The Stewardship of Wealth: Successful Private Wealth Management for Investors and Their Advisors, + Website

Work and the Wealthy

Among all the misconceptions about the wealthy that are harbored by people in general is the notion that the rich don't work. This odd idea seems to have gained currency in the same way as so many unsound notions about the rich—from Hollywood and from the rare, spectacular examples of international playboys and their ilk. What is, in fact, far more interesting and salient about the rich is how hard they tend to work despite not having any financial need to do so.

This issue of working hard, of being productive and of generating happiness out of that productivity, is perhaps best examined by looking at another example of the phenomenon, namely, the wives⁵ of extremely successful men. Talented men, men who are destined for great success in life (and in this case we include financial success), tend to marry women who are a lot like themselves: talented women who can also look forward to great success in traditional terms. But what often happens is something else altogether. The couple wants to have children. Only the wife can have them, and she is probably (though not certainly) more maternally inclined. Society frowns on men who stay home while their wives work. All these and many other factors dictate that in most cases the wife will stay home with the kids.

Eventually, the last child toddles off to school and now the wife is faced with a question about what to do with her life. Her choices are so wide that it is difficult to know where to begin. And the world ...