There's no one reason people acquire money, but where people get into trouble is when they try to get it to do things it can't do, such as character-building and self-esteem-building.

Money can't buy your own values or love, of course.

And if you try to get it to do things it can't do, you're going to be disappointed.

Researchers explored the prime factors that drive the desire for money among college students and business professionals. The researchers on three related studies they conducted involving more than 500 university business students and 145 entrepreneurs. All were surveyed about their aspirations for wealth and their general sense of well-being.

From this, the researchers were able to isolate 10 major reasons why people seek to make money, including:

The researchers described these motivations as being a function of one of three things:

• a negative desire to socially compete and acquire power over others;

• a positive desire to meet life needs and achieve a measure of success;

• or a more-or-less neutral desire to have the freedom to do as one pleases -- whether that be to shop until you drop or give it all away to a charity.

It was those who sought money based on negative motives who seemed to have a lesser sense of well-being, according to the researchers. However, those dreaming of wealth based on positive motives neither harmed nor helped their sense of self worth.

They conclude that while "money itself is not harmful,'' problems arise when wealth is used to fill voids such as self-doubt.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology June 2000; 80: 959-971