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Why Don't Rich People Just Stop Working?

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Re: Why Don't Rich People Just Stop Working?

#41

Post by lbriner »

racl101 wrote: post #16

I find that rich people, like the millionaires and billionaires, are driven people and driven not necessarily only by money. Extreme financial success is but a side effect of whatever is driving them whether it be building a huge company or a revolutionizing and industry. And if getting rich is not the end game whether entirely or partially then the work is never done. They are still on a mission and there are more c…

We had a talk once from a man who had sold his company at around 23 years old for several million, a lot to a young man. He said he thought he would live the dream, travel the world, go and do whatever he wanted, waking up at 10am every day and having a cooked breakfast!

Then he realised how boring and lonely it was. His friends were all at work while he was "free" and most people don't want to sit by themself at a bar in Tahiti, even if you can afford the drinks!

He quickly went back to working/advising companies and found it much more engaging.

Re: Why Don't Rich People Just Stop Working?

#42

Post by pasquinelli »

lake_vincent wrote: post #8

The answer is always classes, folks. Because once you become a millionaire for the first time, you leave the middle class and realize that you are actually quite poor amongst the millionaire class , so you have to keep working to climb through the ranks of millionaires. It's a recursive algorithm, you see.

that's not actually what classes are. class is not just a braket of incomes, it is a role in economic production. if you get your money by trading your work for it, you're working class. if you get your money by virtue of what you own, you're capitalist. a bit of both is what middle class is.

Re: Why Don't Rich People Just Stop Working?

#43

Post by krapp »

fridif wrote: post #12

Because nothing in life is guaranteed.

Nothing in life is more guaranteed than the wealth of the elite. Beyond a certain point, at least. Nothing short of the collapse of Western civilization and the almighty dollar could make Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos anything less than rich beyond the dreams of avarice.

Re: Why Don't Rich People Just Stop Working?

#44

Post by eplanit »

I had a very wealthy 73 year-old client once -- one of the most interesting of all. He had built up a collection of businesses around the world, and at 73 was (and is still) flying around the world to make deals. He is like a savant in that if he is awake, then he's busy working. It was very common to send him an e-mail at 10 or 11pm, to which he would immediately reply, and then wake up the next morning at 7am to find he'd already sent a new e-mail a few minutes earlier.

I noticed that nothing stressed him -- he would push people and get angry and annoyed, but it was all externalized and not internalized. He's worth billions, but never does _anything_ that normal people would consider fun. For him, the work is his fun. I have great respect for the work and the success, but it's hollow in context of it all.

Re: Why Don't Rich People Just Stop Working?

#45

Post by captainredbeard »

lake_vincent wrote: post #8

The answer is always classes, folks. Because once you become a millionaire for the first time, you leave the middle class and realize that you are actually quite poor amongst the millionaire class , so you have to keep working to climb through the ranks of millionaires. It's a recursive algorithm, you see.

This is super true, you graduate from being "rich poor people" to "broke rich people"

Re: Why Don't Rich People Just Stop Working?

#47

Post by randycupertino »

busterarm wrote: post #11

We have a real societal disconnect and it's clear that we don't communicate enough with our elder generations. While some people are content to retire and stay home in bed, not having something meaningful to do every day makes quite a lot of people absolutely miserable.

I've noticed how quickly I become depressed when I have nothing to do. It's sort of like the properties of a gas- my lethargy expands to fill the volume of space I have. When I was on a sabbatical between jobs instead of going to museums and art shows and exploring new hikes and doing other things I'd think I would enjoy I laid around and binge-watched The Wire and the West Wing.

When I'm busy I actively block out time to do those activities and plan for them and look forward to them. It's a weird phenomena but I'd guess if I was wealthy enough not to have to work (which I'm not!) I would need to keep working anyways to keep some structure in my life and avoid depression.

Re: Why Don't Rich People Just Stop Working?

#48

Post by katzgrau »

Some reasons:

* Because it's something to do. Being retired is boring.

* Because whatever they're doing is providing some meaning (even if it's just getting richer and building on their ego)

* To stay relevant/up to date

* Their spouse is still working, and why not?

* Because they have friends who retired and degraded health wise (it seems to happen in older age) and they don't want that

Re: Why Don't Rich People Just Stop Working?

#50

Post by lbriner »

HWR_14 wrote: post #22
busterarm wrote: post #11

We have a real societal disconnect and it's clear that we don't communicate enough with our elder generations. While some people are content to retire and stay home in bed, not having something meaningful to do every day makes quite a lot of people absolutely miserable.

But that's not the option open to the uber-rich. Look at Tom from MySpace. He took a ton of money and is on a permanent vacation. He certainly seems to have a more enjoyable life than Zuckerberg. Although I guess he cannot afford the biggest yachts in the world.

I guess it depends on your interests outside of work and if you have any. Some people work so hard, they have nothing outside of work that they fit-in with. Its a bit like people who retire and spend their retirement years watching TV.

Imagine, instead, you enjoyed sports, blogging, travelling, exploring etc. you could easily do that if you were super rich and not bother with work again.

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