Why do people with millions of dollars still work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love Succession but this is the thought that runs through my head when I watch it. Why not just quit and live a life of leisure, live off of investments? I guess I'm just not a killer.

We have about $7m and I was laid off a couple of years ago. Was already losing interest in working anyways. DW still continues to work at an hectic pace. She wants to get to $10m and no amount of explaining will convince her that we'll never get there by her just working (we are mid-50s) for a few more years. But she won't listen. ?

Hi we are in a similar situation and I'm trying to get to 10million as well. Why do you think you wont get there Im 52 btw

I'm the PP you responded to.. My point is that, we won't get the $10M through savings alone but only through a combination of savings and growth and it doesn't matter if takes a couple of years longer. Over the last decade, our net worth has doubled every 7 years. Going forward, it may not happen (different market I think) but will likely double at a slower pace, say 10 years. We should still be at $10 million in another 5 years.

DW (53) makes about $250K and we save $80K of that. It may shave a year or two off the time it takes for us to reach the $10M mark, but to what end? It's not like we are waiting on that milestone to do something big. I've been asking her to slow down and maybe get a govt. gig so she can take it easy.

[Anonymous]

52 NW $3M and in my case I work because millions of dollars ain’t what it used to be. I make $230K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would continue to do my job if I won millions in a lottery tomorrow. I like it. I enjoy the people I work with. I feel the need to contribute something, to be accountable in some way. I don't want to sit in my house -- I would hate that.

I don’t understand how people on dcum can be so smart but then imagine that people who have millions and quit their jobs just sit in their houses.

There are SO MANY fun/meaningful/challenging things to pursue for which you don’t get a salary and indeed have to pay money.

PP here. I don't "imagine that people who have millions and quit their jobs just sit in their houses." I imagine that I would. Big difference.

[Anonymous]

For all the talk of endless things to do in retirement, many find such activities boring and meaningless. After 6-12 months of “retirement,” such people need to find something to do.

If you enjoy what you do, people oftentimes still want to be involved, have a platform for their viewpoint, and a place where everyone knows their name (Cheers!). Academics, boards, the fine arts, lots of independent service businesses - consultancies, investment practices, attorney practices - and some federal agencies (senior advisor) have lots of people like this hanging around. Also, a little extra money never hurt anyone and living solely off one’s investments is expensive.

[Anonymous]

As you get older, you get lazy and don’t want to learn new tricks. For all the people who say they’ll learn to play an instrument, learn a foreign language, write a novel, etc., most do not. Why? Because once they try these things, they realize that they’re terrible at it, that it’s going to take years to perfect, they don’t want another “job,” and no one wants their crappy output. The result? Keep doing what you’ve spent your adult life doing, but maybe with a twist and less vigorously.

[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.

its not just that- we'd have to have over 10 million to generate the kind of income that the job brings in- that is why it is hard to stop at 7 mill and n top of that- you wouldn't have enough to help your kids and even Zillow and Redfin are openly admitting that people can't buy homes without downpayment help from family so 7 million seems like a lot saved up but it isn't enough when you are in your prime earning years. we moved to a LCOL city after one of us didnt make partner and bought right before covid but even here- well, I was raised UMC I have a certain level that I find normal, and I cant afford that on less then 12-15 million saved.

[Anonymous]

Because op at that point they do it for pleasure. Imagine your job if you did not have to worry about job security, bills, health insurance….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$12 million in assets.
Will inherit additional $7-$10 million that we will likely just funnel right to our kids when it happens.

Two kids to go to college
Owe $500,000 at 2.85 % on home worth about $2.5m
No other debt

My husband owns his own business and now only works about 15-25 hours a week from home. He’s bored if he does nothing.

He wants to take care of his family and leave money to the kids. Our oldest is probably going into social work one day so my husband keeps working so this child he be financially ok.

I read this as we have failure to launch, but enough money for the first generation of failure. So your grandkids from this child are basically screwed. Why not use the money to train your kid to fish for themselves; far better for future generations. To me, it rings like the folks who say they want to give their kids an inheritance but don’t want to spend the money to send them to a good private school. Just strange thinking.

Working in the social work field isn’t failure to launch.

+1

We need more quality people going into this area. The best way to help that kid is to do what he plans---provide funds for them for future, for a house, for kid's education, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:52 NW $3M and in my case I work because millions of dollars ain’t what it used to be. I make $230K.

Yeah, $3M is not enough at 52 to retire if you are living a lifestyle of $200K+. Unless you plan to downsize to a LCOL and not travel. Not to mention, if you retire before 65, you can expect to spend $20-25K for a couple to have health insurance. So working a job you like is about more than just the paycheck.

[Anonymous]

You want more money to give to your kids.

[Anonymous]

My husband could have retired at 52 but all of his friends were working and the only people not working were old guys. So he worked until he was an old guy of 61. He made a lot of money during those ten years plus ten more years of compounding in a period of high equity growth. So our base net worth more than doubled and we added more to it.

[Anonymous]

Because our net worth is about $2 million and people on this forum told me it wasn't enough to retire in my 30s.

[Anonymous]

Overwhelmingly, most people waste their unstructured time, so making and counting money becomes the default goal. The one with the most dollars when the music stops, wins. Stupid, I know, but true in many circles.

[Anonymous]

Haven't read all 16 pgs but for me - bc IDK that my millions are enough to retire at 43 and last me forever. Sure they'd generate a return and keep growing but I have no control if the market is flat for the next 4 yrs or goes down for a few years.

So I guess - not enough millions yet.

[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.

its not just that- we'd have to have over 10 million to generate the kind of income that the job brings in- that is why it is hard to stop at 7 mill and n top of that- you wouldn't have enough to help your kids and even Zillow and Redfin are openly admitting that people can't buy homes without downpayment help from family so 7 million seems like a lot saved up but it isn't enough when you are in your prime earning years. we moved to a LCOL city after one of us didnt make partner and bought right before covid but even here- well, I was raised UMC I have a certain level that I find normal, and I cant afford that on less then 12-15 million saved.

And yet your parents afforded it on far less, even adjusted for inflation.

A house for your child is under $1M not $4M.