This is a huge question and at the same time a very small one. I’m not saying this pejoratively, it’s a good question to ask and I think pretty much everyone when they first start reading about marxism think about this question.

It’s wide because there’s so much you could say, and it’s “small” because conversely it feels like there is very little to say about it. It has mostly been settled and yet even years after first asking myself this question I keep finding new answers. This is why there isn’t really a final, settled answer to it.

Anyway. A big component imo is how you make that money. In your post you seized on this; (I hope I don’t sound like I’m talking down to you, rather since you seem new to marxism I want to provide the basis) you said you don’t want to start a business an exploit people, so you already have an inkling of what it means to be a business owner: you will have to exploit people. But there’s more to it than that, it changes your material conditions. If you want to succeed in the market, you will have to exploit employees. There’s a lot of fairytales being told from liberals about opening a business but the reality of it is in late-stage capitalism such as this there’s no two ways about it. If you want to survive, you must exploit them. You must be ruthless on the market. Business is business, it’s not friendship. This simple act of opening a business changes your material conditions and thus changes your entire psychology. If you were not a greedy person before, you will be. It’s either that or the business goes bankrupt.

It’s the same issue I have with workers coops (there’s a few around the world). They may very well give democracy in the workplace but then they find out quickly the imperatives of the market come first, and they mold their own decisions to the requirements of capitalism. The team may really want to work on a project they’re passionate about next, but what they need is a sellable product, so they’ll “democratically decide” to make the marketable product instead.

But business owners are bourgeois. What about other forms of making money? I don’t hide that I generally don’t have a very high opinion of streamers with a patreon, marxists-for-sale I call them lol (actually that’s wrong I have never used that term before today but I’m coining it now). It’s not that I dislike any streamer/youtuber instantly, it’s that you can be as selfless as one can be, you can be the most generous person in the world, you can be basically an example of virtue for the ages…

Eventually you’ll have to make money. If you go down that route, no matter how good your intentions were at the beginning, you start censoring yourself, downplaying marxism (a very bad thing to do since it makes your speech no more radical than social-democrats), or treating your artisanal production like a business – artisans being independent workers who believe they can still do everything by themselves to cut down on costs (and thus maximize profits) and keep the operation “simple”. A lot of so-called communist creators for example lock educational content (when they do make it) behind a paywall. But isn’t the point to educate and agitate the masses to make them class-conscious? Or is class-consciousness only allowed for a fan club that can afford your subscription fee? Everyone wants to be Stephen King and everyone thinks they can do it without writing mass-appeal penny press all year long. But there’s a reason he’s successful and the “craft” authors are not.

Anyway. There is psychology at play, for lack of a better word, about one’s class perception. And consciousness often lags behind material reality. You can still consider yourself a prole while you own a business and you make 3x more than your employees - yes, it happens lol. “Oh but I only make 3x more, most CEOs make 10-100 times more!” – deep down they know that’s an excuse. They feel that because they own the business or “took the risk”, they deserve more. And then their consciousness starts to change.

My comment is getting long lol but basically, it’s about your actual class position. And in recent years this has become obfuscated by the bourgeoisie who tries to buy out the proletariat (at least in the imperial core). For example, it’s getting easier every year to invest in the stock market. Sometimes they offer deals to buy houses (subprimes anyone?). And while we do make a lot of money in the west compared to the rest of the world, costs of living are also high.

So that’s why I say it’s not such a settled question. Where is the line between being a prole with some means, and a bourgeois? I don’t even think you have to give all your money away to the party or anything. How do you treat people at your job? Do you take the opportunity to agitate them? What about outside of work?

Build a 3-6 months wage rainy day fund, if possible, and then budget how you spend the rest of your money including a monthly contribution to the party or something. Despite what it might seem like I don’t even tell comrades to avoid the stock market - this is because banks (which we basically have to use in the modern day) already invest your money, and whereas they might make 10% return on it they only give you something like 0.75% of it. I’d rather invest in ETFs myself and get an average of 2-5% return instead of giving it away to my bank is the logic. And don’t expect that you will become rich off of this alone (the stock market is not meant for people like us to make money), so don’t start making it your whole thing and “beating the market” to make a payday or something. To me it’s just part of smart planning for your future.

And even that wall of text barely scratches the surface. I could talk about communists who suddenly find themselves owning an apartment or house (inheritance) and don’t know what to do with it.