Can this really be the 7th installment in the Apollo Solution? When is this spacecraft going to land!?
Last time, we talked about how loose spending and a lack of planning can lead to an outcome we might call Not Such a Wonderful Life. We ended by observing that Rich people work at jobs they like and do what they want, when they want. But here we risk falling into the trap of believing that being rich equates to having a bunch of money. Bring on the Rich Person Fallacy
The Rich Person Fallacy
Any situation that you can craft where you’re working at a job you love, doing what you want, when you want, means you’re rich regardless of the balance in your bank account.
Being a contributor and provider gives life meaning, purpose and direction.
Finding a job you love doing is common advice. But it doesn’t go far enough. Every job has days that are just a slog. What will keep you going when the joy is on temporary hiatus?
Having a job you enjoy is not enough. You need a cause.
In 2009, I bought a small apartment complex called Rivercourt Apartments. The property was originally built in 1965. The location wasn’t the best. The building had been well maintained but not updated. Probably the best thing about the whole deal was not the building but the managers I inherited, Don and Eileen.
Although retired now, Don and Eileen were and are salt of the earth hard working people who care. When I first met them, I shared my vision for the Rivercourt Apartments. I acknowledged that there was some incurable obsolescence. I admitted the location presented challenges. But I also outlined the litany of improvements I planned on making to apartment interiors, heating equipment, landscaping and more. In short, I wound up making an impromptu impassioned speech that crescendoed with this challenge: We were going to make a stand at Rivercourt. Understanding the limitations that we could not change, we were going to do the very best with what we could change. Whatever limitations existed cannot be an excuse for anything less than producing excellence for everything else within our control.
This was the first time I realized that what I was doing was more than just a job I enjoyed. It was a cause.
I have both built apartments from the ground up and renovated tired buildings in desperate need of attention. While both are rewarding, sometimes it is more satisfying to remake the blighted property into a glamorous gem again.
I feel like I’m making a difference not only in the community where our properties are located, but also in the lives of our teammates that do such a wonderful job running these properties. I know my life is richer for having worked alongside them.
Understanding the need to produce, provide and contribute explains why some people that have a lot of money are still miserable. If they are wealthy through inheritance and not engaged in a productive cause, this can often lead to a life devoid of meaning.
There is even special terminology to define the phenomenon. Affluenza is a word coined to describe the malaise associated with the young and affluent, but the word does well to describe older privileged folks too.
Avaricious means a person concerned about gaining wealth. It’s an unflattering term and conveys the idea that despite wealth already accumulated, the avaricious person is still not satisfied and is clamoring for more.
Then we have vulgarian, a person whose vulgarity is amplified by wealth.
Finally, understanding the dynamics of having a cause explains why wealthy people keep working. Simply put, they’re not done yet. The cause still merits attention.
People envy others with wealth because they assume that if they could acquire the same wealth, they could quit their miserable jobs. However, wealth is not the panacea it seems. 35% of millionaires in a recent survey indicated they were concerned about not having enough money to retire.
The same survey indicated 58% of high-net-worth individuals were planning on working longer and 36% reflected that retirement may not be an option.[1]
Put another way, if we cloaked these individual’s net worth and inquired, “would you want to join a demographic truncheon where 58% of respondents report having to work longer than planned and 36% think retirement is not an option,” most people would say no! No, I don’t want to be … a millionaire!
I count myself rich not because of the size of my bank account. I have a cause that keeps me getting up early and working hard. Yet I get to do what I want, when I want, which includes things like writing this blog. If making more money is the goal, then I should focus my time on further investment in real estate. Writing is for paupers, there is far more money in real estate! But writing this blog and joining you on this journey is a blast.
This leads us to busting the retirement illusion.
Busting the Retirement Illusion
The idea of retirement is a recent phenomenon. The idea of accumulating a nest egg to fund a couple decades of idleness at the end of life has only happened in the last 80 years or so. Before then, most worked until they died. If something happened to you in old age to prevent you from working, poverty was often the result.
Further, the kind of work people did often involved brute force manual labor. Until recently, most people worked at subsistence farming. My father grew up on a farm plowing fields behind a horse.
Today, workers enjoy a carnival of choices and more work opportunities exist than ever before. The problem isn’t about having enough saved for retirement. The problem is being stuck in a job you hate. Find a cause worth living for and never give up.
We’re just getting started. One positive unintended outcome of disastrous Covid lock downs has been an explosion of new businesses. Forced out of their day jobs, many workers turned entrepreneur. Come back next time to hear about the impact of the internet.
[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/02/35percent-of-millionaires-say-they-wont-have-enough-to-retire-report-finds.html