What's sad is, money is not the root of all evil, and it never has been [1]. I know you realize this, but it's worth repeating all the same.

Money is a-moral. It has no implicit moral value, regardless of quantity. It's just a tool. When you put it into the hands of a person, then it takes on a kind of life.

Think about bricks. Let's say you have a brick. You can throw it through a window, perhaps to scare / hurt / burglarize someone. You can also build a shelter for domestic violence victims. The brick couldn't care less - it's just a brick. What matters is when it's put into the hands of a human, and what that person does with it.

As a tool, money simply magnifies what you already are. If you're a greedy, selfish jerk, and you get a bunch of money, you're going to be a colossal greedy, selfish jerk, and the world will be worse for it. The world has plenty of such people. If you're humble, caring, and generous, and you get a bunch of money, you're going to be what people call a philanthropist, and the world will be better for it. The world also has plenty of these people. In both cases, the money is immaterial, and what's good / evil is the actions taken by the person using the money.

There are plenty of greedy people without money, and with. There are plenty of generous people with money, and without. Money isn't the dominant factor in how people behave; it only brings out more of what's already in their nature.

As an aside, the same is true for all tools. Computers, guns, hammers, and cars can be used for good or bad purposes [2]; it's the person wielding them which makes the difference.

As to what you do with money? Well of course, you have to take care of your own basic needs. There's nothing wrong with that. Afterward? If you want to make the world a better place, then money makes you more empowered to do so. It might mean paying someone's utility bill or letting them stay with you while they get back on their feet. It might mean investing in the local homeless shelter, or volunteering your time at a soup kitchen. It's up to you. With creativity, there's no end to the ways you can help the world ... but you can only do so if you have the ability to help, and having money can absolutely be part of that.

There are definitely some toxic notions in our culture about money ... that someone with it must be "bad" whereas someone without it must be "good" ... but it's just not true. It's catchy, and with a little envy it's easy to believe it and then rationalize taking rich people's money "just because" (even moreso if you're led to believe some of that is going to come your direction).

Still doesn't make it true. You wouldn't see someone with a bunch of bricks and assume something about their character, and you wouldn't see someone with no bricks and make assumptions about theirs, either. It's all just tools ... it's the person (their heart, their character, their actions) which lead to good or evil.

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[1] for the record, the phrase "money is the root of all evil" is a fudge of an old English, King-James-Bible translation which states "for the love of money is at the root of all kinds of evil". In other words, greed leads to evil. For ideological reasons the phrase has been adjusted and misappropriated into the incorrect one - "money is the root of all evil" - we hear these days, but that doesn't make it true.

[2] that's right everybody, I said it. Guns do not kill people, any more than cars cause wrecks, keyboards make software bugs, pencils make wrong answers, or forks make people obese. Now cue the usual reactions ...