Sublime

One key insight into these very high income households is they do best in bubble booms, like the 1920s where they controlled up to 45 percent of net worth, and the 1990s and 2000s, where they reached closer to 40 percent (although some studies found their assets reaching as high as 45 to 47 percent in recent peak years). (See Figure 1-18.)

Fred Hirsch in his 1977 book, Social Limits to Growth.65 The richer we become, the more of our desires for non-positional goods, such as basic food and shelter, are met; and the greater the fraction of our remaining as-yet unfulfilled desires pertain to positional goods, which are inherently scarce.

Second, whenever common measures of wealth are controlled by institutions, those who manage those institutions become powerful and can be counted on to maintain and expand their power whenever possible.

Yes, if you earn hundreds of thousands of dollars every year, you may have a few additional options. But the real “rich people” tax benefits begin when you’re earning millions of dollars from your existing investments.

Every family I have observed that is successfully preserving its wealth is a reflection of the five virtues of truth, beauty, goodness, community, and compassion. Transcending all of these is its reflection of love. Families who preserve their wealth successfully reflect these virtues in their relationships both with family members and with all per

Wealth is a means to an end: economic security. Put another way, wealth is the absence of economic anxiety. Freed of the pressure to earn, we can choose how we live.

This vanity provides wise governments with a highly useful tool. Rather than taxing the rich, these governments should learn to give the rich plenty of honour and status – in return for doing all the good things that these narcissists wouldn’t normally bother with, like funding schools and hospitals and paying their workers well.

The Law of Effection states that the more lives you affect in scale and/or magnitude in an entity you control, the richer you will become.