Nicely said on the last part. But I think the richer you are the more your opinion matters. If you are smart then your net worth will ultimately reflect that.
I haven’t seen more than two plates on the bar since I graduated college. I’m pretty lazy these days. I went running the other day and just about died after the first mile on my run.
This is a big sore spot with me. I’m in a CPA firm where some of the leaders have this “growth” mentality. You have to keep growing and growing and growing. And I don’t understand why.
In my experience, “growing” doesn’t normally equate to “more money” or “better life”. Yeah, you might make a little more, but your stress level goes through the roof. Whereas if you had stayed a “solo practicioner” with 50 clients and no employees, you might make $200k. Low stress levels where you can get your work done in 30 hours a week. And you take 8 weeks of vacation per year. When you do actually go to work, you go in at 9 and get home by 5:30. You love your wife and kids, and you get to see them every day. And you never, ever work weekends. In short, you do what you want, how you want, and when you want.
But instead, you decided to “grow”. So you got 60 clients, so now you have to hire an employee. Now you have to deal with employee problems. Staffing. Payroll. Vacation. All that added stress of having an employee. And you can’t take 8 weeks of vacation anymore, because you have to train the employee and supervise her. But that’s okay, because you can make more money. Once you’ve trained the employee and gathered some clients to pay her salary, You’re now making $220k!!!
But then you have to hire another staff member. In order to pay for your new employee, you get more clients. Then you get more staff. You realize that your 30-hour weeks are gone. You’re working 40-45, and only getting four weeks of vacation.
Then you get a CRM, because you can’t keep track of all your clients and staff. Then you get more clients. Then you get more staff. Then you have to hire a manager to manage the staff. Then you have to hire a watchdog to watch the manager. You’re only taking two weeks of vacation every year, and you work 50 hours a week.
Then you have to get a bigger office space, because you don’t have the space for all your staff. Then you get more clients. Then you have to outsource IT because you can’t do it yourself anymore. Then you get more staff. Then you get more clients. Now you have so many employees that you can’t remember everybody’s names and don’t know who’s coming or going. And you’re working 55 hours a week, and even though you still take two weeks of vacation, you’re not really enjoying them because you’re wondering what’s going on at the office that is growing beyond your control.
So you hire an HR person just to manage the staff. Then the HR person asks you to get a new “time & attendance” system so she can keep track of your employees. So you have to get more clients to pay for HR. To get more clients, you need more staff. But your existing infrastructure is maxed out, so you have to get a new server and update your IT–again. And you open a second office location because there is no more room in your existing building, and you have a lot of clients on the other side of the state. Of course, to pay for that, you need more clients. More clients means more staff. And more managers to manage the staff who are on the other side of the state. And so on and so forth.
Then someday, after 40 years of “growth”, you realize that you’re making (adjusted for inflation) $300k. You’ve worked 70 hours a week for as long as you can remember, begged for a week of vacation when you could get it, dealt with employee problems (you’re up to 90 now, with five levels of management and four office locations) and other “emergency situations” while on vacation, and your stress levels have been so high for so long that your doctor tells you that he’s worried about your health. He tells that you’re a heart attack waiting to happen. You haven’t seen your kids or grandkids in over a year, and your wife always seems to be making small talk with the “pool boy”. Not that it matters–you actually stopped talking to your family years ago, because work was more important than they were.
In your despair, you walk into a local bar with the intent of drinking until you feel good about how shtty your family life has become. Then you start talking to a nice young fellow. You ask him what he does for a living, and he says, 'Yeah–I’m in business for myself. I have 50 clients and I make $200k a year. But I only work 30 hours a week, and I take 8 weeks of vacation per year. I love my wife and kids, and I get to see them every day. And I never work weekends. It’s a good life. I do what I want, how I want, and when I want. But I’m thinking about hiring an employee, because then I could make more money…"
God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy.
But yeah, there’s nothing wrong with being content with what you have. Complacency, on the other hand, is unacceptable.
greenie- I can’t even pretend to act like I read all of that.
If you hire self starters you wouldn’t have this problem!
Basically mo money, mo problems.
At this point I assume its urban myth but I was told a CEO gave that response at a Harvard talk and an economist responded “if you’re so rich how come you’re not smart?” Naturally both sides think they won in that exchange and both made a valid point.
Family man boy that’s what you need. #Wealth #Trustfundkid