Biggest ever recorded jump in weekly earnings as median NZ wages rise

[SueDonim]

Well, the same opportunities is debatable, but people certainly have different aims and desires in life. Some are just obsessed about making money...either by just hard work or wheeling and dealing. Some want position, want to climb the ladder to success. Some want to help others, some to help their families. For us, when we had kids we wanted them to have parents in their life, so I limited myself to working a 40hr week, no more, and my wife stayed at home - we brought up 4 kids on a low single income. It hasn't made me rich, or given us perfect children...but it was my choice not to work hard and become rich. Doesn't make me a lazy no hoper....

Good on you! A lifetime of 40 hours a week is hard work and you deserve your reward for that.

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Some good points there and some continuation of stereotypes.

You are right that "people don't always have the same opportunities, abilities & luck" but the biggest hurdle is that those who do have those opportunities don't take them. and that can be simply because they don't want to which is fine. But they shouldn't later be jealous of those who did.

On one level no one "needs" 51 properties, but a businessman at that level can do so much more, which he, at such a young age, seems to be starting out on. I recently read Branson's biography. You could argue that he didn't need any of what he attained, but the world sure needed all the social good that he was able to do.

I disagree with your quote about the cars. That is using the car as a status symbol, not showing actual wealth. Some of the wealthier people I know are driving the equivalent of the old Toyotas. It's the wannabees who buy the latest and greatest (or lease them) and try to look "the part". That lesson was pointed out to me in the late 70s when I was spending time at the farm down the road and my father said "do you realise that [the farmer] is a multi millionaire?" He drove a car cheaper than ours, and we were poor!

Also, the comment about family connections, money and education will undoubtedly be true for some, but what of those who had none of those and still ended up in the top brackets. Although I still don't see an actual definition of "rich".

Not sure why you think anyone is 'jealous' of those who are wealthy. I think probably the unfairness of our society is what rankles.

The cars were used as an example.
However, not every wealthy person is inclined to get the trappings of wealth.
This chap is a good example.
https://en.as.com/en/2019/10/17/soccer/1...22970.html

Sadio Mane
"Why would I want ten Ferraris, 20 diamond watches, or two planes? What will these objects do for me and for the world? I was hungry, and I had to work in the field; I survived hard times, played football barefooted, I did not have an education and many other things, but today with what I earn thanks to football, I can help my people,"┬áMan├®┬áexplained. "I built schools, a stadium, we provide clothes, shoes, food for people who are in extreme poverty. In addition, I give 70 euros per month to all people in a very poor region of Senegal which contributes to their family economy. I do not need to display luxury cars, luxury homes, trips and even planes. I prefer that my people receive a little of what life has given me".

Back home in┬áSenegal,┬áMan├®┬áhas funded the construction of a school in┬áBambali, work on the new school began before the summer."

Fully agree. that's what I was saying, that the stereotype of evil rich being presented in some posts here is totally inaccurate. Just because a few are selfish/greedy doesn't mean that all or even most are.