How can I change my negative beliefs about money?

Even tho I dont believe hard work brings in money...

I have the belief that rich people are stuck up and dont care about others, overindulge in things and live well above their needs.

I feel this is affecting my relationship with money, which is lacking and has been lacking for a while.

My first 10 years of work were military and then manual labor , busting my ass. Now I sit on my ass and make exponentially more than I ever have before. It's a blessing and I never take it for granted. I don't have some chip on my shoulder and try to make some BS argument about how it's "more difficult, just in a different way" or "more skilled." It's easier, end of story. I'm a lucky man.

It is what it is. There will always be someone who has contributed the same smarts and efforts you have but is worse off than you and there will always be someone who's coasted it and is much better off than you.

My first 10 years of work were military and then manual labor , busting my ass. Now I sit on my ass and make exponentially more than I ever have before. It's a blessing and I never take it for granted. I don't have some chip on my shoulder and try to make some BS argument about how it's "more difficult, just in a different way" or "more skilled." It's easier, end of story. I'm a lucky man.

 

It is what it is. There will always be someone who has contributed the same smarts and efforts you have but is worse off than you and there will always be someone who's coasted it and is much better off than you.

I wasn't in the military but had a similar experience. I worked in bars and restaurants until I was 28 when I got a job as a letter carrier. I thought I hit the lottery, then after 2 years of hot summers, cold winters, dog bites and almost being inadvertantly shot a few times I wised up and returned to finish a bachelors degree. Now I make 3 times what I did as a letter carrier, and sit on my ass all day too. I too consider myself lucky

Rich people wouldn't be rich if they lived above their means. Most are philanthropic. You may want to study wealth and economics and find what your goals attitudes and concerns are.

I have the belief that rich people are stuck up and dont care about others, overindulge in things and live well above their needs

"Middle class focuses on saving. The wealthy focus on earning.

Middle class believes hard work creates wealth. The wealthy believe leverage creates wealth.

Middle class believes money is earned through labor. The wealthy believe money is earned through thought.

Middle class worries about running out of money. The wealthy think about how to make more money.

Middle class operates from a fear based consciousness. The wealthy operate in a consciousness of abundance, freedom, opportunity and possibility.

Middle class believes getting rich is outside their control. The wealthy know getting rich is an inside job.

Middle class sees money through the eyes of emotion. The wealthy see money through the eyes of logic.

Middle class has a lottery mentality about money. The wealthy have an action mentality.

Middle class sets their financial expectations low so they’re never disappointed. The wealthy set their financial expectations high and get excited."

Rich people wouldn't be rich if they lived above their means. Most are philanthropic. You may want to study wealth and economics and find what your goals attitudes and concerns are.

"Middle class focuses on saving. The wealthy focus on earning.

Middle class believes hard work creates wealth. The wealthy believe leverage creates wealth.

Middle class believes money is earned through labor. The wealthy believe money is earned through thought.

Middle class worries about running out of money. The wealthy think about how to make more money.

Middle class operates from a fear based consciousness. The wealthy operate in a consciousness of abundance, freedom, opportunity and possibility.

Middle class believes getting rich is outside their control. The wealthy know getting rich is an inside job.

Middle class sees money through the eyes of emotion. The wealthy see money through the eyes of logic.

Middle class has a lottery mentality about money. The wealthy have an action mentality.

Middle class sets their financial expectations low so they’re never disappointed. The wealthy set their financial expectations high and get excited."

Yeah its funny how wealth changes ones perspective on wealth

Rising

"I have the belief that rich people are stuck up and dont care about others, overindulge in things and live well above their needs."

"

Many wealthy people worked very hard to obtain their wealth. There is nothing wrong with having wealth. Granted, there are people who have "old money", and came by it easily.

I agree with what Wiseman set out in his post.

I'm with j.man partially, my first jobs were really low-paying crappy laborious jobs. Now I get paid to sit at a desk and manage people's lives and I make way more now than I ever did before. Somehow, though, it's still not enough!

My bosses are both pretty wealthy, especially the lawyer. They are the most hard-working and generous people I've come across in this world. I think your thoughts about rich people apply to a very specific group of them: celebrities. But even so, celebrities often work just as hard or harder than the average Joe and are also very generous, however the way American people obsess over their lives, the way we have an inside view of their lives crumbling around them, somehow we feel the right to judge them.

Money makes the world go round. That's the sad truth. I don't think having more money makes one person better or worse than another, more generous or less generous. It just happens that people with money have more opportunities.

I suppose we seem rich compared to others but we have worked hard for what we have and also had some good luck along the way with regards to increases in property values over time. We are laid back, calm people and among the least pretentious you will ever meet. So I say your thoughts are not correct.

Absolutely hard work brings money, we had our own biz for 21 years that we started on our own and it gave us a good life and benefits, but we earned it, it wasn't given to us.

Quite so, Brie.

"Money makes the world go round. That's the sad truth. I don't think having more money makes one person better or worse than another, more generous or less generous. It just happens that people with money have more opportunities."

People everywhere work hard. Many if not most wealthy people work very long hours because the business they are running is theirs.

Even tho I dont believe hard work brings in money...

I have the belief that rich people are stuck up and dont care about others, overindulge in things and live well above their needs.

I feel this is affecting my relationship with money, which is lacking and has been lacking for a while.

I find generally those that are pretentious and overindulge are the ones that actually have nothing and are in debt up to their eyeballs and generally unhappy. They are trying to buy happiness... which doesn't happen.

I have a saying - "your material lifestyle does nothing for me, your soul does" and I live by this.

I have found that living to make my own world beautiful makes me happy. I was brought up without wants - (my parents worked really hard in their own business to retire early and get the lifestyle they have now), I went to the best schools, but I never really fitted in with those that "came" from money - it is a whole different world. I have friends that live in homes worth $$+millions and I have friends that struggle in shared homes... you are who you are, don't try to be anyone else and don't live your life trying to impress others.

When you say it's affecting your relationship with money - are you overindulging?

Money doesn't maketh the man... his integrity does... Like the others I have worked hard to get where I am, apart from schooling I didn't get handouts like my peers, My parents made me work in their business from the age of 7 years old, we never went on expensive holidays, and was never given free hand outs ... they made us kids work - after school, weekends, and holidays... These days I'm comfy even though I am a single mother, I worked hard in my building my own business and reputation. I don't discuss what I have to anyone, I skimp even though I don't need to, I still live on a tight budget as it puts me in control.. I'll enjoy it once my kids leave home!!!. (I love buying from thrift shops, as its fun and nothing lasts for ever... I'm not taking it with me when I leave this earth.. ) - though in saying all this, I will buy quality over quantity. - I wont go cheap - some things I deserve..

If people judge you by your $$worth, then they are not the kind of people you want in your life.

anyways that's just my feelings...

Thing is it's all individual. There's no harm in saying the majority of people with money worked hard and deserve the money they have. The issue is when it's assumed people with less deserve less.

If everyone who worked smart and worked hard made money proportionate to the effort, the dollar would get inflated worse than Zimbabwe's. It's simply not the case. And there are plenty out there who worked hard and did all the right things and life **** on them from the cradle to the grave. There's an awful lot of ego behind believe yourself to be the first or the best or that others haven't gone above and beyond the lengths you have only to end up empty handed.

All facets of life, whether it be career success, love, or simply not getting shot on the street boil down to effort and circumstance. I'd say the vast majority benefit from a combination of the two, even if with varying levels of each. Still, others benefit exclusively from one or the other.

If you get caught up comparing yourself to those better off than you, you're in for a bumpy ride. I've always taken a sort of solace from always remembering no matter how bad I think I might have it, I can be certain there's someone else out there who does deserve better than me but has it worse. It doesn't bring me guilt, but a big sense of appreciation for what I've got.

I learned the value of ones emotional attachment to money and what it means to them when I married my ex h. I didn't see it coming.

He was brought up in lower income family with 8 kids. Mine, middle class, white collar.

Money was like heroin to my ex. It defines him.

He uses it to manipulate people and it has been and always will be, his first love. At the same time, given his upbringing, it all made sense.

He's also a very hard working man but can't save a cent to save his own life.

His entire family is this way and most of them are at odds with each other. . over money issues. It's pretty sad.

I was on the other hand raised comfortably, but I am the one who can do without. It doesn't define and it's not my source of happiness.

(but at the same time I can afford nice things)

I never play lotto. I don't want 30 million dollars. I believe that kind of money changes people.

I'd donate most of it to Alzheimers research anyway.

If I could give young couples contemplating living together and marriage advice - Make sure you have some similarities in your attitude towards money.

It's more emotionally based than you can ever imagine.

I've always worked. Money comes and money goes. Theres alot in life that can effect that. Can money change people? sure it can I've seen it. I met a girl we eventually slept together. Pretty much right afterwards she asked. Now that we slept together how much do you make? Well that was my shortest relationship I've ever had.

While the responses on this thread are outstanding, I don't understand the original concern. You don't believe hard work leads to money, and you have found a way to generalize those that you see as having money as being terrible people, therefore you have elevated yourself in your mind since you say you lack money which would make you not rich. What's the problem then? You're living by your beliefs.

While the responses on this thread are outstanding, I don't understand the original concern. You don't believe hard work leads to money, and you have found a way to generalize those that you see as having money as being terrible people, therefore you have elevated yourself in your mind since you say you lack money which would make you not rich. What's the problem then? You're living by your beliefs.

Money is a necessary tool to survive in this world.

Its not just for the greedy and its not evil itself, this is ehy I am trying to remove this beliefs that have been placed in my mind somehow over the years.

Even tho I dont believe hard work brings in money...

I have the belief that rich people are stuck up and dont care about others, overindulge in things and live well above their needs.

I feel this is affecting my relationship with money, which is lacking and has been lacking for a while.

Good for you, Rising100, for recognizing how the limitations that you impose on other people actually end up limiting you! Now you just have to find a way to change that preconception.

Know any rich people?

So, you're just where you want to be - not rich. I see no reason for you to change your attitude about money. It might be better for you if you had a positive attitude about your fellow man and woman, but you think what you think. Continue to view those you consider rich in negative terms, but don't begrudge them the right to judge you similarly. If that's the kind of world you want to live in, and attitude you want to embrace, you're free to do just that.

I will say this though. There's no such thing as bad and good people, not as any of us is able to discern. Focus on the behaviors and not the characteristics of the person, and you may find some advantage in that. Judge behaviors, not people. Act rightly and justly yourself, and expect to be judged for your behaviors. Being rich is not a behavior. Being poor is not a behavior. Therefore, neither is essentially good or bad.

Maybe you should take a course on how to manage your money. I did and it helped me gain more knowledge. Yes some of the things maybe hard to do such as living on beans and rice for awhile to get an emergency fund and not buying any clothes for two years. I really recommend Dave Ramsey's course or any of his books. He has lived in debt and has gotten out of it. This course has really helped me.

Hard work doesn't lead toward money. Working smart does. Laborers work hard, but they earn so little it's hard enough to survive. In business, there are a lot of ways to earn money while doing nothing. For example, investment.

Even tho I dont believe hard work brings in money...

I have the belief that rich people are stuck up and dont care about others, overindulge in things and live well above their needs.

I feel this is affecting my relationship with money, which is lacking and has been lacking for a while.

You can be your own person and what you do with the money you choose to earn can in no way be dictated by how others with money choose to live their lives. You are always free to do something else and you don't have to love money to choose to make more money. It is quite pleasant to share it with others who don't have it as well.

I personally believe money doesn't even corrupt people, it just allows them to act in certain ways they were prone to even when they had no money. So maybe it doesn't corrupt anyone, it helps them to return to their cruel essence, which is of course not the case for everyone.

Friedric Engels is a nice example. Son of a wealthy industrialist, he really hated capitalism so much that he sat down and wrote the Communist Manifesto with Marx and then supported Marx all his life. Similarly, Owen who was again a wealthy industrialist started experiments where he let workers manage his factory and share the income. The history and today are full of people who have a lot of money but don't live inconsiderate lives. You can always choose to be one of them and if you feel you can do this, it is good that you have that money rather than others who will waste it in overindulgent stuff.

Okay take musicians for example: 'Sting' is worth about $300 million.

Nobody earns $300 million; they accumulate it; big difference. Doctors, nurses, builders, care workers and labourers, work harder and don't earn millions. Musicians accumulate their riches from the sale of recordings. A single piece of work copied and sold in duplicate a million times is disproportionate income to actual work done. Musicians expect vast profits from distributed copies of a single body of work. That arrangement can no longer be sustained in the age of digital distribution. Copyright should be abolished. Sting is ignorant. 65 years old and he has learned nothing about what is important in life - which is caring and sharing for, and with, your fellow human beings. The wealth and resources of this world are for sharing, not for private greed and accumulation of riches you haven't earned. He's so selfish he won't even give his own CHILDREN one red cent. Rethink your life Sting and rid yourself of the delusion. Millionaires and billionaires never earned their wealth. Stop perpetuating the myth.

How much hard work does Sting do now, and yet, the money keeps rolling in? ...and now TRUMP is President of the US -- this world is f***ed.

A single piece of work copied and sold in duplicate a million times is disproportionate income to actual work done. Musicians expect vast profits from distributed copies of a single body of work. That arrangement can no longer be sustained in the age of digital distribution. Copyright should be abolished.

I'm kind of on board with this. I mean, I think it's totally unsustainable and is ultimately a huge restriction on creativity. And yet there is some need for defined intellectual property. It's an interesting issue.