t do it, it isn’t worth it.

If earning money or being wealthy stops being fun – and by being bad it really will stop being fun – then there’s no point doing it. If you don’t enjoy the challenge of earning money in a decent way, then best go and do something different.

I knew a major criminal once. He told me it was no fun being ‘bent’ as, in fact, he had to be a lot more law-abiding than the rest of us. He couldn’t risk getting pulled over by ...