Do the Rich Work Harder? (make money, investment, spend, exam)

[Member1]

Do the Rich Work Harder? - The Wealth Report - WSJ

[Zyngawf]

This article doesn't surprise me at all. I think that people that make money like that find pleasure in their work and they like what they do.

[eskercurve]

Personally, I think the answer depends on a number of factors - is the wealth luck driven (e.g. inherited, won the lottery, lucky oil strike in their back yard, etc), or is the wealth driven from a combination of work and fortunate circumstance?

For the former, when money is come into via luck alone, unless it's something that requires significant investment in time to maintain (like an oil strike) I have found from my interactions with such people that it's a mixed bag of lazy spendthrifts thru the spectrum to ultra hard workers (like the example given in the article of the billionaire who only slept 3 hours a day). The lazy types were more often than not the type that won the lotto or inherited their wealth and didn't have pressure from their elders to maintain the family heirloom. They were the ones more likely to spend their fortune like no tomorrow. Of course there are many examples to the contrary that I've met too.

The ones who came into the money through hard work and luck and foresight were the ones who worked the hardest.

There's an old saying among the wealthy - Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations. It's pretty accurate for the lifecycle of family wealth. The first generation come into the money and if they worked hard for it, develop it and start having kids. The kids grow up with all the luxury that their parents worked hard to achieve and without proper parenting and nurture they squander the wealth and spend it. They don't have a hardship in the world, but by the time their children grow up, the wealth is so spread thin and depleted that the third generation needs to split the money up and work again for wealth - many times never climbing back up.