Gene Simmons explains why it is better to be rich than poor

Kiss co-founder, bassist, and singer Gene Simmons is known not only for being ‘The Demon,’ one of the most iconic figures in Rock and Roll, but also for his love of making money. Because of that, he is admired by many who see him as a successful businessman, while others criticize him for being too greedy and believe he should be satisfied with the wealth he has. For those critics, Simmons explained in an interview with Ultimate Classic Rock why it is better to be a miserable rich man than a poor one.

Gene Simmons explains why it is better to be rich than poor

“I developed a harder skin and for myself, realized that everything was about the search for power and money, which is not a very romantic notion. But I didn’t want to be poor, because I know what that felt like. My mother worked at a sweat factory six days out of the week and survived the Nazi concentration camps of Germany. You know, life is tough, so the romantic hippie dippie notation about life never worked for me.”

“All I ever did was try to figure out how to become powerful and make lots of money, for survival. The only thing money ever does, really, is give you the freedom to do stuff you actually like doing. It’s what it’s really about and also to keep you safe, pay for your hospital bills, create jobs, give to charity, all of that stuff. A poor person never gave me a job.”

He continued:

“Throughout Kiss, fame was nice, but there are a lot of famous people who are relatively poor, that’s not a lot of fun. But on the other side, there’s a lot of industrial types whose names you don’t recognize who are filthy rich. It’s better to be rich than poor, it really is. And if you’re a miserable fuck, it’s still better to be a rich, miserable fuck. That’s all I ever tried to do,” Gene Simmons said.

Simmons is the richest member of Kiss and his estimated fortune (400 million dollars) is two times bigger than Paul Stanley‘s net worth (200 million dollars). He invested in many different things over the decades and also trademarked a lot of stuff. Since the end of the band in 2023, Gene Simmons has been constantly touring as a solo act.