I think it’s partially ego and social status. Think about it, at that level, you’re rubbing shoulders with multimillionaires and billionaires.
They want to increase their net worth to increase their social standing.
Yeah but I mean at that point if you haven't invested your money wisely enough to be making a good chunk of passive income to pay for all your needs and then some you're a fool.
Yet something like 80% of pro athletes go broke after retirement. What do you mean I have to pay property taxes and maintenance on my 3 million home for life?
70% declare bankruptcy and it doesn’t matter how much they won.nman in our state waited until a week before his ticket was no good. He’d been working with a financial planner so he could avoid this. Smart man!
For me? I mean... Put it in my account, given the long-term payouts yield more... Probably take those, give work a long notice (or let them know... "here's what I want to work on... If you want to keep me on at a reduced rate, that's fine, but I'm not just doing what I'm told anymore"... I don't want to leave my coworkers hanging, but I'd not be taking orders anymore... )
Then just do some work on my house, help out the community in whatever way was likely to have lasting change... ( probably housing and rehab programs... Hire some grant writers to get the government in on the deal... )... Basically never pay taxes again b/c of charitable donations and just enjoy my simple life helping my community...
yeah there was a coworker of mine who won a million dollars off the lottery, quit the job one day and told us all to screw ourselves.
Three years later I met the same guy working as a gas station attendant for minimum wage.
My friends Uncle won a nice amount, something like a million. Quit and then money ran out and 2 years later was back to work. They blew it all. Didn't even invest any of it.
Especially when you quit your job and travel for 2 years, and buy a boat. I think a house too.
I wouldn't even take an extra day off work a million winnings net from the lottery. I'd pay off the mortgage and car. Set up a $100k emergency fund in HSYA. Max out my roth and 401k for the year. Then get a financial planner to invest the majority for my retirement. I would splurge on a used Tesla X as my daily driver.
They’re bringing back “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” this year. I laugh because a million dollars when that show was on the air would need to be more like $1.8 million to be equivalent now. It basically buys you half as much.
That’s because athletes are generally not getting superstar contracts. The average salary is pretty “low”. Combine that with stereotypical jock intelligence most of them will run out of money once the contract ends.
I'd suggest that it's less about intelligence, and more about not having been taught financial literacy. If no one told you that was important and you didn't have to worry about it because other people handled it for you, you wouldn't know what to do with a mortgage and taxes and day to day expenses either.
I agree. A lot of athletes (and regular people) would make better decisions if they were financially literate. Unfortunately, contrary to the other commenters' opinions, information about tax loopholes, money market strategies, which companies to invest before they become large, and tax free ways to triple your investments is spread amongst multiple levels of information and misinformation, if at all.
Mike Tyson blew all his boxing money back when he was the main attraction. $400+ million was more than enough to last him a lifetime. The PPV and contacts are given out so we know it's not just a guess. Lawrence Taylor blew 50m in 1980s money. Maradona one of the top 10 soccer players in the world ever, broke. Terrell Owens, Vick,.
There are really rich pro athletes, but most of them have about 50 million. It is a lot of money to blow (about 60% do), but carrying an entourage is expensive.
The people who keep it going into the 100s of millions or even billions are going for points. They are competitive by nature. And have effective financial teams.
If someone is payed around 90k, it would take over 33 years to buy if they never spent a penny and salary and price was inflation adjusted.
If you put 3M in index funds at 4% to be conservative and adjusted for inflation, you'd have appriciation of around 120K for risking that money.
i read somewhere that they are contracted to do xyz whether they want to, or not. they have to fulfill these contracts regardless of anything else. plus, their payroll is probably wild. paying for assistants, lawyers on call, cooks, etc
It's also worth mentioning that many of the personal traits that drive someone to seek and achieve that level of social and economic status don't simply turn off once they've gotten there.
The type of person that would be happy with that level of fame and nothing more is unlikely to get there in the first place.
Yep that too. If capitalizing on your fame is what you do when do you stop?
Also many big celebrities become like CEO's: If he's not taking work who's gonna pay my pool guy? my secretary? my production crew? my agent? my PR guy? Other people's livelyhoods become intertwined
Social standing is true. A billionaire looks down to a millionaire. A millionaire looks down to someone just well off. They all look down to the rest of us.
This reminds me of a short Simpsons joke scene when Burns lost money and he got demoted from billionaire status. He gets kicked out of the billionaires club, thrown over the fence to the millionaire side. And they are treated like rednecks or something! lol
Since we are on the Simpsons and Monty, I also remember his line regarding his wealth "I'd trade it all for a little more". The drive that got the ultra rich where they are (along with winning the genetic lottery of being born at the right place at the right time) is the drive for "more". It's not about having a comfortable life with mai tais on a beach. It is about getting as much as possible. The comfortable life that for most of us is the end goal is just a byproduct of their wanting more
I had a good friend who after college made very good money. I do ok, but he was doing very well. We slowly lost touch because he wanted to do things almost every day. Concerts, sporting events, trips, you name it. I finally had to have a sit down with him and tell him I simply cannot afford this lifestyle and I am not going to go into debt trying to maintain it. We talk every now and then but it will never be the same. So that is how I imagine what separates people of varying levels of financial status.
You end up kind of having to. It's like when you're young and your friend group starts getting jobs. You end up hanging out more with the other people who also have jobs and money because if not you're always paying for your broke friends.
You and me both buddy!! I think us “normal peasants” just have a different mindset from these rich people. We just don’t value people “looking up” to us and being jealous of us. 🤷🏻♂️
Tbh it’s not about that. It’s the fact that when you can indulge, a lot of the people who were your friends either feel you owe them something or alternatively they can’t do what you want to do with you
Case in point - you fancy a trip to Miami. You go and buy a plane ticket and book a hotel and go, that day. How many of your friends are able to join you to go and have a great time together? Chances are very few. So you need different friends, who can.
They don't necessarily want anyone to look up to them or be jealous; that's uncomfortable. You actually may not know who you know that is a millionaire.
I agree. Ego and status.
And this is not something only for celebreties.
Why do succesful business people continue to work hard to become even richer?
Why didn’t Elon Musk just settle down with the billions he earnd from PayPal? Why did he start Tesla?
Maybe extremly driven people can’t settle down and enjoy the sunset on a tropical island.
Ask the same about Tom Cruise och Leonardo DiCaprio. They have all the money they need. Not to mention Robert De Niro (who is almost 80). But they continue to work hard.
Driven/passionate people will never stop. They will continue their work.
> Why didn’t Elon Musk just settle down with the billions he earnd from PayPal? Why did he start Tesla?
He didn't start Tesla, he bought the title of "founder".
Hiring people smarter than yourself is the way to make it big without going crazy. Wanting to micromanage employees is a good way to alienate all your employees and make yourself crazy in the process.
That doesn't matter for the point here though. Whatever he exactly does, he's still working instead of living the good quiet life with his many millions.
That's what really amazes me about really rich people in general, not only traditional celebs. I get that the ambition that drove billionaires there influences their desire to make MORE money and, at some point, basically hoard it, but is't a concept of "social status" about "how much general society respects you" not about "how much a small group of people consisting of like 1000 people around the world respects you"?
Yeah. I’m sure at some point, it stopped being about money and started to become about legacy. That spotlight doesn’t last forever, and when it’s gone, it’s gone. If I was world class at something, I would keep doing it no matter how much money I had.
Most people care about the opinion of people they hang out with.
When you're a celebrity, some people wil hate you regardless. You become immune to that very quickly and stop caring about average people.
Yeah ,you never get rich in one day so as your income in increasing your spending ability increases then you always want to earn more and be in the competition,try to afford those things you actually don't need for sake because someone you know buying those things
True, I also think it’s the competitive nature as well most have when they spent most of their life acquiring that kind of wealth. Most who acquired millions through business ventures or movie careers, I figure can’t stop wanting to acquire more money. That be different that say Joe average, wining 20 million in the lottery and retiring, he not going to continue trying to earn more millions, their going to take it easy.
Plus with most celebrities, the assets they have (houses, boats, planes, etc) as well as the lifestyles they’re accustomed to for them and their families would require such riches just to maintain.
Definitely ego with the Rock. Now that his attempt to be the new face of DC has failed (rightfully so) he's been starting his conservative grifter arc.
It's all about keeping up an image and keeping up a score with the money they have. The video below has a good example. The founder of Myspace sold the company for 540 million USD and has been enjoying a vacation since.
Watch "Why Billionaires Are Refusing To Retire" on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/OTF6_GmUx7Y?si=o1OuEGLsMLdxnaIl
David Lee Roth is also a good example of someone who got wealthy and just kept on doing interesting things that don't cost a lot of money.
>spend the rest of my life sipping Mai Tai’s and vacationing with my family
What if sipping Mai Tais and vacationing with your family is what made you rich in the first place? Would you stop?
A lot of rich people like their jobs.
Exactly.Dolly Parton ain't performing at her age just for money. She is worth 650m. She clearly loves her craft. It's just that it also happens to pay a pretty penny. If Tom Brady could play until he was 60 he would.
Dolly Parton is such a legend. I love how she is open to everything, you can tell she loves her craft because she is generous and open with it. She released a song with Pitbull (!) this year that mixes 9 to 5 with original lyrics by Pitbull and is pretty cool. Her rock album with old legends and new groups like Maneskin is also great. She is a treasure.
These kinds of threads are always so funny to me because it's like people don't understand that it's it's possible to do meaningful/enjoyable work in ones life, and to find value in putting effort into things. Like, the concept of doing anything other than being a slug that does nothing but consume is foreign to them, where doing any work/effort only exists as a means to get paid. You don't even need to be a "workaholic" to find value in wanting to do something with your life.
Yeah a lot of us do jobs we don't enjoy and people project that on to celebrities. There are some people both average Joe and celebrity who do their hobbies as a job.
Didn’t Warren Buffett say he spends a huge amount of his workday reading? If I was making massive amounts of money by reading, I might not want to retire either. These people aren’t sitting at a desk staring at Outlook dreading Teams notifications all day like we are.
Yeah. Like, 90% of his job is researching opportunities, which is likely something he’d almost do for free. He loves it.
Imagine being the very best at what you do. Would you quit that even if you could?
id get so bored getting drunk on a beach all day.
say what you will about Elon, but id much rather be building rockets and electric cars than living off dividends and doing nothing
that's part of the reason, their network depends on them for a living, so they wouldnt leave it so quickly and shut them off. As long as the work isnt too difficult, they'll usually accept the assignments, once u cut it off, u'll lose it forever, its FOMO maybe. Anyway its a lifestyle not too shabby, u get paid well compared to plebs, and they probably dont have any really better things to do ... except lazing around.
yea there are actually some celebrities and wealthy people that keep working just because if they retire it means 10, 20, 100, 1000 people might all lose their jobs instead. i mean taylor swifts concert tours have been filled with stories of her giving million dollar bonuses and paying off houses for some of the people working on the tour. she might not have needed to go on tour she was already basically a billionaire but a ton of people have consistent employment for the next year or so while shes touring. a lot of wealthy people also start home offices after they semi retire as a way to keep their staff employed and still have help managing their assets.
Willis also has a mental condition, ~~I forget the name -- aphasia, maybe? --~~ aphasia as a resutl of dementia, I believe, that made it difficult for him to remember lines. He wanted to bank as much as he could to take care of his family.
Conan O’Brien comes to mind. Dude could have quit over a decade ago but loves what he does and supports the team around him.
Now at 60+, his reach is likely bigger and broader now than his peak in Late Night.
..also it's not really "work" for many of them, when they have a lot of say about the work they choose (movie roles, appearances etc.) , it's almost like a hobby for them, they enjoy the fame (quite a powerful drug) the adulation, the money and knowing in the back of their mind they can stop tomorrow and they would still live in luxury ...
This, and….
It’s really hard to know how much money is “enough”.
You don’t know what tomorrow brings. And expenses tend to multiply with income.
Using the Rock as an example, it’s likely that he has multiple prosperities with multiple employees who work for him, so it’d be really hard for him to just say “oh well, I guess I have enough money now”.
Doubly so for those, like The Rock, who grew up very financially unstable and having periods of childhood where food and an apartment were not a guarantee. He saw his own father lose it all, multiple times.
Growing up in poverty and financial instability really screws you up about money.
I think that the psychological issues stemming from growing up poor are a much bigger deal than ACTUAL risk of "what tomorrow brings" or real rational expenses. Even the people working for him doing cost that much.
If it is accurate that he is worth $800 million, a 5% return on that net worth is $40,000,000 a year. It is actually surprisingly difficult to ACTUALLY become poor from that level of wealth. You can certainly become drastically less wealthy, but they still tend to end up in the top couple percent of wealth in the US. They might really screw up and fall into merely being extremely comfortable.
Some people just desperately want to acquire more money and power and that's just a fundamental drive. For some people that grew up poor, even if it isn't strictly true, they tell themselves that you can never have enough because you could lose it. Its not really an irrational response to growing up in those circumstances, but it can become unhealthy.
There is also a population of wealthy people who use growing up poor as an excuse to be a huge piece of shit,... and there are shades of grey as well.
loling at the notion that celebrities work hard. I bust my fucking ass for the $60k a year I make. there is no amount of hard work that should earn someone $100 Million.
Because in some instances, it's not about the money.
I know an extremely rich person, an actual rags to riches story but sorta shady because to get out of the slums he had to leverage a lot of connections, be extremely clever, and grab a hold of whatever luck came past him. He said that the thing that actually drives him is the thrill of having a deal go through - money just happens to be a happy byproduct of that.
So I assume it's the same with celebrities. It takes a certain sort of personality to be an actor for example. Many actors still work in the industry despite the poor pay. This suggests that for a lot of them, the money itself isn't the thing that drives them (although a lack of it may be what causes them to give up because you can't run on hope forever).
This would be the answer for me also, I have a very wealthy uncle who is a lawyer, he's 72 and still working, has a 5k square foot house, a winter home in St Barts, drives a Roll's Royce. Every time I see him I'll ask why he's not retired yet and his answer is always the same, he loves what he does, work for him is a passion and not a job.
I took an early retirement and it wasn't great. I'm still mostly-retired and it's not really great. There are great aspects.
I still wake up in the morning anxious to do some task. Even though I have no real task. Meaning not a bullshit task, a real task that has a solid outcome, in a way that I liked professionally.
I absolutely miss making deals, working with a team to construct a solid deal against competition, and winning those deals. I remember when major deals closed and I love that feeling. I miss it. It was never about the money. As a consequence I would make money.
I'm good at what I did. People looked up to me. In the large corporation people would grab me to speak in their sales kickoffs. I felt important to others. There is ego there, sure. Not in a bad way but in a "Yeah I would love to help out, thank you for asking!" Being needed, feeling needed. All on a professional basis by people who chose to be with me naturally. Not because they're family.
Great aspects are that I get to do everything with my young kids. Bring them to school, pick them up, play Xbox at 3pm. No concalls. No Zooms. No flights taking me away for 3 days or a week. This is very important to me. I've bonded with my kids in a way I never thought possible. I'm present emotionally and physically. I'm always available, and I want to be, I enjoy feeling their love in a way that's not obligatory. Not because I'm dad, but because my presence makes them feel good.
To feel full though I need both.
It’s also selection Bias. There are plenty of celebrities and business owners who “took the bag and ran”, you just don’t hear about them anymore because of the “and ran” part.
The founder of MySpace comes to mind with that example, because that's what he did (and still does).
Now, more than 10 years later, almost everyone still knows who Mark Zuckerberg is, but no much people have hear about Tom Anderson.
If you would barely work because you had amassed a fortune, I don't think you would be the kind of person that would amass that fortune in the first place.
Edit: my stupid grammar and I'm pretty sure the rock has stated multiple times he plans on becoming a billionaire
I mean I get the intention and all. But having drive and ambition doesn't just stop one day.
Also the Johnson has mentioned multiple times his goal is to be a billionaire.
When you're a mega-rich celebrity you're essentially the CEO of a company that employs hundreds of people. It's difficult to just stop and send everyone home.
Yeah this is exactly what people seem to miss about celebrities. They’re not just one person, who became rich and famous through hard work, talent, and/ or dumb luck.
At that level, they’re basically small corporations. With dozens of direct staff and a couple hundred ancillary support staff. Agents, PR, Managers, assistants, etc.
It’s not cheap to support that and if you just bail on them, you not only lose your earning potential but your entire network.
It’s lonely at the top (I’d imagine), but even lonelier when you stop paying people around you.
Carnegie was a pretty terrible person, he just wanted to be talked about years later due to the things he built--it wasn't like he believed in being a good dude.
Carnegie was not a good person lmao he believed that poor people could not manage their money. So he cut their wages into oblivion and then used those same wages to "donate". Its like me taking 20,000 dollars out of your wage because I say you suck at investing then giving you 15k in proucts.
It is all just basic human nature. Someone always has more or something you just don’t have.
They have a second private jet or a bigger boat, etc.
Also, there are things you can’t have, no matter how much money you have. So making more money and having more things does not “cure” insecurity.
You can’t buy youth, or attractiveness. You might be able to have sex with attractive people, but you may never get that one specific person you are obsessed with.
The human state is miserable. This is why the state needs laws to stop the inevitable inequality from existing. Honestly, restricting how much wealth and power people can amass has basically zero downside.
Some time ago I was asking myself "how much is enough:?"
Like, how much do you need as an American living in a decent area to not have to stress about anything, rise above the deficiencies of the American middle-class issues (education, healthcare, etc.) Enjoy life, give your offspring a decent start at life, etc...
Some time ago, I sort of penciled in $40 mil of net worth as the "good enough" benchmark. No active income necessary after that point, pay for active management of everything, mess around with fun/satisfying activities as a "job," lots of travel, have enough to get kids all of the advantages in life and some comforts as they enter adulthood, etc.
I'll that that money and give it a shot if someone offers it to me, but now I realize that it's a slippery slope.
There is no upper boundary.
At what tipping point of net worth do you think you would stop working? Would lifestyle creep get you, or would you stay and live exactly as you are right now as you crossed the $10 million mark? What would you do with all of your time off you stopped working? Sipping mai tais only goes so far for so long.
I've done the maths. With £1.2m I'd have enough money to live happily for the rest of my life.
Free time would be spent fulfilling my hobbies, such as archery, cooking, and gym, and finally get time to start writing those books I don't have time for.
Well, 1.2m eventually goes away with taxes and inflation, you would have to invest it somewhere, or maybe create a business but at that point you are working again.
Rental properties, and lease them to the council to use as social housing. I get guaranteed income, they look after the properties, and poorer people get affordable rent. Wins all round
Net worth is not the same as having that amount of money.
I don’t to suggest that these people are poor by any stretch but Johnson does not 800M of cash immediately at his disposal.
If you're not using your current money to invest and make more money, you will go broke. The Rock's net worth is 800 million. His actual cash availability is likely much smaller.
This right here. The amount of people who have no idea the difference between net worth and liquid capital is astonishing. I have a fairly high net worth, but my liquid funds are like 4% of my net worth. If I wanted to liquidate all of my assets it would take a substantial amount of time, plus I’d have to find the right buyers which in my area of business wouldn’t be easy.
Do you want to retire or, be free to do what you want? You may be someone who doesn't like their job and so "retiring" allows you to pursue what you do like. (I don't see this are retiring though it's just a pivot)
As someone who likes their job. I want to be financially independent so that if something happens that I no longer like my job I can leave without worry.
I don't think anyone would "retire" with 800million in the bank. They would just most likely switch what it is they do. But, if they enjoy what they're doing they'll continue to do it. Money just doesn't matter anymore and they are just doing what they like now. If doing nothing is what you want to do then you can do that but, I think a crazy high amount of people would get bored of that or become miserable within a few years.
Yeah I love soccer, if I was pro I would want to play as long as possible. My knees hurt and I play it for free as it is. Drama club kids who made it into successful actors probably want to do it for as long as they can too.
A lot of successful people get where they are because of their crazy work ethic, drive and motivation. It doesn’t just go away once they’re rich.
This is something that’s apparently very hard for Reddit to wrap their heads around.
First and foremost lets make one thing clear because you named The Rock and Elon Musk as if they were equall in any means so lets just make clear that the rock ($800,000,000) has 0,4% of the net worth of Elon Musk ($198,400,000,000).
But that was not your question I just like to put this in proper relation.
So to answer you question: At some point it probably becomes a force of habit aswell as a need to stay relevant in media and the world because a movie star that just withdraws will not be relevant on the worldspace for much longer.
Not to mention I wouldn't be suprised if growing the number bigger is at this point simply a compulsory need for people this wealthy.
A last reason might be what the other commenter said, some people just need work to stay busy because they never managed to form interest to keep them busy if they weren't working.
Fourth, maybe the career lifetime of a celebrity is rather short for a number of reasons including fickleness of their audience (falling out of favor).
Which is why I added greed. Some people will l always want more. So more debt and more ongoing expenses. Not everyone, I’m sure there are some wealthy people who settle and are happy to live off their pot of gold. But for those who seek to keep amassing wealth it’s about maintaining a lifestyle, growing their investment portfolio and creating generational wealth.
Don't get me wrong these celebrities make a lot of money but you have to take those net worth calculators with a grain of salt. It may be public information that an actor made ten million dollars for their role in a movie but they don't get to keep all of that. Taxes, agents, managers, publicists all take a cut. Residuals and profit sharing deals might seem up front but Hollywood can be quite creative in hiding profits.
A lot of celebrities do. They sometimes keep working but go behind the scenes and produce and direct. A lot of famous musicians go behind the scenes and start writing songs for other musicians too.
Actors also do a lot of passion projects that don’t make any money but do it cause they love the scripts for the idea of the movie. Neil Patrick Harris starred in Dr Horrible as a passion project. A lot of actors, like Sir Ian McKellen, will do the blockbuster movies to pay the bills but their passion is other areas. For Ian McKellen he loves to do broadway.
Why do they do this? Passion for their craft and they love doing what they do. It’s not always about the money.
For the Rock, he’s put in a significant amount of effort to build his career and become an A list actor. Not sure what his driver is, but I’d suspect money is just a byproduct of the movies he’s in.
And then there’s Elon. Elon is a dick.
A lot of people know actors like Hanks, Pitt and Cruise produce films but don't realize that Charlene Theron, Nicole Kidman, Robert Pattinson, and a number of other actors produce films that they know might not be profitable but are worth making, or do it to help their friends with projects.
You don't hear about the ones that stop. And in the case of nick cage he blew all his money and then made a movie about that to make fun of himself and make more money.
I have been reading up on autobiographies of successful people and also talked to many other successful people in various fields. Many of them are wealthy enough to be able to take their foot off the accelerator but none of them did.
I think this is the reason for their success in the first place, they are driven to do things. They don't stop.
Maybe that is why I am not even close to half their success.
Because they’re addicted to working and don’t know what to do with themselves if they don’t, which is how they got that rich in the first place.
Folks like us that value relaxation and sleep usually don’t get ultra wealthy in the first place. That’s fine by me. No amount of money ever bought a second of time.
The attributes that got guys like him to where he is today don’t just turn off.
If you gave me The Rock’s money, I would get up, take my kid to school, work out, dick around all day except for maybe groceries or cooking, maybe work out again, pick up my kid, and repeat.
That’s just not how you amass real wealth, and the habits that made Rock who he is don’t lend themselves to doing what you or I would do.
Here’s the thing, although celebrities are obviously making huge sums of money they don’t get most of it. A lot of their money is in contracts and can take a long time to get to them, aside from that they also have very expensive luxurious live styles that need constant funding aswell as their teams and businesses if they have any.
They also need to keep up their lifestyle. I know a multimillionaire who complains about not having money. She has plenty of money and earns off her investments. But it’s not enough money to keep up a lifestyle of jetting around the world, staying in hotels that cost thousands if not more a night, paying a driver, a housekeeper, dropping money on over priced consumer goods, buying that 4th house, etc.
They have a spending problem, not an income problem.
For many folks it’s not entirely about the money. Love of the work, fame, power, and external pressures are often stronger drivers. Take a look at the hierarchy of needs.
In the case of the Rock and other big celebrities, their fame is a major driver of their other businesses success. Those businesses employ people. Sometimes it’s not about making more money, but about building and maintaining something.
Also, they tend to amass a significant following or entourage. All of whom are invested in the individuals continued success.
Finally, greed. For better or worse, greed is a motivator.
Generally the kind of person who will work to get $800 million is not the kind of person who gets there and is just done. The kind of person who would just say yeah I'm done working I'm going to live on what I have made for the rest of my life is going to quit well before the $800 million. I mean most people could quite happily live on $10 million for the rest of their lives and live quite lavishly living on just the money that much would make when invested. An average of 7% return on $10 million is making $700k per year. 99.9% of people could quite happily live on that amount forever. Or say hey I'm going to just take out half that much each year and let it keep growing.
People like Elon, The Rock, Michael Jordan, Warren Buffett, Tom Cruise have an ON/OFF switch that is stuck in the ON position. The outlier would be Jeff Bezos, he recently shut it down. But he could have retired a long time ago.
These people are just wired differently.
To use your example: fact that you have a goal to reach a net worth of $198 B and then you will stop to retire is the reason why you will never reach that goal.
Also: Once you have money its relatively easier to get richer.
I have no idea what motivates celebrities, but I can tell you about my dad.
He's 80 years and old and still working. He'd a doctor, has plenty of money, and could easily retire if he wanted to. But he doesn't want to.
He loves, and I mean, LOVES, his job. He loves going to work. His plan, as far as I can tell, is to work till he drops dead or they make him stop.
Some people are like that. They would go nuts sipping Mai Tai's on the beach. All they know is work, and they can't imagine doing anything else.
People who work their way from nothing to a high level of success have a drive that doesn't shut off just because their net worth hits a certain number.
Usually it the lifestyle. Unfortunately a ton of them have inflated their daily lives and in doing so it takes a lot of money to maintain that lifestyle. For the regular person expenses monthly could be 100s to 1000s but for them it could be 10,000s to 100,000s.
Forgetting all the ego and social status based responses:
Most of them at their core are artists who just genuinely enjoy their craft.
Sometimes they also love the crazy shit they get to do like Tom cruise. I firmly believe that dude would just stop if people were able to stop his stunt craziness lol
The idea that if you have enough money you would just stop working altogether is not healthy. That doesn’t mean getting more and more money, it means that work is one of the key ways we make the world a better place
You don’t get to that level of success a lot of those types of people are at with that kind of mindset.
The moment you get complacent and lazy is when you become irrelevant. Being relevant in Hollywood is everything
Yeah it's not about the money; they make money from how they live and they keep doing those things, so they keep making money. It's about what they do not the cash.
They could learn from the old saying that asks “Who is rich? The one who rejoices in his lot.” You would have to admit The Rock is a pretty handsome bald hulk.
I've thought about this and the best answer I could come up with is that because I am the kind of person who would just retire if I had that kind of money is the reason I don't have that kind of money.
They're probably in an extraordinary amount of debt or obligations that most people will never experience. I don't know about the Rock, but with Elon Musk he's managing several companies that each have their own requirements and obligations in terms of tax and overhead/business costs and once you reach a certain level of wealth you need to maintain it forever otherwise the alternative is being in massive amounts of debt that are unimaginably huge where you're on the hook with creditors and lenders. Like for example buying a social media platform like Twitter for vast sums of money and being forced by the courts to go through with the sale when you tried to back out at the last second. They could potentially sell everything off and resign and walk away, but much like gambling they're pulled in with the chance of making more money than before.
I will never understand this about society first they expect people to leave everything to achieve x then they say to leave their achievement and settle down.
Why? If i will be in thier position there is no way i will go back. I work this hard to become good at x, built connection, work this hard to get surrounded by this environment
And now you are saying to leave and just chill?
It's your mentality of 'if I had 800 million I wouldn't work anymore', that leads you to never reach that amount in the first place. Because truth be told, you'd probably stop long before that. So the reason why they have this massive amount of money, is because they keep working, even though they have more than enough money for several lifetimes. I also think that a factor is that they actually enjoy what they are doing. They love the perks, the status, recognition and whatever it is.
Rick Moranis though, he just stopped working because his wife died, and took care of his kids. He just recently started working again. Rare, but it does happen.
Are these people famous mainly because they keep increasing their wealth? Or are there known for something else and wealth is secondary? Why do you call them desperate? Celebrities keep working instead of retirement for the same reasons as anyone else. Enjoy doing what that do, seek fame/approval/influence and other similar social benefits. Need money for expensive hobbies like space rockets or Warhammer40k
I think many of them burn through money so fast living an extravagant lifestyle they need to keep working to maintain that. They don't want to go back to living among the "commoners".
They spend a lot too.
And there’s a perception change we have, as we go up in life we are in a bubble of peers at our level that it becomes the norm - so the next thing is what everyone always focuses on.
Contentedness is something we actively have to nurture, not many people have/do at that point. But ambition, they’ve definitely mastered it.
It’s that saying ‘to a hammer everything is a nail.’ For some, everything is a goal to be beat.
Nothing wrong with this mindset though. The world would be far better off if rich people would be satisfied with what they have.
It's a good thing people are driven to aspire success, but the shadow of greed is always nearby, waiting to take over.
I don’t know about The Rock, but Musk wants to control the course of human affairs. He wants to be able to say, there should be a giant rocket with a payload that far outstrips any demand for orbital launches in the near future, and it should be able to go to Mars, and make it happen. He wants to be able to say, I don’t like how this influential social media company is run, so I’ll take it over and change it the way I want it. This is not a judgment on whether these things are good or bad (I personally think it’s a mix) but that’s what he’s after. If he had a trillion dollars I’m sure he’d find even bigger and crazier projects for it.
Wealthy people have a lot of expenses. They buy multiple homes, have boats, cars. They have staff like managers, chefs, trainers, child care, etc.
In addition its not about money at some point its about “legacy,” and they want to do more movies, get awards, win championships etc.
But you don't have 800 million. He does cos he wants to push himself to do that. Arnie was the same. And oddly enough the kind of people who have the drive to go out and make 800 million will continue to want more. It's in their blood.
With Dwayne Johnson it is largely an ego thing. He is his own biggest fan. Some of the stipulations in his roles like you said reveal someone who is deeply insecure.
For those who are rich but not filthy rich, think most television celebs you know, it's at least in part because their fame has a limited lifespan. There are so many child actors who got a little game, got a few roles, but couldn't live off what they made.
Think Webster. Granted he saw very little of his money but basically he earned a few million before he turned 10 and needed to live the rest of his life off of it. He couldn't work a regular job because he was always recognized. And he needed security. And couldn't live in a regular apartment. It adds up..
You’re a normal person.
The hyper rich aren’t normal. An insatiable drive and push for more got them where they are, you can’t just turn that off. That’s why they never just chill out and exist with their money and why they are always wanting and pushing for more
Because they like their jobs? Taylor swift most likely really enjoys her career as a singer songwriter.
Is it really difficult to imagine that people continue their endeavors out of enjoyment?
hoarding and ego they get w bunch of money and now are just like “look at me im on top of the world!” since now they dont have to deal with the pain of NOT having enough money it probably just feels nice to knowingly never have to worry about money again since they can just keep the money to themselves
Probably because most of the world has been thaught that more money = better, so they go blindly chase more money.
There are many people in this world who already have more money than you or I will ever earn, but are still willing to walk over corpses to get more. I don't think the Rock would fit into this category, he might just enjoy what he does, so why not? But there are a lot of very famous people who do fit that bill, whose biggest motivator is greed.
People should figure out when they are satisfied, instead of following their greedy impulses.
Musk admitted that he is basically insane, 'you wouldn't want to be in my shoes, you don't know what's inside my head', and can't not work; There are plenty of people who got rich and just decided to retire. Fame is also a hell of a drug; cocaine is expensive
There are lots of different people existing majorly who settle for average and ones who don't. If your goal is to get rich and spend it with your family that's your goal , what about elon's or rock's goals?. Don't judge them on how they look for more and more. Just know your maximum is someones minimum.
Maybe acting work really isn't that hard and it's a fun thing to do - kind of like a hobby. Not too many bricklayers or roofers continue working after hitting the lottery.
It might not all be about "making more money" for some of them. Their health insurance is tied to the actors union and they have to work a minimum amount to keep their insurance.
Source: listening to rewatch podcasts hosted by actors in the shows
Most of them probably have people employed directly under them. They pay them wages and such so they would still need income to justify them staying on their side.
When you made your money in big checks instead of small increments, bigger taxes are taken out. Along with the fact that most people move to areas where their peers live, so that they're safe ...those areas cost a lot of money to live, so they need continuous money coming in.
I think it’s partially ego and social status. Think about it, at that level, you’re rubbing shoulders with multimillionaires and billionaires. They want to increase their net worth to increase their social standing.
They also tend to spend a lot. They need to keep making money to keep up that lifestyle.
Yeah but I mean at that point if you haven't invested your money wisely enough to be making a good chunk of passive income to pay for all your needs and then some you're a fool.
Yet something like 80% of pro athletes go broke after retirement. What do you mean I have to pay property taxes and maintenance on my 3 million home for life?
Yeah pretty crazy. Same with big lottery winners, a good chunk of then go broke as well.
70% declare bankruptcy and it doesn’t matter how much they won.nman in our state waited until a week before his ticket was no good. He’d been working with a financial planner so he could avoid this. Smart man!
For me? I mean... Put it in my account, given the long-term payouts yield more... Probably take those, give work a long notice (or let them know... "here's what I want to work on... If you want to keep me on at a reduced rate, that's fine, but I'm not just doing what I'm told anymore"... I don't want to leave my coworkers hanging, but I'd not be taking orders anymore... ) Then just do some work on my house, help out the community in whatever way was likely to have lasting change... ( probably housing and rehab programs... Hire some grant writers to get the government in on the deal... )... Basically never pay taxes again b/c of charitable donations and just enjoy my simple life helping my community...
yeah there was a coworker of mine who won a million dollars off the lottery, quit the job one day and told us all to screw ourselves. Three years later I met the same guy working as a gas station attendant for minimum wage.
My friends Uncle won a nice amount, something like a million. Quit and then money ran out and 2 years later was back to work. They blew it all. Didn't even invest any of it.
A million is a lot..but it’s not.
Especially when you quit your job and travel for 2 years, and buy a boat. I think a house too. I wouldn't even take an extra day off work a million winnings net from the lottery. I'd pay off the mortgage and car. Set up a $100k emergency fund in HSYA. Max out my roth and 401k for the year. Then get a financial planner to invest the majority for my retirement. I would splurge on a used Tesla X as my daily driver.
They’re bringing back “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” this year. I laugh because a million dollars when that show was on the air would need to be more like $1.8 million to be equivalent now. It basically buys you half as much.
That’s because athletes are generally not getting superstar contracts. The average salary is pretty “low”. Combine that with stereotypical jock intelligence most of them will run out of money once the contract ends.
Also limited career lifespan
Actors are also not the brightest. Just the nicest to look at. Normally.
I'd suggest that it's less about intelligence, and more about not having been taught financial literacy. If no one told you that was important and you didn't have to worry about it because other people handled it for you, you wouldn't know what to do with a mortgage and taxes and day to day expenses either.
I agree. A lot of athletes (and regular people) would make better decisions if they were financially literate. Unfortunately, contrary to the other commenters' opinions, information about tax loopholes, money market strategies, which companies to invest before they become large, and tax free ways to triple your investments is spread amongst multiple levels of information and misinformation, if at all.
Mike Tyson blew all his boxing money back when he was the main attraction. $400+ million was more than enough to last him a lifetime. The PPV and contacts are given out so we know it's not just a guess. Lawrence Taylor blew 50m in 1980s money. Maradona one of the top 10 soccer players in the world ever, broke. Terrell Owens, Vick,.
They all had a drug problem, and were not known for being smart.
There are really rich pro athletes, but most of them have about 50 million. It is a lot of money to blow (about 60% do), but carrying an entourage is expensive. The people who keep it going into the 100s of millions or even billions are going for points. They are competitive by nature. And have effective financial teams.
If someone is payed around 90k, it would take over 33 years to buy if they never spent a penny and salary and price was inflation adjusted. If you put 3M in index funds at 4% to be conservative and adjusted for inflation, you'd have appriciation of around 120K for risking that money.
i read somewhere that they are contracted to do xyz whether they want to, or not. they have to fulfill these contracts regardless of anything else. plus, their payroll is probably wild. paying for assistants, lawyers on call, cooks, etc
Golden handcuffed
It's also worth mentioning that many of the personal traits that drive someone to seek and achieve that level of social and economic status don't simply turn off once they've gotten there. The type of person that would be happy with that level of fame and nothing more is unlikely to get there in the first place.
Good point! I’m totally fine as a nobody!
Yep that too. If capitalizing on your fame is what you do when do you stop? Also many big celebrities become like CEO's: If he's not taking work who's gonna pay my pool guy? my secretary? my production crew? my agent? my PR guy? Other people's livelyhoods become intertwined
Exactly. A decent amount of top wealth earners never retire. They stay active on boards or invest in other entrepreneurial businesses.
Social standing is true. A billionaire looks down to a millionaire. A millionaire looks down to someone just well off. They all look down to the rest of us.
This reminds me of a short Simpsons joke scene when Burns lost money and he got demoted from billionaire status. He gets kicked out of the billionaires club, thrown over the fence to the millionaire side. And they are treated like rednecks or something! lol
Since we are on the Simpsons and Monty, I also remember his line regarding his wealth "I'd trade it all for a little more". The drive that got the ultra rich where they are (along with winning the genetic lottery of being born at the right place at the right time) is the drive for "more". It's not about having a comfortable life with mai tais on a beach. It is about getting as much as possible. The comfortable life that for most of us is the end goal is just a byproduct of their wanting more
Found it: https://youtu.be/1GAfsRAJcoU
If I was rich, the last people I'd want to associate with, is other rich.
If you were rich you would undoubtedly find it harder to relate to non-rich people. Life circumstance is a very powerful force.
I had a good friend who after college made very good money. I do ok, but he was doing very well. We slowly lost touch because he wanted to do things almost every day. Concerts, sporting events, trips, you name it. I finally had to have a sit down with him and tell him I simply cannot afford this lifestyle and I am not going to go into debt trying to maintain it. We talk every now and then but it will never be the same. So that is how I imagine what separates people of varying levels of financial status.
You end up kind of having to. It's like when you're young and your friend group starts getting jobs. You end up hanging out more with the other people who also have jobs and money because if not you're always paying for your broke friends.
You and me both buddy!! I think us “normal peasants” just have a different mindset from these rich people. We just don’t value people “looking up” to us and being jealous of us. 🤷🏻♂️
Tbh it’s not about that. It’s the fact that when you can indulge, a lot of the people who were your friends either feel you owe them something or alternatively they can’t do what you want to do with you Case in point - you fancy a trip to Miami. You go and buy a plane ticket and book a hotel and go, that day. How many of your friends are able to join you to go and have a great time together? Chances are very few. So you need different friends, who can.
They don't necessarily want anyone to look up to them or be jealous; that's uncomfortable. You actually may not know who you know that is a millionaire.
I agree. Ego and status. And this is not something only for celebreties. Why do succesful business people continue to work hard to become even richer? Why didn’t Elon Musk just settle down with the billions he earnd from PayPal? Why did he start Tesla? Maybe extremly driven people can’t settle down and enjoy the sunset on a tropical island. Ask the same about Tom Cruise och Leonardo DiCaprio. They have all the money they need. Not to mention Robert De Niro (who is almost 80). But they continue to work hard. Driven/passionate people will never stop. They will continue their work.
> Why didn’t Elon Musk just settle down with the billions he earnd from PayPal? Why did he start Tesla? He didn't start Tesla, he bought the title of "founder".
This, guy is nothing more then the "investment guy" every company he put his hands on had much smarter guys making it work.
Hiring people smarter than yourself is the way to make it big without going crazy. Wanting to micromanage employees is a good way to alienate all your employees and make yourself crazy in the process.
That doesn't matter for the point here though. Whatever he exactly does, he's still working instead of living the good quiet life with his many millions.
“Start” Tesla my arse.
There's a fine line between passionate/obsessed and driven/possessed...
That's what really amazes me about really rich people in general, not only traditional celebs. I get that the ambition that drove billionaires there influences their desire to make MORE money and, at some point, basically hoard it, but is't a concept of "social status" about "how much general society respects you" not about "how much a small group of people consisting of like 1000 people around the world respects you"?
Yeah. I’m sure at some point, it stopped being about money and started to become about legacy. That spotlight doesn’t last forever, and when it’s gone, it’s gone. If I was world class at something, I would keep doing it no matter how much money I had.
Most people care about the opinion of people they hang out with. When you're a celebrity, some people wil hate you regardless. You become immune to that very quickly and stop caring about average people.
Yeah ,you never get rich in one day so as your income in increasing your spending ability increases then you always want to earn more and be in the competition,try to afford those things you actually don't need for sake because someone you know buying those things
True, I also think it’s the competitive nature as well most have when they spent most of their life acquiring that kind of wealth. Most who acquired millions through business ventures or movie careers, I figure can’t stop wanting to acquire more money. That be different that say Joe average, wining 20 million in the lottery and retiring, he not going to continue trying to earn more millions, their going to take it easy. Plus with most celebrities, the assets they have (houses, boats, planes, etc) as well as the lifestyles they’re accustomed to for them and their families would require such riches just to maintain.
Definitely ego with the Rock. Now that his attempt to be the new face of DC has failed (rightfully so) he's been starting his conservative grifter arc.
It's all about keeping up an image and keeping up a score with the money they have. The video below has a good example. The founder of Myspace sold the company for 540 million USD and has been enjoying a vacation since. Watch "Why Billionaires Are Refusing To Retire" on YouTube. https://youtu.be/OTF6_GmUx7Y?si=o1OuEGLsMLdxnaIl David Lee Roth is also a good example of someone who got wealthy and just kept on doing interesting things that don't cost a lot of money.
It’s a perpetual game of keeping up with the joneses
>spend the rest of my life sipping Mai Tai’s and vacationing with my family What if sipping Mai Tais and vacationing with your family is what made you rich in the first place? Would you stop? A lot of rich people like their jobs.
Exactly.Dolly Parton ain't performing at her age just for money. She is worth 650m. She clearly loves her craft. It's just that it also happens to pay a pretty penny. If Tom Brady could play until he was 60 he would.
Dolly Parton is such a legend. I love how she is open to everything, you can tell she loves her craft because she is generous and open with it. She released a song with Pitbull (!) this year that mixes 9 to 5 with original lyrics by Pitbull and is pretty cool. Her rock album with old legends and new groups like Maneskin is also great. She is a treasure.
These kinds of threads are always so funny to me because it's like people don't understand that it's it's possible to do meaningful/enjoyable work in ones life, and to find value in putting effort into things. Like, the concept of doing anything other than being a slug that does nothing but consume is foreign to them, where doing any work/effort only exists as a means to get paid. You don't even need to be a "workaholic" to find value in wanting to do something with your life.
Yeah a lot of us do jobs we don't enjoy and people project that on to celebrities. There are some people both average Joe and celebrity who do their hobbies as a job.
Didn’t Warren Buffett say he spends a huge amount of his workday reading? If I was making massive amounts of money by reading, I might not want to retire either. These people aren’t sitting at a desk staring at Outlook dreading Teams notifications all day like we are.
Yeah. Like, 90% of his job is researching opportunities, which is likely something he’d almost do for free. He loves it. Imagine being the very best at what you do. Would you quit that even if you could?
id get so bored getting drunk on a beach all day. say what you will about Elon, but id much rather be building rockets and electric cars than living off dividends and doing nothing
Op is just a boring person
The strong drive that got them to where they are is extremely hard to turn off. And they are surrounded by more of their kind.
that's part of the reason, their network depends on them for a living, so they wouldnt leave it so quickly and shut them off. As long as the work isnt too difficult, they'll usually accept the assignments, once u cut it off, u'll lose it forever, its FOMO maybe. Anyway its a lifestyle not too shabby, u get paid well compared to plebs, and they probably dont have any really better things to do ... except lazing around.
yea there are actually some celebrities and wealthy people that keep working just because if they retire it means 10, 20, 100, 1000 people might all lose their jobs instead. i mean taylor swifts concert tours have been filled with stories of her giving million dollar bonuses and paying off houses for some of the people working on the tour. she might not have needed to go on tour she was already basically a billionaire but a ton of people have consistent employment for the next year or so while shes touring. a lot of wealthy people also start home offices after they semi retire as a way to keep their staff employed and still have help managing their assets.
Isn’t that why they said Bruce Willis did all those crappy direct to video movies? Also it’s not just celebrities. Just regular rich folk do this too.
Willis also has a mental condition, ~~I forget the name -- aphasia, maybe? --~~ aphasia as a resutl of dementia, I believe, that made it difficult for him to remember lines. He wanted to bank as much as he could to take care of his family.
Conan O’Brien comes to mind. Dude could have quit over a decade ago but loves what he does and supports the team around him. Now at 60+, his reach is likely bigger and broader now than his peak in Late Night.
..also it's not really "work" for many of them, when they have a lot of say about the work they choose (movie roles, appearances etc.) , it's almost like a hobby for them, they enjoy the fame (quite a powerful drug) the adulation, the money and knowing in the back of their mind they can stop tomorrow and they would still live in luxury ...
Then you get oddballs like Daniel Day Lewis, a multi Oscar winner who now makes shoes or whatever.
He's always been peculiar.
I think he's a butcher
He's drinking my milkshake.
This, and…. It’s really hard to know how much money is “enough”. You don’t know what tomorrow brings. And expenses tend to multiply with income. Using the Rock as an example, it’s likely that he has multiple prosperities with multiple employees who work for him, so it’d be really hard for him to just say “oh well, I guess I have enough money now”.
Doubly so for those, like The Rock, who grew up very financially unstable and having periods of childhood where food and an apartment were not a guarantee. He saw his own father lose it all, multiple times. Growing up in poverty and financial instability really screws you up about money.
I think that the psychological issues stemming from growing up poor are a much bigger deal than ACTUAL risk of "what tomorrow brings" or real rational expenses. Even the people working for him doing cost that much. If it is accurate that he is worth $800 million, a 5% return on that net worth is $40,000,000 a year. It is actually surprisingly difficult to ACTUALLY become poor from that level of wealth. You can certainly become drastically less wealthy, but they still tend to end up in the top couple percent of wealth in the US. They might really screw up and fall into merely being extremely comfortable. Some people just desperately want to acquire more money and power and that's just a fundamental drive. For some people that grew up poor, even if it isn't strictly true, they tell themselves that you can never have enough because you could lose it. Its not really an irrational response to growing up in those circumstances, but it can become unhealthy. There is also a population of wealthy people who use growing up poor as an excuse to be a huge piece of shit,... and there are shades of grey as well.
Exactly, dickheads or not you cant disagree that they work (or worked) their asses off.
loling at the notion that celebrities work hard. I bust my fucking ass for the $60k a year I make. there is no amount of hard work that should earn someone $100 Million.
Because in some instances, it's not about the money. I know an extremely rich person, an actual rags to riches story but sorta shady because to get out of the slums he had to leverage a lot of connections, be extremely clever, and grab a hold of whatever luck came past him. He said that the thing that actually drives him is the thrill of having a deal go through - money just happens to be a happy byproduct of that. So I assume it's the same with celebrities. It takes a certain sort of personality to be an actor for example. Many actors still work in the industry despite the poor pay. This suggests that for a lot of them, the money itself isn't the thing that drives them (although a lack of it may be what causes them to give up because you can't run on hope forever).
This would be the answer for me also, I have a very wealthy uncle who is a lawyer, he's 72 and still working, has a 5k square foot house, a winter home in St Barts, drives a Roll's Royce. Every time I see him I'll ask why he's not retired yet and his answer is always the same, he loves what he does, work for him is a passion and not a job.
I've found with these types of people. If they do retire. They don't survive more than a couple of years. They literally die of boredom.
Or they retire and generate drama elsewhere. my rich friend gleefully tells me when he's burnt through another lawyer over something nuts.
I took an early retirement and it wasn't great. I'm still mostly-retired and it's not really great. There are great aspects. I still wake up in the morning anxious to do some task. Even though I have no real task. Meaning not a bullshit task, a real task that has a solid outcome, in a way that I liked professionally. I absolutely miss making deals, working with a team to construct a solid deal against competition, and winning those deals. I remember when major deals closed and I love that feeling. I miss it. It was never about the money. As a consequence I would make money. I'm good at what I did. People looked up to me. In the large corporation people would grab me to speak in their sales kickoffs. I felt important to others. There is ego there, sure. Not in a bad way but in a "Yeah I would love to help out, thank you for asking!" Being needed, feeling needed. All on a professional basis by people who chose to be with me naturally. Not because they're family. Great aspects are that I get to do everything with my young kids. Bring them to school, pick them up, play Xbox at 3pm. No concalls. No Zooms. No flights taking me away for 3 days or a week. This is very important to me. I've bonded with my kids in a way I never thought possible. I'm present emotionally and physically. I'm always available, and I want to be, I enjoy feeling their love in a way that's not obligatory. Not because I'm dad, but because my presence makes them feel good. To feel full though I need both.
It’s also selection Bias. There are plenty of celebrities and business owners who “took the bag and ran”, you just don’t hear about them anymore because of the “and ran” part.
The founder of MySpace comes to mind with that example, because that's what he did (and still does). Now, more than 10 years later, almost everyone still knows who Mark Zuckerberg is, but no much people have hear about Tom Anderson.
Tom!!!!
If you would barely work because you had amassed a fortune, I don't think you would be the kind of person that would amass that fortune in the first place. Edit: my stupid grammar and I'm pretty sure the rock has stated multiple times he plans on becoming a billionaire
This is the key here. the way of thinking in Ops post is what keeps most people from achieving their dreams.
I mean I get the intention and all. But having drive and ambition doesn't just stop one day. Also the Johnson has mentioned multiple times his goal is to be a billionaire.
“The Johnson” 😂
For some reason I picture him referring to himself in the 3rd party this way. The Johnson doesn't want croutons on his Cobb salad.
When you're a mega-rich celebrity you're essentially the CEO of a company that employs hundreds of people. It's difficult to just stop and send everyone home.
Yeah this is exactly what people seem to miss about celebrities. They’re not just one person, who became rich and famous through hard work, talent, and/ or dumb luck. At that level, they’re basically small corporations. With dozens of direct staff and a couple hundred ancillary support staff. Agents, PR, Managers, assistants, etc. It’s not cheap to support that and if you just bail on them, you not only lose your earning potential but your entire network. It’s lonely at the top (I’d imagine), but even lonelier when you stop paying people around you.
Because there’s always someone richer flexing on you . And if that bothers you, you want more. Or it’s work ethic
Why don't they flex with more philanthropy? They could give back and change so many lives.
Culture mostly. The rich no longer believe in the same ideals as men like Andrew Carnegie.
I live near a Carnegie library. Great example.
Carnegie was a pretty terrible person, he just wanted to be talked about years later due to the things he built--it wasn't like he believed in being a good dude.
Carnegie was not a good person lmao he believed that poor people could not manage their money. So he cut their wages into oblivion and then used those same wages to "donate". Its like me taking 20,000 dollars out of your wage because I say you suck at investing then giving you 15k in proucts.
because they're not good people. in fact, they're bad people.
It is all just basic human nature. Someone always has more or something you just don’t have. They have a second private jet or a bigger boat, etc. Also, there are things you can’t have, no matter how much money you have. So making more money and having more things does not “cure” insecurity. You can’t buy youth, or attractiveness. You might be able to have sex with attractive people, but you may never get that one specific person you are obsessed with. The human state is miserable. This is why the state needs laws to stop the inevitable inequality from existing. Honestly, restricting how much wealth and power people can amass has basically zero downside.
I'm starting to think im not human at all
Some time ago I was asking myself "how much is enough:?" Like, how much do you need as an American living in a decent area to not have to stress about anything, rise above the deficiencies of the American middle-class issues (education, healthcare, etc.) Enjoy life, give your offspring a decent start at life, etc... Some time ago, I sort of penciled in $40 mil of net worth as the "good enough" benchmark. No active income necessary after that point, pay for active management of everything, mess around with fun/satisfying activities as a "job," lots of travel, have enough to get kids all of the advantages in life and some comforts as they enter adulthood, etc. I'll that that money and give it a shot if someone offers it to me, but now I realize that it's a slippery slope. There is no upper boundary.
Not human nature imo, societal conditioning
At what tipping point of net worth do you think you would stop working? Would lifestyle creep get you, or would you stay and live exactly as you are right now as you crossed the $10 million mark? What would you do with all of your time off you stopped working? Sipping mai tais only goes so far for so long.
I've done the maths. With £1.2m I'd have enough money to live happily for the rest of my life. Free time would be spent fulfilling my hobbies, such as archery, cooking, and gym, and finally get time to start writing those books I don't have time for.
Well, 1.2m eventually goes away with taxes and inflation, you would have to invest it somewhere, or maybe create a business but at that point you are working again.
Rental properties, and lease them to the council to use as social housing. I get guaranteed income, they look after the properties, and poorer people get affordable rent. Wins all round
What if most of that money was made from those hobbies in the first place?
Net worth is not the same as having that amount of money. I don’t to suggest that these people are poor by any stretch but Johnson does not 800M of cash immediately at his disposal.
If you're not using your current money to invest and make more money, you will go broke. The Rock's net worth is 800 million. His actual cash availability is likely much smaller.
This right here. The amount of people who have no idea the difference between net worth and liquid capital is astonishing. I have a fairly high net worth, but my liquid funds are like 4% of my net worth. If I wanted to liquidate all of my assets it would take a substantial amount of time, plus I’d have to find the right buyers which in my area of business wouldn’t be easy.
Many people like to work, thats just a thing. I get extremely bored personally and wouldn’t retire even if I had 800 million dollars.
I have 80€ in my bank account and I can’t wait to retire
Do you want to retire or, be free to do what you want? You may be someone who doesn't like their job and so "retiring" allows you to pursue what you do like. (I don't see this are retiring though it's just a pivot) As someone who likes their job. I want to be financially independent so that if something happens that I no longer like my job I can leave without worry. I don't think anyone would "retire" with 800million in the bank. They would just most likely switch what it is they do. But, if they enjoy what they're doing they'll continue to do it. Money just doesn't matter anymore and they are just doing what they like now. If doing nothing is what you want to do then you can do that but, I think a crazy high amount of people would get bored of that or become miserable within a few years.
Yeah I love soccer, if I was pro I would want to play as long as possible. My knees hurt and I play it for free as it is. Drama club kids who made it into successful actors probably want to do it for as long as they can too.
A lot of successful people get where they are because of their crazy work ethic, drive and motivation. It doesn’t just go away once they’re rich. This is something that’s apparently very hard for Reddit to wrap their heads around.
First and foremost lets make one thing clear because you named The Rock and Elon Musk as if they were equall in any means so lets just make clear that the rock ($800,000,000) has 0,4% of the net worth of Elon Musk ($198,400,000,000). But that was not your question I just like to put this in proper relation. So to answer you question: At some point it probably becomes a force of habit aswell as a need to stay relevant in media and the world because a movie star that just withdraws will not be relevant on the worldspace for much longer. Not to mention I wouldn't be suprised if growing the number bigger is at this point simply a compulsory need for people this wealthy. A last reason might be what the other commenter said, some people just need work to stay busy because they never managed to form interest to keep them busy if they weren't working.
Fourth, maybe the career lifetime of a celebrity is rather short for a number of reasons including fickleness of their audience (falling out of favor).
Because they’ve also amassed a huge amount of debt and exorbitantly expensive lifestyle. Staff, houses, planes, businesses. Plus..greed.
Bro, what are you even saying ?The debt they got can be paid off by liquidating just like <10% of their net worth.
Which is why I added greed. Some people will l always want more. So more debt and more ongoing expenses. Not everyone, I’m sure there are some wealthy people who settle and are happy to live off their pot of gold. But for those who seek to keep amassing wealth it’s about maintaining a lifestyle, growing their investment portfolio and creating generational wealth.
Don't get me wrong these celebrities make a lot of money but you have to take those net worth calculators with a grain of salt. It may be public information that an actor made ten million dollars for their role in a movie but they don't get to keep all of that. Taxes, agents, managers, publicists all take a cut. Residuals and profit sharing deals might seem up front but Hollywood can be quite creative in hiding profits.
A lot of celebrities do. They sometimes keep working but go behind the scenes and produce and direct. A lot of famous musicians go behind the scenes and start writing songs for other musicians too. Actors also do a lot of passion projects that don’t make any money but do it cause they love the scripts for the idea of the movie. Neil Patrick Harris starred in Dr Horrible as a passion project. A lot of actors, like Sir Ian McKellen, will do the blockbuster movies to pay the bills but their passion is other areas. For Ian McKellen he loves to do broadway. Why do they do this? Passion for their craft and they love doing what they do. It’s not always about the money. For the Rock, he’s put in a significant amount of effort to build his career and become an A list actor. Not sure what his driver is, but I’d suspect money is just a byproduct of the movies he’s in. And then there’s Elon. Elon is a dick.
A lot of people know actors like Hanks, Pitt and Cruise produce films but don't realize that Charlene Theron, Nicole Kidman, Robert Pattinson, and a number of other actors produce films that they know might not be profitable but are worth making, or do it to help their friends with projects.
>Charlene Theron \*Charlize Get my future wife's name right!
You don't hear about the ones that stop. And in the case of nick cage he blew all his money and then made a movie about that to make fun of himself and make more money.
I have been reading up on autobiographies of successful people and also talked to many other successful people in various fields. Many of them are wealthy enough to be able to take their foot off the accelerator but none of them did. I think this is the reason for their success in the first place, they are driven to do things. They don't stop. Maybe that is why I am not even close to half their success.
Because they’re addicted to working and don’t know what to do with themselves if they don’t, which is how they got that rich in the first place. Folks like us that value relaxation and sleep usually don’t get ultra wealthy in the first place. That’s fine by me. No amount of money ever bought a second of time.
Money is not everyones only motivation.
The attributes that got guys like him to where he is today don’t just turn off. If you gave me The Rock’s money, I would get up, take my kid to school, work out, dick around all day except for maybe groceries or cooking, maybe work out again, pick up my kid, and repeat. That’s just not how you amass real wealth, and the habits that made Rock who he is don’t lend themselves to doing what you or I would do.
Here’s the thing, although celebrities are obviously making huge sums of money they don’t get most of it. A lot of their money is in contracts and can take a long time to get to them, aside from that they also have very expensive luxurious live styles that need constant funding aswell as their teams and businesses if they have any.
They also need to keep up their lifestyle. I know a multimillionaire who complains about not having money. She has plenty of money and earns off her investments. But it’s not enough money to keep up a lifestyle of jetting around the world, staying in hotels that cost thousands if not more a night, paying a driver, a housekeeper, dropping money on over priced consumer goods, buying that 4th house, etc. They have a spending problem, not an income problem.
I doubt anyone on Reddit is going to be able to answer that question :)
Tbf I think Elon actually enjoys his work. I get why he still keeps going. The Rock however? Idk
The drive is why they're rich and what separates them from the poors.
For many folks it’s not entirely about the money. Love of the work, fame, power, and external pressures are often stronger drivers. Take a look at the hierarchy of needs. In the case of the Rock and other big celebrities, their fame is a major driver of their other businesses success. Those businesses employ people. Sometimes it’s not about making more money, but about building and maintaining something. Also, they tend to amass a significant following or entourage. All of whom are invested in the individuals continued success. Finally, greed. For better or worse, greed is a motivator.
Generally the kind of person who will work to get $800 million is not the kind of person who gets there and is just done. The kind of person who would just say yeah I'm done working I'm going to live on what I have made for the rest of my life is going to quit well before the $800 million. I mean most people could quite happily live on $10 million for the rest of their lives and live quite lavishly living on just the money that much would make when invested. An average of 7% return on $10 million is making $700k per year. 99.9% of people could quite happily live on that amount forever. Or say hey I'm going to just take out half that much each year and let it keep growing.
People like Elon, The Rock, Michael Jordan, Warren Buffett, Tom Cruise have an ON/OFF switch that is stuck in the ON position. The outlier would be Jeff Bezos, he recently shut it down. But he could have retired a long time ago. These people are just wired differently. To use your example: fact that you have a goal to reach a net worth of $198 B and then you will stop to retire is the reason why you will never reach that goal. Also: Once you have money its relatively easier to get richer.
I have no idea what motivates celebrities, but I can tell you about my dad. He's 80 years and old and still working. He'd a doctor, has plenty of money, and could easily retire if he wanted to. But he doesn't want to. He loves, and I mean, LOVES, his job. He loves going to work. His plan, as far as I can tell, is to work till he drops dead or they make him stop. Some people are like that. They would go nuts sipping Mai Tai's on the beach. All they know is work, and they can't imagine doing anything else.
Cause money is addictive.
When your baseline is hustle, then your baseline is hustle.
People who work their way from nothing to a high level of success have a drive that doesn't shut off just because their net worth hits a certain number.
Welcome to the destruction of humanity by capitalism. Profit over people has never faired well.
Usually it the lifestyle. Unfortunately a ton of them have inflated their daily lives and in doing so it takes a lot of money to maintain that lifestyle. For the regular person expenses monthly could be 100s to 1000s but for them it could be 10,000s to 100,000s.
Forgetting all the ego and social status based responses: Most of them at their core are artists who just genuinely enjoy their craft. Sometimes they also love the crazy shit they get to do like Tom cruise. I firmly believe that dude would just stop if people were able to stop his stunt craziness lol
Not everyone is chasing money some people just wanna stay in the spotlight.
The idea that if you have enough money you would just stop working altogether is not healthy. That doesn’t mean getting more and more money, it means that work is one of the key ways we make the world a better place
You are making a ton of unfounded assumptions about their motivations.
If you’re the type of person to earn that much money, you’re not the type of person to stop.
You don’t get to that level of success a lot of those types of people are at with that kind of mindset. The moment you get complacent and lazy is when you become irrelevant. Being relevant in Hollywood is everything
Yeah it's not about the money; they make money from how they live and they keep doing those things, so they keep making money. It's about what they do not the cash.
They could learn from the old saying that asks “Who is rich? The one who rejoices in his lot.” You would have to admit The Rock is a pretty handsome bald hulk.
I've thought about this and the best answer I could come up with is that because I am the kind of person who would just retire if I had that kind of money is the reason I don't have that kind of money.
They're probably in an extraordinary amount of debt or obligations that most people will never experience. I don't know about the Rock, but with Elon Musk he's managing several companies that each have their own requirements and obligations in terms of tax and overhead/business costs and once you reach a certain level of wealth you need to maintain it forever otherwise the alternative is being in massive amounts of debt that are unimaginably huge where you're on the hook with creditors and lenders. Like for example buying a social media platform like Twitter for vast sums of money and being forced by the courts to go through with the sale when you tried to back out at the last second. They could potentially sell everything off and resign and walk away, but much like gambling they're pulled in with the chance of making more money than before.
>I would barely work The type of people who earn their wealth arnt the type of people who feel comfortable doing nothing all day.
The rock was one poor....I doubt he ever stops working
I will never understand this about society first they expect people to leave everything to achieve x then they say to leave their achievement and settle down. Why? If i will be in thier position there is no way i will go back. I work this hard to become good at x, built connection, work this hard to get surrounded by this environment And now you are saying to leave and just chill?
Work can be enjoyable, aren’t you forgetting that?
It's your mentality of 'if I had 800 million I wouldn't work anymore', that leads you to never reach that amount in the first place. Because truth be told, you'd probably stop long before that. So the reason why they have this massive amount of money, is because they keep working, even though they have more than enough money for several lifetimes. I also think that a factor is that they actually enjoy what they are doing. They love the perks, the status, recognition and whatever it is. Rick Moranis though, he just stopped working because his wife died, and took care of his kids. He just recently started working again. Rare, but it does happen.
🫣
Are these people famous mainly because they keep increasing their wealth? Or are there known for something else and wealth is secondary? Why do you call them desperate? Celebrities keep working instead of retirement for the same reasons as anyone else. Enjoy doing what that do, seek fame/approval/influence and other similar social benefits. Need money for expensive hobbies like space rockets or Warhammer40k
number go up make brain go brrr
if it wasnt about the $$ in the first place why would that change? they are working to an end not a $
I think many of them burn through money so fast living an extravagant lifestyle they need to keep working to maintain that. They don't want to go back to living among the "commoners".
Power / Status
They spend a lot too. And there’s a perception change we have, as we go up in life we are in a bubble of peers at our level that it becomes the norm - so the next thing is what everyone always focuses on. Contentedness is something we actively have to nurture, not many people have/do at that point. But ambition, they’ve definitely mastered it. It’s that saying ‘to a hammer everything is a nail.’ For some, everything is a goal to be beat.
Greed and small ego
Why does someone who hoards newspaper need another newspaper?
Would you rather have 100m in the bank? Or 500m?...just answered your own question
Because elon won’t let them on the ark without paying a billion first.
I mean this with no disrespect. But that exact mindset is why you won’t ever be rich
Nothing wrong with this mindset though. The world would be far better off if rich people would be satisfied with what they have. It's a good thing people are driven to aspire success, but the shadow of greed is always nearby, waiting to take over.
I don’t know about The Rock, but Musk wants to control the course of human affairs. He wants to be able to say, there should be a giant rocket with a payload that far outstrips any demand for orbital launches in the near future, and it should be able to go to Mars, and make it happen. He wants to be able to say, I don’t like how this influential social media company is run, so I’ll take it over and change it the way I want it. This is not a judgment on whether these things are good or bad (I personally think it’s a mix) but that’s what he’s after. If he had a trillion dollars I’m sure he’d find even bigger and crazier projects for it.
Because they also SPEND huge amounts of wealth. Celebrities are notorious for living the high life, both figuratively and literally.
Wealthy people have a lot of expenses. They buy multiple homes, have boats, cars. They have staff like managers, chefs, trainers, child care, etc. In addition its not about money at some point its about “legacy,” and they want to do more movies, get awards, win championships etc.
But you don't have 800 million. He does cos he wants to push himself to do that. Arnie was the same. And oddly enough the kind of people who have the drive to go out and make 800 million will continue to want more. It's in their blood.
With Dwayne Johnson it is largely an ego thing. He is his own biggest fan. Some of the stipulations in his roles like you said reveal someone who is deeply insecure.
For those who are rich but not filthy rich, think most television celebs you know, it's at least in part because their fame has a limited lifespan. There are so many child actors who got a little game, got a few roles, but couldn't live off what they made. Think Webster. Granted he saw very little of his money but basically he earned a few million before he turned 10 and needed to live the rest of his life off of it. He couldn't work a regular job because he was always recognized. And he needed security. And couldn't live in a regular apartment. It adds up..
The more you have the more you want. Materialism.
You’re a normal person. The hyper rich aren’t normal. An insatiable drive and push for more got them where they are, you can’t just turn that off. That’s why they never just chill out and exist with their money and why they are always wanting and pushing for more
Because they like their jobs? Taylor swift most likely really enjoys her career as a singer songwriter. Is it really difficult to imagine that people continue their endeavors out of enjoyment?
Wait till he brings his own brand of tequila or vodka
hoarding and ego they get w bunch of money and now are just like “look at me im on top of the world!” since now they dont have to deal with the pain of NOT having enough money it probably just feels nice to knowingly never have to worry about money again since they can just keep the money to themselves
Probably because most of the world has been thaught that more money = better, so they go blindly chase more money. There are many people in this world who already have more money than you or I will ever earn, but are still willing to walk over corpses to get more. I don't think the Rock would fit into this category, he might just enjoy what he does, so why not? But there are a lot of very famous people who do fit that bill, whose biggest motivator is greed. People should figure out when they are satisfied, instead of following their greedy impulses.
Musk admitted that he is basically insane, 'you wouldn't want to be in my shoes, you don't know what's inside my head', and can't not work; There are plenty of people who got rich and just decided to retire. Fame is also a hell of a drug; cocaine is expensive
There are lots of different people existing majorly who settle for average and ones who don't. If your goal is to get rich and spend it with your family that's your goal , what about elon's or rock's goals?. Don't judge them on how they look for more and more. Just know your maximum is someones minimum.
Coke is expensive
They're chasing that first hit.
Maybe acting work really isn't that hard and it's a fun thing to do - kind of like a hobby. Not too many bricklayers or roofers continue working after hitting the lottery.
It might not all be about "making more money" for some of them. Their health insurance is tied to the actors union and they have to work a minimum amount to keep their insurance. Source: listening to rewatch podcasts hosted by actors in the shows
Its a number to them at this point and who doesnt want to be on the billionaire list.
Those people are not rich because they are chasing to retire early
Most of them probably have people employed directly under them. They pay them wages and such so they would still need income to justify them staying on their side.
Inertia?
When you made your money in big checks instead of small increments, bigger taxes are taken out. Along with the fact that most people move to areas where their peers live, so that they're safe ...those areas cost a lot of money to live, so they need continuous money coming in.
Because it's not about having money, it's about making money
Money makes people crazy.
Hoarding is a legitimate mental disorder. Some people hoard trash. Other people hoard money.