Over at The Wealth Report, Robert Frank has a very interesting post and discussion in the comments about whether the adage "do what you love and the money will follow" is really true. He says this phrase is a favorite of Donald Trump's. However, Frank notes that the authors of the book The Middle Class Millionaire say that in their research the millionaires were much less likely to agree with that statement than the people who were not millionaires. Is it just wishful thinking to suppose that following your passion will eventually lead to wealth?

Well, obviously some people do follow their passion and get rich. Bruce Springsteen got rich. But this one guy I know played in bands for 15 years and finally gave up because he was sick of being poor. Once he joined the "regular" workforce, it was tough because he felt so far behind people that were 10 years younger than him. He didn't have any regrets because he'd given it a real shot, but the reality is he did what he loved and the money followed somebody else who'd gone into sales.

It's easy for Donald Trump to tell you to do what you love, because he happens to love real estate, which tends to be more lucrative than working for agencies that help single mothers on welfare. You might love the feeling of helping the single mother, but unless she later gets rich and sends you a $1 million tip to thank you, you're probably not going to get wealthy.

This is what I believe. If becoming wealthy is important to you, choose a career field that has a track record of making money. Head for Wall Street. You can make tons. You'll work your butt off, but you'll make tons.

If you want to try a career that maybe will make you wealthy, only do it if you can live with the fact that you probably won't get rich. If you know it's a longshot and are fine with that, go for it, like my friend who gave his music career a shot. You want to be an actor, an artist, a musician, a novelist - or another of those romantic careers in which only an infinitesimal number of people actually get to star in a movie or sell a painting for millions or sell out stadiums or come up with Harry Potter - go for it. But know the odds and be OK with them starting out.

If you have a passion that seems to have very little chance of making you rich, even if you're really really good at it or it's extremely fulfilling, and you're OK with having a modest amount of money, go for it. Just don't expect that you'll ever get wealthy. Sure, you might end up like the guy that spend 15 years working on the Dyson vacuum when everyone thought he was crazy, but you probably won't. And if that's OK with you, no problem.

What it comes down to is the fact that in most cases you can choose to be wealthy if you're willing to do what it takes. Doing what you love will rarely get you there, unless you happen to love things that traditionally make people a lot of money. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't do what you love.