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I always wonder why folks with 9-figure net worth (or high 8) keep doing any job at all. People do not get very many quality-adjusted life years -- why would y

I always wonder why folks with 9-figure net worth (or high 8) keep doing any job at all. People do not get very many quality-adjusted life years -- why would you spend 8+ hours per day doing CEO work when you could spend that time with family and friends?

csdvrx 5y ago
What if they prefer work to family and friends? A lot of people seem to prefer contributing to wikipedia or writing free software to partying, so it doesn't seem far fetched.
slivanes 5y ago
I'm guessing because not many family and friends would have the same net-worth to have the spare time time to hang out all day. I think of Notch as an example, I'm pretty sure he got quite lonely once he got paid out for Minecraft.
patches11 5y ago
The article offers some potential explanations. As they achieve more status their peer group changes and they desire more status relative to their new group. They are looking for that huge exit or massive success. Alternatively you just don't see the people who retire and spend time with family and friends. They don't post here, they don't have blogs, they don't have articles posted about them. They are just living life.
- gigaflop 5y ago
  > the people who retire and spend time with family and friends That's the ideal way to go, imo. I'm trying to slowly figure out what I need to live that kind of life, so that I can become some sort of cyberpunk mountain man when I reach financial independence. Identify what makes me happy, what I need for those happiness-generating activities, etc, and make sure that I'm set up to enjoy myself.
georgeecollins 5y ago
Work can be really enjoyable if you have more power to control how your time is spent. No one has complete control of how their time is spent, but that is true of life. If you aren't working you are still going to need to structure your time around activities like hobbies. At this point in my life work is one of my favorite hobbies.
petercooper 5y ago
I used to wonder that too. Having got to know a handful of people who've become very wealthy through their own efforts, though, I suspect being proactive is enjoyable for them ("thrill of the chase" and all that) in a way that undirected leisure is not. Some business people seem to be as compelled to strike deals or build companies in a similar way to how prolific authors or artists feels compelled to engage in their art.
brimble 5y ago
They probably enjoy it. Being a CEO or whatever doesn't look like sitting in a cubicle all damn day. Even the latter's much better if you know you have the money to quit whenever you feel like it. That alone makes a big difference, but they also have a lot more say in how they spend their time, and do completely different stuff. Making the big calls, having people who'll go do all kinds of stuff when you ask them to, meeting and hanging out with other important people, et c., probably feels awesome, and if you've got enough money socked away to never need to work again, all the "risk" is as real as playing poker with pennies.
- fdgsdfogijq 5y ago
  I was going to say this. It's fun when you are that high up.
  - brimble 5y ago
    It's also the case that someone with quite a bit of money doesn't have as much non-work work to do. If you can afford to pay someone to do: all shopping (that you don't enjoy doing), all cooking (ditto), all cleaning (doing the laundry including putting it away, doing the dishes, cleaning your house, cleaning your car[s]), to drive you around so that time's not lost, et c., that recovers a ton of time. You can put quite a bit of that back into your job and still come out ahead in leisure and family time, compared with a worker bee who still has to do all that shit themselves, outside work hours.
    - gigaflop 5y ago
      Even with work-from-home, I can see how more money == more better in life. My dream home would need space for a home gym, workshop, and small office. Having a home, a home big enough for all of that, and then getting all of that would not be cheap, but it would mean dead-simple access to things I need and things that make me happy and fulfilled, which would mean more time spent fulfilling myself.
    - hallway_monitor 5y ago
      I can't believe I never thought about this. You don't have any drudgery and it doesn't really matter if you lose your job so your work is your leisure time. You're just playing. Okay, time to get rich.
csa 5y ago
> why would you spend 8+ hours per day doing CEO work when you could spend that time with family and friends? Your family and friends are usually busy working. The only exception is if you roll with other wealthy (early) retirees. If you have ever spent time around these folks, you might see why it’s not necessarily that compelling. I would humbly suggest that it’s easier to meet and hang out with interesting people under the guise of owning or working in some sort of business. If you actually like that business (many people do), then it’s a double win.
sacrosancty 5y ago
I hear this often. How about why do people in countries with good social welfare bother to work at all? Just sit in your free house eating your free food until you die of old age. Easiest life ever! Obviously, the answer is that people get satisfaction from working beyond simply what they can spend the money on.
yojo 5y ago
I’ve always figured it was some combination of selection and survivorship bias. Selection because only workaholics or super-strivers generally make it to that level. Survivorship because the only ones you see working are by definition the ones that didn’t quit. It is possible that many people who made that kind of money have quit and are just being quiet about it.
jlokier 5y ago
I've thought about this a few times. If I struck rich or won the lottery, I'd want to start doing CEO work, while funding my own rather ambitious projects. It would be unlikely to be someone else's company, but perhaps if I met the right person(s). Most likely, I'd hire a bunch of people, and they would help me with big R&D projects. Why would I want to waste 8+ hours a day hanging out with family and friends? I mean, I like family and friends. It's nice to spend time with them. I love them, and life would be missing something important without them. But it's not fulfilling to do it all the time. I'd really like to use my time here figuring out and building things, and the things I'd like to build are too big and adventerous to do by myself. They're also too big and adventurous to do putting in only a small fraction of the day: I'd either need to put in a lot of time, or there's no point. It doesn't come from just wanting to do the work. It also comes from imagining looking back on life when older. When I imagine looking back on a life of hanging out with family and friends, having fun, having big personal moments, ups and downs, all those memories, remarkable times, that seems very special, magical even. Very special! But I have to admit, not enough by itself. Given the chance, it's also motivating to want to be able to look back and see some of my grander dreams realised in some form. I can't explain why; it feels like an intrinsic motivation, and quite a burden really, because truth is, that's unlikely to happen. But seems worth trying. I imagine at least some well-off CEOs who are managing something big, even if it's not their own company, must be getting a similar sense of satisfaction from some internal drive to do something like that.
tonyedgecombe 5y ago
There have been surveys where they ask people how much money they would need to feel comfortable and the usual answer is about 50% more than they currently have.
ModernMech 5y ago
CEOs don’t work, they exercise power. It’s a completely different concept from working and it’s totally fun. It’s the thing you do when you are bored with vacationing and spending time with friends.

csdvrx 5y ago

What if they prefer work to family and friends? A lot of people seem to prefer contributing to wikipedia or writing free software to partying, so it doesn't seem far fetched.

slivanes 5y ago

I'm guessing because not many family and friends would have the same net-worth to have the spare time time to hang out all day. I think of Notch as an example, I'm pretty sure he got quite lonely once he got paid out for Minecraft.

patches11 5y ago

The article offers some potential explanations. As they achieve more status their peer group changes and they desire more status relative to their new group. They are looking for that huge exit or massive success. Alternatively you just don't see the people who retire and spend time with family and friends. They don't post here, they don't have blogs, they don't have articles posted about them. They are just living life.

gigaflop 5y ago
> the people who retire and spend time with family and friends That's the ideal way to go, imo. I'm trying to slowly figure out what I need to live that kind of life, so that I can become some sort of cyberpunk mountain man when I reach financial independence. Identify what makes me happy, what I need for those happiness-generating activities, etc, and make sure that I'm set up to enjoy myself.

georgeecollins 5y ago

Work can be really enjoyable if you have more power to control how your time is spent. No one has complete control of how their time is spent, but that is true of life. If you aren't working you are still going to need to structure your time around activities like hobbies. At this point in my life work is one of my favorite hobbies.

petercooper 5y ago

I used to wonder that too. Having got to know a handful of people who've become very wealthy through their own efforts, though, I suspect being proactive is enjoyable for them ("thrill of the chase" and all that) in a way that undirected leisure is not. Some business people seem to be as compelled to strike deals or build companies in a similar way to how prolific authors or artists feels compelled to engage in their art.

brimble 5y ago

They probably enjoy it. Being a CEO or whatever doesn't look like sitting in a cubicle all damn day. Even the latter's much better if you know you have the money to quit whenever you feel like it. That alone makes a big difference, but they also have a lot more say in how they spend their time, and do completely different stuff. Making the big calls, having people who'll go do all kinds of stuff when you ask them to, meeting and hanging out with other important people, et c., probably feels awesome, and if you've got enough money socked away to never need to work again, all the "risk" is as real as playing poker with pennies.

fdgsdfogijq 5y ago
I was going to say this. It's fun when you are that high up.
- brimble 5y ago
  It's also the case that someone with quite a bit of money doesn't have as much non-work work to do. If you can afford to pay someone to do: all shopping (that you don't enjoy doing), all cooking (ditto), all cleaning (doing the laundry including putting it away, doing the dishes, cleaning your house, cleaning your car[s]), to drive you around so that time's not lost, et c., that recovers a ton of time. You can put quite a bit of that back into your job and still come out ahead in leisure and family time, compared with a worker bee who still has to do all that shit themselves, outside work hours.
  - gigaflop 5y ago
    Even with work-from-home, I can see how more money == more better in life. My dream home would need space for a home gym, workshop, and small office. Having a home, a home big enough for all of that, and then getting all of that would not be cheap, but it would mean dead-simple access to things I need and things that make me happy and fulfilled, which would mean more time spent fulfilling myself.
  - hallway_monitor 5y ago
    I can't believe I never thought about this. You don't have any drudgery and it doesn't really matter if you lose your job so your work is your leisure time. You're just playing. Okay, time to get rich.

csa 5y ago

> why would you spend 8+ hours per day doing CEO work when you could spend that time with family and friends? Your family and friends are usually busy working. The only exception is if you roll with other wealthy (early) retirees. If you have ever spent time around these folks, you might see why it’s not necessarily that compelling. I would humbly suggest that it’s easier to meet and hang out with interesting people under the guise of owning or working in some sort of business. If you actually like that business (many people do), then it’s a double win.

sacrosancty 5y ago

I hear this often. How about why do people in countries with good social welfare bother to work at all? Just sit in your free house eating your free food until you die of old age. Easiest life ever! Obviously, the answer is that people get satisfaction from working beyond simply what they can spend the money on.

yojo 5y ago

I’ve always figured it was some combination of selection and survivorship bias. Selection because only workaholics or super-strivers generally make it to that level. Survivorship because the only ones you see working are by definition the ones that didn’t quit. It is possible that many people who made that kind of money have quit and are just being quiet about it.

jlokier 5y ago

I've thought about this a few times. If I struck rich or won the lottery, I'd want to start doing CEO work, while funding my own rather ambitious projects. It would be unlikely to be someone else's company, but perhaps if I met the right person(s). Most likely, I'd hire a bunch of people, and they would help me with big R&D projects. Why would I want to waste 8+ hours a day hanging out with family and friends? I mean, I like family and friends. It's nice to spend time with them. I love them, and life would be missing something important without them. But it's not fulfilling to do it all the time. I'd really like to use my time here figuring out and building things, and the things I'd like to build are too big and adventerous to do by myself. They're also too big and adventurous to do putting in only a small fraction of the day: I'd either need to put in a lot of time, or there's no point. It doesn't come from just wanting to do the work. It also comes from imagining looking back on life when older. When I imagine looking back on a life of hanging out with family and friends, having fun, having big personal moments, ups and downs, all those memories, remarkable times, that seems very special, magical even. Very special! But I have to admit, not enough by itself. Given the chance, it's also motivating to want to be able to look back and see some of my grander dreams realised in some form. I can't explain why; it feels like an intrinsic motivation, and quite a burden really, because truth is, that's unlikely to happen. But seems worth trying. I imagine at least some well-off CEOs who are managing something big, even if it's not their own company, must be getting a similar sense of satisfaction from some internal drive to do something like that.

tonyedgecombe 5y ago

There have been surveys where they ask people how much money they would need to feel comfortable and the usual answer is about 50% more than they currently have.

ModernMech 5y ago

CEOs don’t work, they exercise power. It’s a completely different concept from working and it’s totally fun. It’s the thing you do when you are bored with vacationing and spending time with friends.