
Why Don’t Rich People Just Stop Working? - ajay-d
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/17/style/rich-people-things.html
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siberianbear
This is a topic I've personally given a lot of thought.

I worked for a Silicon Valley company that became quite successful. I made
enough money to quit and live off the investment income. I got to the level of
wealth I needed and it was enough for me and retired. I enjoyed my work and my
job, but I also wanted to do other things in my life, and having a full-time
job in Silicon Valley precluded that.

I was at my employer early enough that I had quite a bit of personal contact
with the CEO at this company, and he did not think like me at all. Money
wasn't the main thing for him. He wants to chase down his competitor, watch it
struggle in death, chew on the meat, bury the corpse, dig it up again, make
sure it's dead, and then bury it again. This guy lives for the hunt, and the
hunt is all there is.

When I figured this out, I realized I could never be him. I couldn't summon
that level of motivation on a constant basis even if I used every bit of my
willpower.

And I'm glad that I was on this guy's side and not his competitor.

~~~
zxcmx
It's their thing though, right? It's their passion.

The author seems to be making a weird argument, to me:

If you're working for love, status or meaning (rather than need)... you
should... stop? Morally? Because you have enough money already?

There are poets, painters and golfers who continue their careers long after
they achieve financial independence.

I wonder if this author would describe them in the same terms.

"You're too famous, get off the stage".

~~~
ViViDboarder
Maybe just take little to no additional pay and try to improve the ratio of
pay between levels in your company? Then you can keep at your passion and
maybe even improve productivity by employing a happier workforce.

I wouldn’t be surprised if some executives do this. I know there are many that
take $1 salaries and are compensated with equity, though I’m pretty sure that
isn’t quite the same thing.

~~~
WalterSear
This would involve the _opposite_ of the competitive instinct being describe
here. IME - the type of executives being described here sees everyone else as
a competitor.

Moreover, the billionaire executives I have met/worked for didn't seem to
'enjoy the competition' as much as they seemed unable to comprehend any other
way to live.

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HALtheWise
It seems like the article totally misses the obvious explanation, which is
that these people became wealthy by doing things that they enjoy and are
passionate about, which just happen to also pay them money. Maybe the people
during the dot-com boom whose plan was to make $2M then retire to Napa Valley
did exactly that, and by definition, never became billionaires. There are
probably billionaires who don't enjoy their work, but I suspect they aren't
common.

~~~
LinuxBender
This comment hits the nail on the head. The few billionaires I know love what
they do. They are way beyond the retirement age and are still spinning up new
businesses all the time.

~~~
Miner49er
I think this argument is more about why they continue trying to make money,
not "working" because it's something they enjoy.

Why are they spinning up businesses instead of non-profits or cooperatives? I
think that's what this article is exploring.

~~~
LinuxBender
> why they continue trying to make money

That is just a by-product of doing what they enjoy. They certainly spend it
and donate a lot of it.

> Why are they spinning up businesses instead of non-profits or cooperatives?

They do both.

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QualityReboot
There should be another word for it.

"Work", for most people, is a thing you have to do until you die or retire.

"Work", for rich people, is a hobby that you can quit whenever you want
without suffering dire consequences.

Same word but totally different meanings based on your net worth.

~~~
lazerpants
Indeed, also most wealthy people I know don't really worry about their PTO,
asking their boss if they can travel when necessary, explaining to someone why
they were out of the office playing golf, etc.

Most of the wealthy people I know work plenty, but they also do it on their
schedule and make it fit with their priorities.

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Miner49er
A lot of the comments in this thread are saying it's because the rich are
passionate about what's making them money, or their work is like a hobby to
them.

I think "work" as it is said in this article, is maybe better read as "making
money". The article is more about why do the comfortably rich continue putting
in so much effort to make even more money. Sure, they can continue to do
hobbies or whatever and call it "work", but why continue trying to make a
profit, instead of paying employees more, or running non-profits, or pursuing
hobbies in ways that doesn't generate them more massive amounts of money?

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rglover
Because the only thing left to do is contemplate your existence. Ever tried
that for an extended amount of time?

~~~
tenebrisalietum
Um, the opposite of work is "play", not "do nothing and rot."

I have plenty I'd like to do out of pure enjoyment if I didn't have to wage
slave 8 hours+commute time a day.

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crimsonalucard
They are not really working. They are now enjoying their hobbies which now
includes making more money.

Make no mistake. People work to survive or maintain a standard of living or
raise their kids. Many rich people are not doing this. Most of them are doing
what they enjoy with extreme intensity. This is NOT work in the same sense
that most people "work."

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acomjean
When I was at a start up the CEO was someone who had started a business, sold
it, then retired. He said he enjoyed it for a month, he did some things he
wanted to do, cooked. Then ended up missing work and applied to our company.
Some people love to work.

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crooked-v
Why don't all retired people just stop working?

Why don't actors who could live a comfortable middle-class lifestyle off TV
residuals just stop working?

It's the same answer: most people like to do productive stuff at least some of
the time.

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amriksohata
From the Gita:

The demoniac person thinks: "So much wealth do I have today, and I will gain
more according to my schemes. So much is mine now, and it will increase in the
future, more and more. He is my enemy, and I have killed him; and my other
enemy will also be killed. I am the lord of everything, I am the enjoyer, I am
perfect, powerful and happy. I am the richest man, surrounded by aristocratic
relatives. There is none so powerful and happy as I am. I shall perform
sacrifices, I shall give some charity, and thus I shall rejoice." In this way,
such persons are deluded by ignorance.

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brenden2
I suspect that for a lot of people it's more fun to make the money than to
spend it. Some people (like myself) would rather try to do hard things and
fail than to never try at all. If you do this enough times, eventually you get
lucky. Once you eventually find yourself with money, the novelty wears off
quickly and you realize you want to get back to building and creating things.

This is probably part of the reason why many people who get windfalls
(lottery, inheritance, etc) spend all the money and wind up broke again. Easy
come, easy go.

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tjpaudio
If you are good at doing something, in this example that something being
making money, ceasing that activity means doing something you are less good
at. I don't think many people have the discipline or curiosity to say: "Well
that was fun, I figured it out, time to learn something new". It's a brain
thing, we get a dopamine reward by succeeding. Moving on requires breaking
that addiction. In my opinion, it's not unlike any other addiction.

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planetzero
Because sitting around doing nothing all day is boring. Most people that are
rich are most likely very competitive and need that competition to feel happy
and fulfilled.

~~~
gorbachev
Why would they do nothing?

With all the money they made they can do whatever the hell they choose to.

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zhoujianfu
This is why a UBI doesn't create a nation of layabouts!

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rapjr9
A relevant quote from Pink Floyd:

take all your overgrown infants away somewhere and build them a home a little
place of their own the fletcher memorial home for incurable tyrants and kings
and they can appear to themselves every day on closed circuit t.v. to make
sure they're still real it's the only connection they feel

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coldtea
Because they don't work for money but for power.

The same reason rich kings don't just stop being kings.

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senderista
Michael Douglas said it best: "It's not about the money. It's about winning."

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alexnewman
They do, then they get bored

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ykevinator
They absolutely do stop working and start "working"

