The Link Between Wealth and Work

I’ve been struggling for a while now on defining what I think ‘being wealthy’ means. So far what I’ve come up with is that ‘being wealthy’ has something to do with embracing two realities we tend to want to avoid: work, and death.

I’ll talk about death later, but for today I think that one of the keys to wealth is enjoying your work.

On the face of it, that’s an obvious statement, since we get paid money to do work, and you need money to get wealthy. Or if not get wealthy, to at least pay your bills to avoid getting poorer.

Dig a bit more, however, and the picture muddies.

What about people who dislike their jobs, but they get paid well to do it? Can they be wealthy? I have an idiosyncratic view on what ‘being wealthy’ means. I’d answer no to that question.

Once upon a time I worked at a well-paid job. I wasn’t particularly happy doing it, but it paid far better than it should have. What kind of simpleton walks away from that situation? I think what I learned, after I walked away, is that there’s no way you can actually ‘be wealthy’ while you work at a job that makes you unhappy.

make_the_money_dont_let_the_money_make_you
Irish-American poet

As the Irish-American poet Macklemore reminds us, “Make the money, don’t let the money make you.

We may ‘earn’ a lot of money in any given job, but if we are doing work that fundamentally leaves us feeling ill, or bored, or unfulfilled (in my case, a combination of all three) then we’re probably doing the wrong kind of work, regardless of the pay. If you need the money that badly, you’re not wealthy, no matter how fat the payday seems.

On the other hand, if you do work that you would continue to do regardless of what it pays, then I think that’s approaching my definition of ‘being wealthy.’

I’ll be the first to say that “follow your passion” is the theme of every Hollywood movie ever made, and is also terrible advice for people looking to get rich. (Sadly, you are not a unique snowflake either. I’m all about crushing dreams today.)

On the other hand, people who absolutely love their work tend to excel at it, which could maybe in the long run pay off monetarily through excellence, advancement, and longevity on the job.

I have a couple of other thoughts on the link between work and being wealthy.

The Lottery Test

Lotteries are terrible. That giant Powerball lottery two months ago, however, reminded me of the important ‘lottery test’ we should all give ourselves at least once a year.

The lottery test, as maybe you already know, asks us what we would do about our present day job if we won the lottery. Assuming you won the lottery and no longer needed the money, would you make like Johnny Paycheck and say: “Take this job and shove it?”

The lottery test lets you know, every year, whether you’re doing a job that you enjoy. If you would ‘take this job and shove it,’ then you know you’ve got to keep looking further in order to be wealthy, by my definition.

I bought a few tickets to that huge Powerball lottery (Pro Tip: Never buy lottery tickets!) and I literally suffered agita at the thought that I might win. Seriously, I got scared.

lottery_test

Now, obviously, that tells you I’m worse at math than I had previously led you to believe. But it also told me that I’m probably somewhat on the right path professionally. I wouldn’t want to walk away from what I do.

Because anyone who wins the Powerball gets immediately disqualified to do what I’m doing. You can’t be a dispenser of reasonable finance wisdom and simultaneously someone who is outed publically as playing, or worse winning, the lottery. Personally I would never admit to buying a lottery ticket. I would be exposed forever as an idiot and a hypocrite. Also, any recipient of reasonable financial advice I ever gave in the future would immediately respond with “Easy for you to say, wise guy, you won the lottery.”

Inheritance

Speaking of the lottery, what about winning the lottery of birth through inheritance? Can’t we, like nineteenth century English nobility, be wealthy without ever working? The gentlewomen in Jane Austen novels seek suitable marriages in part to avoid the fate of actually having to, you know, work.

Our culture, however, is different when it comes to valuing work. Our heroes are different. We revere Zuckerberg and Gates in part for their wealth, but primarily because they worked hard to create useful software that happened to make their fortunes. We don’t value the heirs to fortunes the same way we honor the original creators of fortunes.

I don’t know if the following is true, but it feels like it might be: Our own appreciation for our money, our ability to ‘feel wealthy,’ depends on working hard to get what we had. It’s not enough to win the lottery of birth, or the actual lottery. We have to work at it to really feel it. But I’m open to being disabused of my assumption. If you’re a lottery winner (either the ticket-buying type or the heir), does it feel the same? Do you feel wealthy enough?

Disregarding the pay

An advantage of having money – inherited, won, or acquired – is that it would allow us to choose whatever work most suits our interests and talents regardless of what it pays. My sense is that it’s the doing of the work – not the having of the money – that supplies meaning to our lives.

Working at something we love while disregarding the pay – I think that’s approaching the definition of wealthy.

 

A version of this post ran in the San Antonio Express News

Please see related post:

What is Wealthy?

Death and Being Wealthy

 

 

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On Philanthropy, Part I – Giving Money Away

uwc usa castleAnother key to wealth

I’ve written before that the key to being wealthy involves work, and in particular, work doing something you would do regardless of whether it pays or not.

But giving money away is also a cause and effect of feeling wealthy.

We know we have enough money when we begin to give it away to others.  The act of giving it away – philanthropically – signals to ourselves that we have a surplus.  When we give philanthropically, however small and however temporarily, our life feels abundant.

We feel our own surplus most fully when our cup runneth over to fill someone else’s cup.  If our goal is wealth, then we have to think about philanthropy.

Give of yourself, not just money

Sometimes we give money as a defensive mechanism, a kind of polite “go away” signal. 

The homeless man, smelling of last month’s produce, received a little bit of money out of your pocket this week.  But really your message was “Please don’t come any nearer.”  I don’t think of this as philanthropy.

Similarly, but on a larger scale, I often hear of people giving much larger sums to causes they do not particularly believe in.  But because they could not think of a polite way to say no to a friend, or they could not come up with a more effective way to fill a void in their life, they gave a significant amount of money.  This isn’t philanthropy either.

Neither the homeless donation – nor the larger check – makes us feel wealthy in the way philanthropy can and should.

Philanthropy starts with the heart and may not involve the exchange of money for a long time.

If you are relatively young, or relatively light in the wallet, you can still start your philanthropic life. 

Giving of your time and your expertise to a non-profit cause provides all of the benefits of giving money.  You will capture the essence of philanthropy – that feeling of abundance, that feeling of working without expectation of compensation – long before you’re writing big checks to your favorite organization.

Lead with love, money will follow

The personal benefits of philanthropy – in terms of feeling wealthy and feeling the abundance of life – follow from the attitude and actions of you, the donor, rather than from your fortune.

Do you love the cause you support?  Do you love the people in the organization?  Are you offering something unique that you can give the organization?

Personally, I’m not a ladle-the-soup kind of guy.  I have never felt my unique contribution to an organization would be serving food at the soup kitchen.

I know my way around a spreadsheet, however, so I have been fortunate enough to offer a set of financial eyes to my favorite non-profit, my high school for students from around the world.[1]

I love and believe in the school as one of the best hopes for a better world.  I have built and sustained deep relationships with people there, both when I attended as a student and now as an adult advisor.  It represents for me a source of love as well as a way to access my more generous self.

In my Wall Street and investing days, the fact that I gave time and money to my school helped me feel part of something larger and better.  My financial day job – first as a bond salesman and later a distressed debt investor – did not fill this need.  Despite the spiritual impoverishment of my Wall Street career, giving time, money, and love to my school made me wealthy.

Please also see next post: On Philanthropy, Part II – Asking for Money


[1] The best high school in the country, by the way, and I’m serious about that.  It’s called the Armand Hammer United World College – USA.  I know you’ve never heard of it, and that kills me because it’s the Best. School. Ever.  And you know what?  You’re in luck.  We’re wrapping up the Annual Fund drive this month.  Feeling wealthy is just a click away for you!

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