Many of you in developed economies, like the United States, recognize that you have more stuff and money than you need, and you have more stuff and money than most people in the rest of the world have.

When recognizing this, it’s natural to want to even things up by giving things away to people who have less. Though this is often well-intentioned, it is also often a disservice to the recipient. It’s similar, by analogy, to someone who knows a lot about math seeing a struggling math student and evening things up by giving them the answers to their homework. It’s not what that math student needs, or really wants deep down. Human beings want to feel capable. They want to succeed on their merit.

(There are also emergencies, like natural disasters and war, or a child wandering toward the street. These require a different response entirely, the giving of emergency aide.)

I’ve been working on my book about the investment of time and money. I’m writing chapters about consumption and savings, compounding growth, and investing for the long term.

Putting these two ideas together, I think one of the best things we rich Americans can do with our excess is not consume it, but save it and invest it in increases in productivity. Things like our skills, our education, our business activities that spill over into creating opportunities for others to learn, grow, and work. It means courage to invest in ourselves, to start things, to lead things, and to invite others into those things.

There’s little long-term benefit in consuming more ourselves, and little long-term benefit in transferring stuff from the haves to the have-nots. There’s great long-term benefit in increasing productivity and broadening the circles of those who are welcomed to participate in it.

This requires risk and investment, and those are things we can do with our excess.