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Why Can Earning Money Feel Easier Than Having Money?
There’s something I’ve been thinking about as I look at the Great Wealth Transfer and the extraordinary amount of money that is going to move into women’s hands over the next couple of decades.
What if receiving the money isn’t the hardest part?
What if having it is?
That may sound strange, especially if you’ve spent most of your life earning your own money.
You know how to earn. You know how to work. You know how to solve problems, get things done, build something, lead people, make decisions, take care of everyone, and figure it out when things go sideways.
You may be VERY good at earning money.
Having money is different. Because earning gives you something to do.
Having asks you to be. And those require very different things from us.
When you’re earning money, there’s an action attached to it. You work, you achieve, you perform. You create. You prove. You get the client, or you make the sale! You earn the promotion, you build and hopefully exit the business.
There’s a familiar equation underneath all of it: I did something, therefore I received something.
Most of us understand that equation beautifully. We’ve been living it all our lives.
Now imagine that a significant amount of wealth comes to you that you did not earn. Perhaps through an inheritance. The sale of a family business. A spouse. An investment, or a trust. Some other part of this massive transfer of wealth that is now, in 2026, finally underway.
Suddenly, the equation changes.
You have the money.
Now what?
That’s where this gets interesting. Because having money asks questions that earning money can keep conveniently hidden. Do I deserve this if I didn’t work for it? Can I trust myself with it? What if I make the wrong decision? What if people treat me differently? What if my family expects something from me? What if I lose it?
And there are bigger questions underneath those: What if having this much money changes who I am? What if I’m suddenly responsible for more people because I have it? And here’s a big one: What if I actually keep it?
We talk a lot about receiving wealth. I certainly do. I also think receiving wealth and being able to hold wealth are two entirely different capacities. You can receive something without feeling comfortable having it.
Think about how many women have trouble receiving a compliment. Someone says, “You look beautiful,” and before she has even finished the sentence, we’re explaining that the dress was on sale and our hair desperately needs to be colored. Now add several zeroes.
Apparently, “Thank you, I’ll keep it!” is advanced spiritual work.
(Learning to keep it is exactly what I'll be unpacking at my complimentary Great Wealth Transfer Masterclass. More on that at the end.)
Having wealth means there may be nothing left to prove in order to justify the money sitting there. And for women who have spent their entire lives being rewarded for what they accomplish, how useful they are, how much they give, and how well they take care of everyone else, that can bring up some fascinating stuff.
Because who are you when the money is already there? Who are you when you don’t have to chase it? Who are you when your value and your bank balance are no longer connected to how hard you worked today?
This is one of the reasons I believe the Great Wealth Transfer is about much more than money changing hands. It is also going to require an identity shift. Millions of women are going to move from earning money to having wealth, and we have remarkably few conversations about what that actually requires—not simply financially, also emotionally, psychologically, and practically.
How do you become comfortable making decisions from wealth rather than toward wealth? How do you allow yourself to have resources without immediately needing to justify them, spend them, give them away, hide them, or prove that you deserve them? How do you become the woman who can hold wealth?
I do think we need to start asking those questions, because receiving wealth may be an event.
Holding wealth is a capacity.
That question is what my complimentary Great Wealth Transfer Masterclass on November 5 is built around. We'll look at why so many capable women feel unsteady the moment the money is simply there, and how to start building the capacity to hold it, whether you're expecting an inheritance or have built wealth of your own. You'll leave knowing your next step and feeling steady enough to take it.