Working Hard...or Hardly Workin?

[stebo0728]

http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2010/09/30/ ... an-others/

Any thoughts?

[srellim234]

They conveniently did NOT check the inherited wealthy and the workers making $20k-$100k. I would hazard a guess that many of the $60k middle managers also work a ton of hours. If you're making less than $20k, you're probably a part-time worker or an unemployed worker who has either chosen to work part-time or frustrated with looking for work

I agree that the presidents of the corporations I've worked for over the years do a ton of work. That work tends to be much more cerebral and affects a lot more people's lives so it is much more stressful than others' work. It is not, however, necessarily the huge discrepancy this author makes it out to be. As I read the article I thought it was skillfully crafted to prove a preconceived opinion the writer already had.

[AZhitman]

^This.

I know people of all income levels who bust their hump... Working "harder" is a nebulous term that means different things to different people.

I have a buddy who works air conditioning. In Phoenix. Attics here can exceed 200 degrees. He always says his job is "a cakewalk". He feels sorry for me because he works 8 hours a day, while I work 12-16 hours a day.

Go figure.

[stebo0728]

I would agree, my posting of it was not to belittle the blue collar worker, and more so I dont think it was the point of the article. The point is to try and dissuade the old tiring argument that the rich are just "lucky" and didnt work for their riches. Although Trump children do exist, and there are certainly cases where people are just born eating caviar, thats not the rule, but the exception. And theres a philosophy that I aspire to: The rich get and stay rich by acting like rich people; The poor get and stay poor by acting like poor people. Whats the most commonly driven vehicle among millionaires? Bently? Rollz? Porche? NOO - Im not sure if its currently at the top, but for a long time it was the Ford Ranger. Wealthy people understand, as the article highlights on occasion, that they must make their money work SMART. One of the biggest keys is to always live BELOW your means, both when your poor, and when your wealthy. Until someone grasps this, as long as they beer and lottery tickets like fat kids love cake, they will have no upward mobility.

[AZhitman]

^ BRILLIANT point, and I concur.

The vast majority of Americans are wefully uneducated about money and wealth.

[audtatious]

I know a number of CEO's and wealthy who make their kids work from the bottom up in order to learn the business. Sure, they could have easily moved directly to "top dog" but when people bust hump to build something they are not likely to allow their child to come in and wreck everything they worked so hard to create.

Of course, then you have people like the Hilton sisters......but they wouldn't really be decision makers anyway.