Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Money, Money, Money

Please answer the following prompts in a detailed, fluent response. Make sure to comment on other people's views within your own response. Take your level of thinking higher. Make sure you are beingthorough and honest.
What are your perceptions of material wealth/money? What is "wealth"? Do we see too much excess today? If your financial status a reflection of how successful you are? What is success to you? Are we always wanting more? Do we "want" too much? Is being content or fulfilled enough? When is enough, enough?

28 comments:

  1. My perceptions of material wealth and money are pretty ordinary. Usually when I know somebody has a lot of money I think they are rich. Sometimes they might not have a lot of material things but if they go on a lot of vacations to nice places I think that they are wealthy and own a lot of money. Wealth is an abundance of something. You can be wealthy because you have a lot of gum or you could be wealthy in happiness. Wealth is just a measure on how much of something somebody has but it doesn’t generally mean money. I don’t really notice if people have too much excess because I think it depends on the person. I think that it depends on the person if financial status reflects on how successful somebody is. Somebody who cares a lot about money would say “yes” but somebody who doesn’t care about money a lot would say “no.” To me people can be successful in different ways. They can be successful with their financial status or they can be successful in accomplishing their goals and dreams. I think a lot of factors play into somebody’s success. I think that some people are always wanting more but there are also others that are comfortable and happy with what they have. I think that it really depends on the person if enough is enough. To some people having a lot of money isn’t enough, so they want more, and to others they may not want more money but seek other things.

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  2. My perceptions of money aren’t any different from most people. I see money as money. Wealth is when someone has a good amount of something. Someone could be wealthy in the money world and have a lot of money. Or, they could be wealthy in happiness or other things. I think we see not necessarily too much excess of money wealth, because there is only the top 1% of our country that is truly very wealthy. Unfortunately, I think that society views your financial status as how successful you are. Without a lot of money, one is not very successful. But, in my opinion you financial status has little to do with how successful you are. I think that in order to be successful you have to be doing something you love, and achieving greatness with it. I think we as people are of course, always wanting more. If we can see that someone has something we don’t, then we want it or something similar. I think that we do want too much. For instance, we do not need an ‘iPad 4’. Three, two, and one should have been good enough! I am content with everything I have, and that is enough for me. But, for some people, enough will never be enough.

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  3. My perception of material wealth and money is that it can define a person's success and the opportunities they have been lucky enough to get in life. Or it can show a false their success is and how they buy many material things to pretend like they are rich. Material goods can be decieving because people don't really need money to buy expensive stuff, just a credit card which gets them in huge debt. In my opinion wealth is not determined by a persons salary or bank account, but the whole picture in the success of their life. Maybe the millionaire was a broke and drunk who got lucky and won the lottery. That is just a moment in time which does not define the meaning of wealth. Also a person can be lazy and dumb and be born to rich millionaire, so they get to inherit all the money which does not define him or her as wealthy to me. A wealthy person in my opinion is a college student getting their Phd with huge potential. It doesn't matter if they are in debt due to loans, because it is just a moment in life that can be paid off, so in the long run they are the wealthy ones because of their ability to become succesful. I feel like many people are overpaid way too much such as athletes or actors. Like paying Manning 96 million dollars for 5 years is absolutely outrageous and will almost be impossible to spend half that money in a lifetime. Even if you donate to charity you will still have tons of money left in the bank with no use for it while their are other people like poilice officers, fireman, teachers, and doctors that truly make more of a difference in society and do not get a fraction of what these people do. Financial status does always define the success of a person because they could have gotten lucky. People always dream of having a nice job, good family, big house and it is a motivation factor to get people working and sometimes there is nothing wrong with dreaming big. People eventually have to realize that they have to be realistic in what they want and settle for less if they do not reach their goal. Therefore it is better to be content with what you have and do the best you can in life to remain satisfied. Working hard and doing what you love can be enough to make someone happy.

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  4. My perceptions of material wealth and money are that they are inherently evil because they cause humans to fight, deceive, lie, cheat, steal and kill. Material wealth is how much one person’s valuables are worth in total. People today see excess material wealth everywhere because the rich minority controls the majority of the money. I have heard to never judge a book by its cover but people still do judge someone by what they see before they meet the person and get to know them. A person can thrive in life and become successful in other ways other than earning tons of cash but no one would ever know that person was successful just by looking at them. Success to me is advancement in a profession by improving and usually gauges someone’s drive, will or motivation in life. Materials cause mankind to become greedy and to want more. Because new materials are always being made, there will always be a never ending cycle of greed and satisfaction. I think we want too much as a whole because people know it brings money and unfortunately money rules the world. An example of this would be the way movies are copyrighted in America therefore people cannot just copy them thus forcing new ideas to be created in most cases but in China when a good movie comes out, it gets copied like crazy all these knock-offs are released and that is how they do business. Being content is not enough because the same feeling never lasts. If you are happy now, you may not necessarily be happy forever. Enough is enough when problems are occurring because of the greed and the search for wealth.

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  5. My perceptions of material wealth and money are that some people can get caught up into being "rich" and having a lot of money, while other wealthy people can be very humble. I have seen people use their success and material wealth to help others and teach valuable lessons, such as helping hurricane victims. I have also seen the opposite side, where wealth can have very negative effects. Too often I think that people define wealth as having a lot of money, when really there are so many ways to be wealthy just as Kym S. stated above. People can be wealthy with happiness, love, dedication, or truly anything that someone has an abundance of. Wealth is not only money. I think that sometimes we do see too much excess of money, especially when there are people in the world with little. I do not think that someone needs six houses for example, but if that person feels the need then it is truly up to them. I don't focus too much on other people's excess because I know that most people try and do community service or help out with their extra time and money if they have it. I think that your financial status can reflect how successful you are to a certain extent, but there are so many other variables that matter more to success. I believe that success can mean someone’s happiness, or if someone was raised in poverty and was able to come out of it, there is so much more to success than just money. Success to me is doing something that I truly love and reaching my goals. Generally, I think that we do want too much in general, because people can be greedy. Especially in society today, people keep wanting more and cannot always be satisfied with what they already have. I think that being content is enough; to me being content is success. It means reaching a place in your life where you are happy enough with the way you have lived and the people you have surrounded yourself with. I do not know when enough is enough; I think it depends on the individual.

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  6. I would say I perceive wealth similarly to most other people. If people have a lot money they are wealthy or rich. If you make a lot of money, you usually live in luxury and there is usually an attitude that goes along with wealthy people. Sometimes, not all the time, they are snooty and have a thought process that places them above the rest of society. They think they are better or deserve more. I think the main reason people act that way is due to the wealth they have encountered. Whether or not they earned it, is a different story. People that have wealth just handed to them whether it's from their parents or from a spouse usually determines the attitude they have with it. People that haven't earned their wealth don't really appreciate it as much as the people that have. The people that have worked hard to earn their money have a much better understanding of where it came from and how easily it can be gone, and they are usually smarter about what they do with it and how they act with it. I think the desire to be wealthy is created by simply comfort. People with more money seem to have less stress, they are able to pay their bills and afford certain luxuries that others just can't. This desire for extra things drives people to work hard to create that money which is good to have motivation but it can also put strains on relationships and families. I don't believe that money determines success. It is up to you what you want to succeed in, and if you accomplish your goals in life and have a job you enjoy doing, then that is success to me. Our society is designed to make us want want want. The markets make it a goal to create a desire within the human race to continually want what's new, what's changed, what we don't have. That is how they stay in business and that is how the economy flows. If you don't have money though, how are you supposed to afford all these new wants? That is why people strive to be rich. To fulfill their needs, but more importantly their wants. When is enough enough? For us, I don't think it ever will be. There will always be bigger, better. It doesn't matter that you have the new iphone of the month, in a month it will be last month's and then you will want another one. That is how we are trained, it's how society is, and if you want to change it, you have to step out of it and look at the big picture.

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  7. I agree with Jessica K. To me, money is just a part of daily life. You need it to pay for necessities such as: food, water, and housing. To me wealth is just when someone has a higher paying or more intellectually difficult job. Sometimes wealth accumulates when someone has worked for it and deserves it, but sometimes it accumulates with someone who hasn't really done anything like a multitude of reality show stars. To me that is just how the country we live in works. I think that we do see a lot of excess money today, but from TV rather than daily life. I also think that one's financial status does in fact reflect how successful one is. Without success, you wouldn't have very much money. To me, success is gaining a substantial amount of money from being good at what you do, more than the average or minimum I would say. I think seeing how successful other people are in life makes us want way too much and want a lot of things we don't need. Going off of what Jessica K said about the ipad; why would anyone want something that can do the same thing as a laptop, ipod, or android when they already own one or all of the latter? The answer is that we have too much want in our lives and are not satisfied with simple contentment. To me, enough is enough when I am simply content. To others, however, they will never settle or rest until they are perpetually ecstatic.

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  8. My perception on wealth and money varies. You can be wealthy in many ways, you can have lots of loving family. You can have a very fulfilling and succesful life without having alot of money. When someone has lots of money i see them as being rich and lots of material things. Wealthy to me is a state of mind where as rich is a type of living situation, also beeing poor is a state of mind where being broke is a temporary situation. i don't believe your financial status is a reflectionof how succesful you are. Many people live WEALTHY succesful lives without being RICH. Sometimes very Rich people have POOR and unhappy lives. I believe people are always going to want more especially in a economy that prides itself on that if you don't have the best technology than you are behind in the world. What people need to do is take a look at what they already have and be happy with it and stop acting like they don't have any nice or luxury things. i agree with kelly W when she says that people are greedy and won't stop to se what makes them happy. in those peoples minds the only thing that can replace happiness is to never stop buying material items.

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  9. My perceptions on wealth are that if you are have a lot of money then you are wealthy. Wealth to me though is how much you live your life to the fullest. Obviously we can't live without money, we need money to live in our society today. I think people should see wealth by how much they are living their life and if it's to the fullest. I don't think that ones' financial status is a reflection of how succesful you are because many people who don't have a lot of money live happier lives because they live them to the fullest and don't take things for granted. For many people that is the greatest success you can have is living a happy life. I aslo know many people that have a lot of money and are very successful because they worked hard to earn that money, I think that those people deserve it too. Success to me is having a wonderful life and not taking things for granted. You only get to live once. It doesn't matter about how much money you have to be successful, it's about how much memories and happiness you have in your life that makes you successful. I think to some degree we are always wanting more, because with the society that we live in today there will always be something newer and better for us to want. I think we do want things too much and I think that we all need to accept the life we live and the things we have and make it the best that we can make it. If we always want more then we lose time to apreciate what we have. I am content with my life and everything that I have because I know that I can always cherish memories that I have made and will make more. To some people that is enough, but for others it will never be enough and they will always want more. The difference between the two is that I and many others will have happiness and those who always want more will make their whole life about that and will never get the same happiness that I can have.

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  10. I perceive money as an object and if you are wealthy you are just consuming that "object." When I see people have things I know I could never afford I don't really care. I know I will have to work for the nice things I have, but money is still an object. And we are still people. You're financial status has nothing to do with how successful you are. You can start out with nothing and still be successful to yourself. People who worry about money are ruining their success. Success is doing something that meets a goal. Doesn't necessarily have to be about money. I do think we are always wanting more. When I see a new version of my phone or ipod I know I want it. It's just the feeling of having the best that makes me want more. I know in today's society we do want to much. We are beginning to forget what great quality is. My old Ipod still works perfectly fine, but I went and got a new one I didn't need. We just need to learn to say no to the "newer" things.

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  11. I perceive wealth as when someone has a lot of money they are rich. When I think about being rich I think about having money and being wealthy. When you look at the bigger picture though, wealth isn’t just money. Being wealthy can also mean having great health and being truly happy. I think financial status has always reflected how successful you are when it comes to money. If you are clearly doing well for yourself you either worked your butt off to get there or you may have no done anything at all. But earning wealth reflects its success. On the other hand wealth is health, your financial status does not reflect your success. Success to me is reaching the goals you set for yourself because you earn the right to feel accomplished and proud. I believe that not all but most people want more than what they have and what they can usually get. We just see something and automatically what it if its appealing. We can always want too much but its not always bad for people to dream about things like that. If your confident I think you can accomplish things better and feel a lot better about your self in life. Being fulfilled is a good feeling and it certainly can be enough in life. Enough is enough when your dead I think because that’s when you stop wanting things, obviously. I don’t think people will ever stop wanting something.

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  12. My perception of wealth is being rich. I’m not going to lie because my family is known for being financially stable. But I think that there is more than one type of wealth and what you do with your money. I think that we have too much excess. Even though I love shopping and getting things I forget about the things I buy until I clean my room, which obviously means I have too much. I think that your financial status does not always matter how successful you are. If you think of it in a business point of view it does matter how much you make because that means you have a higher job, but if you do a job that helps other people money does not matter. I think everyone wants more, that’s what drives you to be more successful. I think being content is not enough because it sounds like your settling and you should always try to do the best you can. I think enough is enough when you start to not care about whatever it is. How far would you go to be successful, even if you don’t believe in what you are doing? I like the way Eduardo says that materials wealth is opportunities that people have been lucky enough to get because it is so true. Some people are just lucky and can get by through life and get great opportunities in life that others might have just missed.

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  13. My perceptions of material wealth and money are both fascinating and disturbing. Honestly I am fascinated how much power and force the wealthy can inherit, and how much people dwell over the thought of being rich. Why would you not want to live in elegance? However, it’s disturbing why people shoot for this entitlement. This only separates our society and more inhumanity is developed. Now why is the wealthy automatically viewed as rich? In my opinion wealth is having a greater understanding and base of knowledge to think off of. Unfortunately in today’s world your financial status is a huge reflection of how successful you are. True successful and wealthy people can connect with anyone. They can relate, help, understand, and change not only their own lives but the futures of others. For example in my opinion people who spread the word about Jesus are the true wealthy. We always want what we don’t have, and as soon as we get what we want we want something greater for ourselves. Loving and respecting each other for who we are is our first step in wanting less and achieving more greatness.

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  14. Much of my perception of money was created by my dad. However for legal reasons I can’t say why. Being a 17year old kid gives me a view of money as something I don’t have. I see people fretting over money all the time. Money is a big deal because it is like the physical representation of power and greed. When someone has a lot of if, it ends up never being enough. There are however, different types of wealth. There is a wealth that is concerned with money and material items. Then there is the wealth I have in love from my family. It isn’t a physical wealth, but it is much more valuable. I would rather be wealthy with love from my boyfriend then have a ridicules amount of money. I don’t think how much money shows your success. It does in like the work area. But then again when I succeed in school it’s just as worthy, if not more so. I do think everyone wants more. It’s the addiction to wanting what you can’t have. And someday if you do obtain what you wanted, your desire fades and becomes more fixated on another object someone may consider valuable.

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  15. My perception of wealth is being finantially sound with money left over to travel or use to your liking. It is truly wealth when you can spend extra money for fun and entertainment. Material wealth is all about how nice a car is or how much you own. I think Hollywood has made us wanting more and I do believe we see too much excess from people that have too much money they don't know what to do with it. I do think your financial status is a reflection of how successful you are. People only base success on talent of athletes and how much you get paid every month. I dont believe in that way of thinking however, I base success on if you fulfill your dreams and goals you have in life. Also, if you are happy with your job and yourself as a person. People will also always want more. We want what we can't have and with technology increasing as fast as it does, we want the latest and greatest. No one is ever happy with what they have and always want the best new thing. I agree with Spencer when he says we always want something greater for ourselves. I think enough is enough when we are greedy with our money and have pointless things around the house just because we have nothing to do with the money. I believe you should save it and pass it down your family or donate it to a good cause.

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  16. My perception of material wealth/ money is that in order to live in todays society you need money. Money provides you with life's basic necessities, such as a home, food, water, and clothing. After these basic needs are covered then the excess money that if left is what separates everyone. Some people let money control their thoughts and their life. They let the idea of wealth consume them. While others are perfectly content with living by pay check to pay check. This doesn't mean they are anymore beneath the wealthier people they just chose to live their life differently. Wealth means different things to different people. Some see it as the amount of money in their bank account, while others see it as how many positive relationships they have with others. For me I have two different piggy banks of wealth. One holds the money I save from my summer jobs, while the other holds the positive moments from my life. I would say that my first piggy bank is pretty scrawny compared to my second one. Later on in my life I want my first piggy bank to be much larger, but never bigger than my second. I think that it's disgusting how much excess wealth is in todays society. When I watch shows like "Real Housewives of Orange County" and these women throw their money around like it is just some toy, and they focus more on their wealth and good TV drama then they do on their actual families. When I hear about wealthy people using their money to help others I appreciate their excess wealth because they are supplying people with copious amounts of money that not many other people can give. I do believe that your financial status is a reflection of how successful you are, but only in the work part of your life. Many parents these days are earning a great deal of money because they are constantly working, but because they are always working they don't have time for their children. These children end up being raised by nanny's or daycares. So these parents may be successful at their jobs but they are seriously lagging at their social relationships. Success to me is the power to accomplish your goals in life. For me a sign of my personal success would be graduating with high honors. I am still working towards this goal, but I hope to be successful my senior year. For me personally I do tend to always want more, especially when I am at the mall shopping. I forget that material goods don't truly matter and I tend to think to myself, "I wish I had more money than maybe I would have more friends." Sometimes wanting more isn't a bad thing. Such as wanting more positive relationships with others, or spending more time with your family. I do believe we do want to much. Sometimes we let the "wanting" consume us and we forget what is truly important to us in our lives. People don't want to feel content they want to feel, assured, and that they are financially stable. Most people don't want to live a life where they are worrying if they will even be able to supply their family with life's basic necessities. When you start thinking more about your money piggy bank than you do about your social piggy bank, then you know that enough is enough. If your surrounded with more money than you know what to do with enough is enough. If you barely see your family because you're constantly working enough is enough.

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  17. My perceptions of wealth are how “rich” or “well off” someone is. If someone is wealthy, one can assume they have a nice job and are well paid or are wealthy because of their family’s financial status. This can often lead to a luxurious lifestyle. Wealth is defined as “a great quantity or store of money, valuable possessions, property, or other riches.” (Dictionary.com) Although many people may appear to be rich because of the material items they possess, this could actually cause the person to be in debt. Many wealthy people may not appear to be extremely rich because they use their money wisely and have a lot of savings. This allows them to be free from debt, and this is a true sign of someone who is wealthy. On the flip side, when talking about success I believe it is different from being wealthy and having a lot of money. Kelly said, “There is so much more to success than just money.” I completely agree. In fact, I don’t think success and wealth are at all the same things. Someone can be very wealthy, but not at all successful. On the other hand, someone can be very successful, but not monetarily wealthy. John Wooden once said, “Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.” I really like this definition. I believe you can be successful in many different ways. If you say, “That person is successful.” I believe the intelligent response would be to ask, “At what?” Personally, I believe that in order for someone to be successful they have to be happy with who they are and what they are doing in the world. If you are a wealthy businessman who works hard and you know you are doing the best to become the best at which you are capable, then I would consider you a successful businessman. On the other hand, Mother Teresa had very little monetary wealth but was incredibly successful by making the world a better place. Often people, and mostly our generation, believe money is the key to being successful and happy. I believe this is completely wrong. Those who have a lot of money often continue to want new things and are never satisfied. Those who are always seeking more, and can never “fill” their wants are not living a successful life. Just as Hannah said, “There will always be bigger, better.” Some of the happiest people in the world have few material possessions, but they are living for a larger purpose and are truly happy and successful. One could argue that true wealth comes from living with purpose not possessions.

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  18. I believe that money is something that every person uses every day in order to keep up with the world. In this world, so many people feel the need to have a ton of money, and need to buy a ton of things, just because they feel like having a lot of wealth makes them better than someone less wealthy. I feel like a person's wealth is seen as their rank in society. Everybody looks up to the rich people, and they dream to have the excess and the life that they have. People sometimes see money as the most important part of life, and that without money they can't be happy. It's a fact that when you don't have money, you're quality of life decreases, but I think that a person can still be a happy person that people can look up to even if they're very poor. I also believe that people are never satisfied with what they have, so they keep buying things that they don't need. When all of a person's material items fail to make them happy, they get even more unhappy, and buy more things. It's a never ending cycle that creates unhappy people with not enough money and too much stuff.

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  19. The dictionary.com definition of wealth is “a great quantity or store of money, valuable possessions, property, or other riches”. In today’s consumer driven society, wealth is often measured by how big your house is, what kind of car you drive, what college you attended, and what kind of new technologies and extravagant luxury items you can afford. These are all examples of how our society is influenced by wanting bigger, better, faster things. Socially, however, wealth has a much different meaning. I agree with Silvana when she said, “It isn’t physical wealth, but it is much more valuable”. Wealth in relationships and love tend to make people happier that wealth in money or physical items. Success can be measured in one’s salary, as it often is in the workplace, but it can also be measured in one’s happiness, health, or family.

    It is human nature to always want more. While some people are able to push this want aside when they see unnecessary items, this competitiveness is present in other areas besides money and material wealth. Within sports or academics, people always strive to better their skills and intellect, which is a positive attribute. Many people see wanting more as a negative idea, but it doesn’t always have to be. Wanting more drives our economic and social society; the production of new items provides people with jobs and the purchase of these items can increase temporary happiness. Within the social society, wanting more friends or better friends forces people to get out of their comfort zones and meet new people. This is good for society, because it means that each individual is perpetuating conversation with others instead of being content with shallow banter. I don’t think complete fulfillment is real: there is always a new place to explore, a new friendship to make, a new product to buy, but this isn’t bad. If you had everything you wanted and were completely content, your life would just become a routine and would be somehow unsatisfying. Humans always strive for more.

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  20. Personally I think that money is money. If you have it, good for you. If you don’t, don’t beat yourself up about it, it’s not the end of the world, there is so much more to life than money. I think that wealth is a plentiful amount of the things that make you happy. For some people this can be materialistic things like money but for others it is non physical things like love or happiness. Society is constantly trying to force us to believe that your financial status is a reflection of how successful you are and unfortunately a vast majority of people agree with that but to me success is not measured by wealth it is measured by your character. Success is being a light in the life of others and knowing that you have lived your life to the fullest. I do not think that other people can judge your success truly. You are the only one who truly feels success in what you do. There definitely people who are always wanting more. Who feel that they have to have material goods to make them happy but once they receive that good they are immediately wanting something else. It is as if there is a void in them that cannot be filled. Sometimes want isn’t a bad thing it can be a positive driving force behind you but when it turns you to lust and greed it corrupts and is very negative, that is when we want too much. I think that being content or fulfilled is enough but there are people who feel like they need to gather more to have a safety blanket but when you have more money than you know what to do with and your life is centered around money and it’s all you think about, enough is enough.

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  21. In society to have a lot of wealth and happiness you must, unfortunately, have a lot of money. In the world we live in everything has a price tag. People try to convince their selves that to be happy you don't need money or material things but they are wrong because if they haven't noticed we buy things to make us look better or different or even turn us into a whole new person. Yet that's not all we use our money for we also use it for materials we may use a couple times, but we then never use it again. It becomes useless but we keep buying these materials just to fulfill our need to just purchase something. Maybe I'm wrong but purchasing something has a certain feeling and some might be addicted to this feeling but everyone gets it. When you buy a new pair of shoes or something else, you are never sad and the first thing you want to do is show it off.
    Success is also measured by your wealth in most ways because of the thought of big time "rich people", such as Bill Gates, Lebron James, or some other noticeable figure that has been successful and has money that they have to give to charity to dodge taxes. Correct me if I'm wrong but most people look at these people and wish or hope they will eventually live life like that. To be honest these select few are very lucky or gifted and talented beyond the normal person. This is what people enjoy trying to go after when they would like to be successful. Some people don't understand that they have unbelievable talent but they also work hard.
    The people I know, including me, always want the next best thing. We really only want the new best thing so we can brag and show off, which is what makes us different from communism which is just fine I think. Yet sometimes we just need to know when enough is enough and should stop buying useless stuff to make us try and be something we are not. All I am really trying to say is compete with one another. Get that new best thing. But don't try and be someone your not and definitely live your life without thoughts of how much money you need to make but think about what steps you need to take to be successful.

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  22. My perceptions on wealth and money is that it can help make you happy but it shouldn't be the only thing that makes you happy. To often people only focus on money in life. They think the more money they have the happier they will be. I don't agree with this. I think it is enough to have money so you can support your family later on in life and do fun things with them. I think many people think the definition of wealth is money. My definition is being wealthy with good memories, friends, and being happy with your life. I think that financial status can determine how successful some people are but not in all situations. I think peoples attitudes towards life can really tell how wealthy they are. I also think that it is human nature to have more. We are greedy people. I think enough is enough when you have enough money so you don't have to worry about it and can just focus on living a happy, fun, life with the people you love.

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  23. My perceptions of material wealth and money are, I assume, the same as everyone else’s. When people don’t have any problem buying things that aren’t necessary, I perceive them as wealthy or rich. Some rich people flaunt that to those who don’t have a lot of money. Wealth to me is being rich in an old fashioned. Being happy and satisfied with the way things are can make you rich in your lifestyle. Wealth doesn’t always mean money but when I do hear the word wealth that is what my mind automatically jumps to. Not because that is what is important to me, but because when people talking about wealth, not in depth, is almost always means money. I think your financial status is a reflection of how successful you are when it comes to jobs. However, I don’t think doing something that doesn’t make you happy but makes big profit makes you successful. If doing a job makes you happy then I feel like that is true success because you have found something that most people would sacrifice happiness for. I do not always want more because when I take a step back and look at the things I do have, it overwhelms me. Knowing that I don’t need the majority of stuff that I actually do have already makes me so thankful. Generally I think we do want way too much. People don’t think about what they need, they think about the next coolest thing that they could possibly afford to buy. When it comes down to the basics the only things your need to survive are the only things you need. Enough is enough when you are truly with how happy you are, surrounding yourself with positive people, not worrying about your next paycheck. Enough is enough when you stop worrying about all the things going on around you and focus on yourself and your life and admire what you have.

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  24. My perceptions of wealth and money are pretty average. I see it as a necessity to survive in most cases but not the main or only factor in deciding if your successful or not. Wealth isn’t necessarily money but the value of things you have learned and what you have accomplished. Someone could have a lot of wealth with not much cash. The way I see this is that if you’re surrounded by loved ones and have accomplished what you want in life you’re then very wealthy. Your financial status does not have an effect on how successful you are...This is proven by my statement above. I think in our society people’s heads are starting to be told that your amount of money really does mean how successful you are, it’s sad. I think we will continue to want more and more and our perceptions will change.

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  26. I think that material wealth is not truly being wealthy it is an act of disrespect towards others to say I have more money than you. You may have a nice car and nice everything but that is not saying that your truly wealthy. You are abusing your wealth in a certain sense because you are flaunting that you have money. I think that wealth is having money but using it in moderation and for the right reasons. Not to show off and display that you are wealthy and can buy whatever you want. I think that we see way to much excess today it is all about the money and what you own or can afford. Life is no longer focused on just living its about having the best of everything and displaying how well off you are. My personal view of success is living your life and having a good time. You should not have to show off your wealth to others because you know that you are. The people that show off are the ones that are not truly happy with themselves so they have to put on a show to make it seem as if they are. Everyone will always want more but not always have that. They need to understand that sometimes it is just to much. There are people in the world that have absolutely nothing what they truly want is clothes, a house, and food. We should be happy with what he have now because we have what people would die for and we don't hardly have to do anything for it. I completely agree with Colton being wealthy is a lot more than just having money it is about the mental aspect as well you must be truly happy with your self as a person to be truly wealthy.

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  27. Success and wealth are two different categories that we so often combine. Success can come in the form of wealth, and vice versa. I think that we tend to forget that people can be successful and wealthy in other aspects of their life aside from money. For instance, if a goal for your life is to get married and start a family, and you do that, you are successful and wealthy. Successful in the idea that you've achieved your goal, and wealthy with the love that goal brings. The misconception that money equals happiness has closed our minds off to the other ways you can feel wealth and success. We want both of those things, but look in all of the wrong places to find them.

    In my opinion, enough is enough when we begin to blur short term and long term happiness. Of course we WANT too much, we are human. We are materialists and consumers that react on impulse. The latest and the greatest item seems enthralling and we think that with that item our lives will be bettered. They will for a short amount of time, but once something better comes we lose sight of the last item. These material possessions can make you happy for moments at a time, but true wealth is happiness that lasts. Wealth can come in love, devotion, passion, something that stays with you for an extended period of time. This is why family and friends, among other things that we take pride in, are what I measure as true wealth.

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