Why do people with millions of dollars still work?

[Anonymous]

For me it’s not even my work that I dislike, it’s everything else about it - the waking up early getting out of your warm bed on a cold dark winter morning, crappy long commute, have to answer to other people, being compelled to to go work even when you’re not feeling it that day, 5 days week, not having enough time for hobbies, exercise, home cooking, travel, spending time with your family - at least not without feeling like your life is hectic. WFH was supposed to fix some of this but now it’s going away in most places. Also NEEDING to live in a HCOL area with terrible traffic and everyone around you is an obsessive overachiever sucks too.

I ONLY work for money at this point, as soon as I have a few mil I’m gone. I don’t get people with 7+ million dollars who still choose to grind away their young healthy years in the rat race in, to be honest, a crappy city like DC (or any other HCOL area for that matter).

[Anonymous]

Love my job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Love my job.

I don’t even mind my actual work. If I could do it from home without the pointless meetings and work 4 hours a day efficiently getting it all done in that time frame I would be cool with it.

[Anonymous]

I don’t feel that way about my job or my life. That’s why I work.

I am part of something I feel great about, like my colleagues, have good work life balance, and I feel productive and useful and know I have a purpose. And I don’t WFH either. Short commute.

[Anonymous]

You keep saying you like your actual work. But that is just one small piece of any job. You don’t like your job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For me it’s not even my work that I dislike, it’s everything else about it - the waking up early getting out of your warm bed on a cold dark winter morning, crappy long commute, have to answer to other people, being compelled to to go work even when you’re not feeling it that day, 5 days week, not having enough time for hobbies, exercise, home cooking, travel, spending time with your family - at least not without feeling like your life is hectic. WFH was supposed to fix some of this but now it’s going away in most places. Also NEEDING to live in a HCOL area with terrible traffic and everyone around you is an obsessive overachiever sucks too.

I ONLY work for money at this point, as soon as I have a few mil I’m gone. I don’t get people with 7+ million dollars who still choose to grind away their young healthy years in the rat race in, to be honest, a crappy city like DC (or any other HCOL area for that matter).

Once you have 7 million, you would want 14.

[Anonymous]

Some do it for fulfillment, some out of greed, some out of fear.

[Anonymous]

Too shy to quit.

[Anonymous]

No one takes the time to study investing, so they have to slave away for decades. Most people don't know there are stocks yielding 10%+ dividends with minimal risk. If you can get a 7% overall withdrawal rate for the rest of your life, which is very doable, you check out at $2M - no one needs more than $140K income in retirement.

But since people are told to buy bonds and other nonsense, they can only safely withdraw 2.5% or 3% of their portfolio and so must slave away until they're 65.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one takes the time to study investing, so they have to slave away for decades. Most people don't know there are stocks yielding 10%+ dividends with minimal risk. If you can get a 7% overall withdrawal rate for the rest of your life, which is very doable, you check out at $2M - no one needs more than $140K income in retirement.

But since people are told to buy bonds and other nonsense, they can only safely withdraw 2.5% or 3% of their portfolio and so must slave away until they're 65.

Except that the stock can stop paying dividends and the companies could go out of business.

[Anonymous]

Short answer is because they’re also spending millions of dollars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For me it’s not even my work that I dislike, it’s everything else about it - the waking up early getting out of your warm bed on a cold dark winter morning, crappy long commute, have to answer to other people, being compelled to to go work even when you’re not feeling it that day, 5 days week, not having enough time for hobbies, exercise, home cooking, travel, spending time with your family - at least not without feeling like your life is hectic. WFH was supposed to fix some of this but now it’s going away in most places. Also NEEDING to live in a HCOL area with terrible traffic and everyone around you is an obsessive overachiever sucks too.

I ONLY work for money at this point, as soon as I have a few mil I’m gone. I don’t get people with 7+ million dollars who still choose to grind away their young healthy years in the rat race in, to be honest, a crappy city like DC (or any other HCOL area for that matter).

Once you have 7 million, you would want 14.

+1. $7 mill in your 40s in a HCOL with 2-3 kids to support…Not enough. You are not even that rich at this level. A decent 4-bedroom apt in Manhattan starts at $7mill and goes up if you want a nice neighborhood and a good layout. Way up.

[Anonymous]

OP, do you have kids? I think it's having very young kids that makes me feel it's not enough. I just don't know what life might bring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For me it’s not even my work that I dislike, it’s everything else about it - the waking up early getting out of your warm bed on a cold dark winter morning, crappy long commute, have to answer to other people, being compelled to to go work even when you’re not feeling it that day, 5 days week, not having enough time for hobbies, exercise, home cooking, travel, spending time with your family - at least not without feeling like your life is hectic. WFH was supposed to fix some of this but now it’s going away in most places. Also NEEDING to live in a HCOL area with terrible traffic and everyone around you is an obsessive overachiever sucks too.

I ONLY work for money at this point, as soon as I have a few mil I’m gone. I don’t get people with 7+ million dollars who still choose to grind away their young healthy years in the rat race in, to be honest, a crappy city like DC (or any other HCOL area for that matter).

Once you have 7 million, you would want 14.

+1. $7 mill in your 40s in a HCOL with 2-3 kids to support…Not enough. You are not even that rich at this level. A decent 4-bedroom apt in Manhattan starts at $7mill and goes up if you want a nice neighborhood and a good layout. Way up.

If the 7 mil is just your portfolio that’s about 250k/yr for the rest of your life. That’s an upper middle class lifestyle

[Anonymous]

I don't have to commute, I love my coworkers, can work from bed if I want (though I never have), and overall enjoy what I do plus I'm good at it.