I just wanted to point out this quote from the article:
Quote:
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Perhaps you can earn a million dollars by using emotional manipulation to sell people useless, overpriced information products, but assuming you’re not a scam artist, you’re going to have to earn the money by providing a million dollars worth of real value.
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I have heard Steve discuss earning money is terms of "creating value" before, but this quote really made sense to me. I really like the idea of focusing on creating value rather than making money. The latter seems like it encourages things such as scams and tricks to get people to buy things. Creating value seems like a win-win situation for everyone.
On the other hand, I'm not sure I really understand the whole concept of spending more money leading to making more money. Certainly, there are tons of people already who spend way above their income and they aren't getting any richer. I'm sure some of those people even believe that they are rich but in reality they are deep into debt. When I look at some of the wealthy people I admire, such as Warren Buffett and see how they are incredibly wealthy yet don't spend their money foolishly (OK, except the private jet!) I question the sense of the idea.
I also think that its important for anyone that wants to be rich to change how they think about money, but is spending more really the best way? There really is a difference between a $20 and $50 dinner, regardless of what you believe. The difference is that $30 not spent on dinner could be used in other, possibly more constructive ways such as
making a loan to a developing-world entrepreneur. Not that people shouldn't be going out to dinner, I don't think that. But is the belief that "there’s no financial difference whatsoever between a $20 dinner and a $50 dinner" really wise?