lots of thoughts on wealthy people yester
 

Day.Here is my $02. I'm "retired" and have been for many years. Income is not wealth, it is REALIZED income and taxed. The dollars that denote wealth is the unrealized income(not taxed) and appears from capital gainedcapital appreciation WITHOUT cash flow and therefore not taxed. Lots of high wage earners, many more than wealthy people.!! Here are 4 main obstacles to obtaining real wealth, imho.
1. spending habits
2. procrastination on unrealized return investments
3. inflation if you don't own appreciable assets.
4. taxes!!!!!!
I'm probably not wealthy, but very confortable. Passive, untaxable income creates wealth.
Check out millionaire next door book. Find out for yourself if you are uaw(underachiever of wealth) or paw(prodigious accumulator of wealth). Good read, imo.

Wealth isn't the be-all, end-all of existence.

No but it buys the misery we'd all love to have.

I agree. One of my favorite sayings is, "money isn't everything." Of course I also realize it sure beats the hell out of whatever else comes in second.

to Indy primarilily
 

You don't get an argument from me on your comment. I NEVER said it was!! However, retirement is pretty important to most older folks. I see THOUSANDS of them. 36% of those over 65 are still working, 54% of those over 65 are receiving assistance. This isn't retirement to most people.... Wealth is a way to assist in your retirement when most workers will not have a viable pension etc,,,just the facts.. Wealth can be measured in other methods besides sheckels. I never said differently.