The rich are getting richer, for a reason.

I'm working my ass off online and offline.. and still drinking beer

It's the "feeling richer effect" of accomplishing things while intoxicated.

I respectfully disagree. A new Maserati Quattroporte would make me very happy indeed. Money, however, cannot buy you love ("love" in this context should not be confused with "sex")

I disagree with this. Thats just too sarcastic in my opinion. Money does bring happiness for one reason only. CAUSE YOUR GOD DAMN RICH!

But you are right in a way, Money can't buy happiness... Because money is happiness.

Exactly! And also, they tend to use their mind properly to focus more on what they want and less on what they don't want.

The "don't haves" tend to have little thought/emotion control. Their minds run them instead of vice versa. Or, they inherited a bunch of poverty programming from their parents and never hit the "delete" button on it once they were old enough to discriminate a little.

I watched a Mike Dillard presentation recently with a guy that managed investors whose net worth was usually somewhere between $10 million to $100 million. The whole "secret" he gave to his success in producing huge returns for them was "it's all about what you focus on." And, as part of his program, all his wealthy clients had to go through a system that helped them get clear on exactly what they wanted and to focus on that end result (with *feeling*).

Anyway, good stuff. It works and have used it for years to produce some very nice, consistent results. But, you can't sit on your butt and do nothing either. In fact, I've found that once you fully *feel* yourself into the *assumption* that you already have your goal, you can't avoid taking the necessary action because it will come effortlessly and spontaneously. It's kind of like how if you think about something intensely before you go to sleep at night, you'll end up dreaming about it and taking all kind of spontaneous actions based on the assumptions you made about that topic before you fell asleep. The "dream theme" is cast by your assumption and then it just "appears" and you spontaneously go through the dream without much if any choice at that point. Same thing with this "waking dream". Set your intention and the outer "movie" must follow.

David although you make a really good point consider this: at some point EVERYONE has to put in some hard work, that's just life.

Say Warren Buffet. Yes, he makes money through investments. But he doesn't close his eyes and pick whatever company shows up first on the screen.

He studies a lot, in order to get results.

Now, the system is not rigged. It is designed to reward those who do what the system needs to grow and survive.

The thing is, most people don't realize that the system is a privilege. Without out it we'd have to build our homes with bare hands, hunt and fish for meat, and grow our own vegetables.

It's all a privilege.

If you're healthy, and you're not repelling to the opposite sex life has been more than fair to you. You have everything you need to succeed. Including the system.

Don't get me started on taxes. If you raise the taxes for corporations, then they'll just turn around and raise the prices. Believe me, taxes won't fix anything. The only thing that's going to fix no money, is to stop being lazy, or win the lottery.

Sorry, all the cases except for you an warren buffet :$ you're missing the point :/

My biggest "ah ha" moment came when I thought about what would happen if we could somehow take redistribute the country's entire wealth and give it out evenly to everybody, so everybody had an equal share.

Within 6 months to a year, the wealth would again be just as "inequal" as it is now.

Because the formerly poor would spend all their new wealth, buying things sold to them by the formerly rich.

So eventually the wealth would go back to those willing to fulfill the needs of other people.

Incorrect, that is a fallacy. Less than 1% of all millionaires alive today come from inherited wealth.

The overwhelming majority of millionaires alive today are self made millionaires.

The rich get richer (or stay rich) because the rich keep doing the things that make them rich. The poor keep getting poorer (or stay poor) because they keep doing the things that make (or keep) them poor.

It's about what you do, not what was given to you. People are given money all the time but they often lose it because they don't have the skills to make or hold onto money.

Being "rich" is not always about how much money you have but how many money worries you "don't" have. All you need is enough money so you don't have to worry about it. There are millionaires who spend too much and they have money worries just like the rest of us. Then there are "non-rich" people who manage their money well and always have something set aside to spend on cool things as well as for a rainy day.

It's about controlling your spending whether you're rich or poor. It's the same. We are all richer than someone and poorer than someone else. So where does it end and where does it start? It's about managing what you have. Being happy with what you've got...WHILE striving for what you want. Rich can never be a destination if all you ever want is more. Rich is now, you are rich right now. What we do here in IM is not strive for richness, because you can have a lot of money and still be poor. What we do is strive for more money so we can relieve ourselves of financial stress.

Sure, we need more money but if we keep spending like animals we'll never be better off. What we have to do is control our spending while making more money to buy cool things. Not because we want to be "rich" but because we want cool things.

I had to laugh one day when I heard someone say "if you want us to stop spending, stop inventing cool ****!" We get a buzz out of the new thing and I think that's normal as long as it's based on our own curiosity and not on looking cool. Some people buy Lamborghini's because they want to look cool. But give me a 32 Ford Roadster with a Nailhead and a 4 speed, a brisk Sunday morning and a quiet meandering country road and even if no one ever sees me or knows I have that cool hot rod I'm the happiest guy on earth. I'm also happy living in a modest urban home (as long as it's got a garage).

Live now. Tomorrow never comes. Manage your money well and you'll never be (too) stressed about money. Money comes, money goes. Rich, poor, it's all the same in all the ways that truely matter.