The Paradox of Wealth: Why Smarter People Aim Smaller
Tai Lopez Sep 18, 2025
There’s a weird paradox in life. The smarter you are, the less risk you’ll usually take to make a lot of money.

Think about it. You’ve got a thousand delusional people all chasing billions, taking wild, extreme risks. Out of those thousand, 999 fail. But you don’t hear about them. Their stories don’t make the paper, the magazines, or the blogs. You only hear about the one who made it.

That’s media bias. The media doesn’t publish the failures. They only show you the outlier—the one person who hit it big.

Smarter People Know the Odds

Smarter people look at the game and say, “You know what? I’d rather be worth $1 to $10 million.” Why? Because the risk of shooting for a billion is too high. And they’re right.

The truth is, the best approach isn’t to aim for zero and it’s not to aim for a billion either. It’s somewhere in the middle. Call it the median wealth goal. Let’s say $1 to $20 million. That range still gets you most of the benefits of money—freedom, comfort, options—without taking insane, life-ruining risks.

Don’t Get Fooled by Billionaire Delusion

Now, you might push back and say, “But Tai, ultra-wealthy people all have one thing in common: they’re ultra-delusional.” And yeah, that’s true. But here’s the reality: the average delusional person’s life ends in failure.

Don’t get confused by the media bias that only celebrates the one outlier. The truth is, for every one billionaire, there are hundreds—maybe thousands—who lost it all chasing the same dream.

Find Your Wealth Optimal Number

The smarter move? Take a moderate approach. Not low, not extreme. Everybody has what I call their wealth optimal net worth number.

You should spend time calculating what that number is for you. Then, take risks only up to that point. Because you only get one life. The goal is to reach the maximum amount of money you can, with the least amount of risk.

That’s how you win the game long-term.

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