Yesterday this story occurs to me, and I realize that there is no fairness on this earth, or maybe there is, but it is much, much bigger than my ability to perceive it. I.e. there are all sorts of things going on and all sorts of karma being worked out and all sorts of grace being freely given and I am not God or the judge and that is just the way it is. This friend is always going to have more money than I, even though he is not working a day in his life and never cleaned up his act.
yes there is no fairness and virtue is it's own reward and sometimes the only reward, and maybe the reward is just one doesn't want to carry around unnecessary conscious and subconscious guilt (we're so sure we can repress it. But that may not be the case. Sociopaths exempted of course!). And not carrying it around means greater possibilities for contentment.

Guilt is a tricky one of course as it can be taken way too far unnecessarily if one was raised guilty, but taken less far it is merely a desire to live congruent with oneself, as is possible for one's imperfect self in a very very very flawed society (that most will end up making some compromises to live in). I'm speaking mostly of environmental ethics in this context, of course.