If you work hard, are you smart?

[Iron Condor]

Basically I've seen quite a few 'success' stories, interviews with people of age 60 and above, who are considered successful, at least financially speaking, and (unless they inherited the wealth) they all generally tend to say "I've worked hard, for 16 hours a day, for 25 years for this".

Firstly, it only hard work if you hate doing it.

Secondly most people have really got rich from property inflation, not directly from the hard work they did. But maybe they needed to work long hours to service all the mortgage debt they have.

[petergriffin]

To me that doesn't sound like a successful life - if they have worked so much, no wonder they earned quite a bit and working so much, they didn't even have the time to spend it...

No, because the only way to work 16 hours a day is to use cocaine and cocaine costs a lot of money, that's way you need to work 16 hours a day to pay for it.

[lukemg]

A tiny number of people have amassed a huge amount of wealth in business and it gives people the illusion of being attainable by anyone (as does football/singing etc). Alongside these are many thousands who have worked themselves to the bone and ended up with nothing or in huge debt through lack of ability, poor decisions, macro economic reasons etc etc. Hard work on it’s own will not in any way guarantee success.
Best plan I heard recently was a chap who said look, there is the odd one who gets lucky with a great idea but for most people you need to get good at something first and look to branch from there into your own business. Reason is that the things you can do early on are usually low skill/low added value enterprises which need little investment - cleaning, retail, cooking, delivery etc which are unlikely to make you rich (yes I KNOW there will be a handful of exceptions). On Dragons den (yes I know its a game show) they often state scaleability as a key factor which is absolutely true, if it requires your input for every output you are stuffed.
At the top of the tree, they love working because they are in charge and get a huge ego feed from being so and good luck to them. Personally, I have had it too easy (as my dad was fond of telling me – he was right) and that has continued into working life, so it’s hard to generate the hunger to work any harder than I have to. Plan B is investments designed to need little effort and keep me comfy in the future, in short, I am lazy...

[bobspud]

No, because the only way to work 16 hours a day is to use cocaine and cocaine costs a lot of money, that's way you need to work 16 hours a day to pay for it.

No the way to work 16 hours a day is to redefine what you call work. Mind altering substances never come hand in hand with quality work.

I don't think its a safe assumption that you can grow a company to a size then give it to someone else to manage while you do other stuff. If you do, then you are trusting your own work and future pay to someone else with different motives. Just look at the mess that Stalman made of microsoft...

My wifes uncle built a business based on industry. He then sold the business a few years later for good money. But the guys that took it on where big and the new manager was less than useless and the clients kept coming back to the uncle complaining what a mess they were making of everything. Her uncle now runs a new business with his old customers doing what he used to do before the italians bought him out...

[OwlHoot]

As the old saying goes "Rich are they whose time is their own".

[ChimpMaster]

I think I'm so droned into working that I wouldn't know what to do with myself even if I had £millions in the bank!

I would love to travel and see the world, but right now I have family commitments which mean I couldn't even do that. More time with the kids would also be great (not necessarily with the Mrs though ).

I have been working hard these past 15 years or so, but only really making/saving/investing money for the past 7 or 8 years. I could probably sit back now and let residual income cover my monthly outgoings, but it wouldn't make for an interesting life. You do need money to enjoy parts of life, to travel, to educate your kids well, to take your kids to Alton Towers or Disneyland or wherever, to go out for a meal or buy your mates a drink at the pub.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I feel like I'm working hard now to buy myself time later. Perhaps, there are many inherent flaws with this plan, but I'm too entrenched to pull out now... and in any case my contracting lifespan is almost complete so I hope not to be "working too hard" for too much longer

[EternalOptimist]

I like the idea of bumming around with no work and loads of money. But everytime I am off work, if I have nothing to do I start climbing the walls.
You cant be on holiday ALL the time ? can you ?

[Pogle]

I like the idea of bumming around with no work and loads of money. But everytime I am off work, if I have nothing to do I start climbing the walls.
You cant be on holiday ALL the time ? can you ?

WEOS and to be honest, I do actually really enjoy working!

[Old Greg]

WEOS and to be honest, I do actually really enjoy working!

If my job was running round elaborate wheels and nibbling carrots, I'd enjoy work too.

[oscarose]

I'm trying to get myself in a position where I don't need so much money to survive, I see minimal outgoings as key to a less stressful life as I can then afford to be choosy about what I do.

WGJS+1