[trixie_]

Why do many millionaires and billionaires continue to work super hard? People on TV, people in power, they are set for life financially and yet they still work.

It's because just like the rest of us - it's what we do. We don't know how not to work without feeling like we should be doing something 'productive'. It's more cultural than anything else.

[nine_k]

Some of them can be enjoying it — like playing sports is hard and exhausting, but you play anyway because of the excitement and the feeling of accomplishment is produces.

These people who made themselves stars or billionaires achieved that much because they love the process. If they wanted to just pleasantly slack out, they won't need to go that far in securing their income, they would stop much, much earlier, maybe even at the welfare level.

[seibelj]

At a macro-level it’s the answer to why we have enormous buildings, cities, and went to the moon. Why people keep doing anything rather than nothing. Why we have complex societies rather than hunter gatherer lives.

As a species we don’t want to do nothing.

There is a recent EconTalk podcast on the concept on “freedom” which may be very interesting to people who have read this far in my comment. It touches on how we got to this point in human evolution https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/econtalk/id135066958?i...

[lazylion2]

I believe its an evolutionary thing. Evolution does not want you to be content with sitting on the beach doing nothing all day. you need to move around, explore and procreate, enlightened people don't do that.

[_delirium]

Do they? When I think of very rich people, I mostly think of people who don't work. Sam Walton (who died in 1992) did real work to build his business empire, but his half-dozen multi-billionaire heirs don't work at anything that could be considered a real job.

[nine_k]

It only applies to people who made themselves very rich, not were born rich. The same impulse that pushed them to the Everest of wealth keeps on pushing them.

Nothing can be said about heirs of large inheritances; some may care much enough to achieve something, but most would likely not, like most people.

[kthejoker2]

Those people are also the CEO and breadwinner of often a surprisingly large support system behind their brand - assistants, house management, financial and business management, trustees, security, transportation, coaches, doctors, lawyers, agents, tutors, PR ... the list goes on.

Don't think they're just working for kicks and laughs. In fact, for them to unwind all of that is probably more financially treacherous than you just up and quitting your paycheck-to-paycheck job.

[cirrus3]

You could not miss the point harder.

You are in bubble if you think people are working harder just to feel more productive.

> Just like the rest of us

? who exactly do you only include in your sense of "us"?

[trixie_]

Americans - our society values work, money, self-sufficiency, self-sacrifice, individualism, success, entrepreneurship, etc.. more than quality of life, community, etc.. Not saying that's right or wrong, that's just how it is.

[episteme]

It would be interesting to know how many do continue to work. We would only hear about the ones that do continue to do visible things, it could be the case that 99% simply retire.