To say that ‘hard work’ alone will never make you rich?

I was about 7 at the time so I don’t know much. What I do know is gleaned more from impressions of what that generation of my dad’s family is like.

Pretty certain she wasn’t an active businesswoman desperately trying to maximize her money. Shares and funds would be my guess. Family was astounded when they found out, so I think she was extreme even for them (the not spending much at all probably helped. She never went abroad. Probably holidayed at a relative’s BnB in Margate, didn’t have a car. Didn’t eat out. Didn’t have kids. I believe she lived with her parents until they died. and then with an aunt).

I have been told by a lot by people in my dad’s family put any pay rise straight into savings, so I think it’s their mindset.

I don’t know any details on how the estate was distributed except that I was told she left most of it to charity. Didn’t hear any grumbling or ill will about it, but I was young.

Fair comments. As someone who's had so many crap jobs in the past that impacted my financial standing, I can definitely see that side of things. Thankfully my position is more settled and secure now, but in my thirties I used to worry a lot about the future from a financial standpoint.

@RawBloomers that's fascinating about the aunt, do you know how on earth she did that? Were there inheritances? When you say she invested it, do you mean actively like a business like being a landlord? Or just bought stocks/shares and they happened to be amazing investments?

It is a combination of brains, hard work, privilege and luck, in varying combinations.

Obviously, if you win £100 million on the lottery, it is pure luck.

If you have a rare and unique skill like being a top brain surgeon, it is brains and hard work.

For most jobs, it is a combination.

But very few who are wealthy accept the privilege and luck element, most think it is all brains and hard work!

I wasn’t trying to give the reasons someone might want to be wealthy. I was pointing out that if you want to be wealthy then spending money works against that goal as much not earning money does.

But I think security can be a big motivator. My dad’s great-aunt died leaving over £2 million in her will back in the 1970s (so around £15m? today). She’d always lead a modest lifestyle, had been a school secretary. Never married, No kids. She just hadn’t ever spent much and had invested wisely since she started work straight out of school. She wasn’t really trying to accumulate wealth I don’t think, just “be sensible” with money and living modestly because that’s the good Christian thing to do. She mainly left it to charity. She saved because, to her, it was the sensible thing to do to make sure you weren’t going to be destitute - something that used to happen to people in her life time if they got sick or couldn’t work for some reason.

I believe this is correct. Drive, ambition and a willingness to take risks along with at least moderate intelligence will set you in good stead.

I think it's more complicated than that OP - certainly there are people in good positions through all those things you say and often aren't particularly able or talented- - there are others who are there by sheer graft and others who took a good idea and ran with it - but you have to be consistent and a bit of luck comes into play too , be it lack of divorces, kids with no issues, suppliers not going bust etc - I also think not expecting a champagne lifestyle on beer money wages helps. If you aren't born into family wealth it certainly means that getting on usually involves consistent graft , plenty of luck or having a successful business.

Opportunities- knowing what they are, being able to access them ( you can't do an unpaid internship in London with no family to support you )

^ This, above all else.

I hear you, but what I'm not getting from your post is the purpose of accumulating wealth simply to accumulate more wealth... and never spending any of it on anything? Obviously one reason would be to leave one's children a good inheritance, I get that, and another would be to fund children's education (although with both of those, I think they're problematic if they impact on spending time with one's children in the here and now). But beyond that, provided one has enough money to have the lifestyle one wants, I can't really see the point of making money just to make more money, not if you're never going to enjoy it or get use from it because it's all tied up... 🤔

In general I agree with you that focusing on money above family, friends and enjoying life is not the balance I want from life either.

I would say though that I think you are focusing on flash not wealth in your post. Especially for people starting off from a modest base, the expensive properties/cars/stuff is an issue if you want to be rich. They are wasteful spending when you need to be putting your money into investment that will give a good return (could be property, but probably not “expensive” property which is normally costly to maintain and about looking the part, not making money for you). Being rich isn’t about looking flash, which lots of people do living close to the wire and using credit cards. It’s about having money that makes money for you. Solid investments. A range of high, medium and low risk and decent hedging to see you through the ups and downs of the markets.

cultural

Just because someone who is seemingly successful says they worked hard does not mean they are also saying others who are less or not successful are not working hard. That’s what some poster are interpreting and maybe more indicative of their own issues.

If they worked hard they worked hard.

Many people work hard and achieve different successful outcomes.

There are too many variables to attribute success to one or two. But if hard work means:-

Effort physical and mental
Stamina going without in the short term
Attitude towards work/processes
Internal motivation
External motivators
Support and encourage
Degree of socio/enconomic and cultish barriers around them to overcome
Approach to problem solvong
Capacity for learning
Capacity to adapt and cope with change

But honestly….if you measuring success in financial and status terms only its crude.

I think good health (mental and physical) and networking; hard work alone no.

@AllProperTeaIsTheft apologies it was another poster who said people working on minimum wage worked the hardest so I was asking them how they defined working hard. Not saying people on minimum wage don't work hard, but I don't necessarily agree they work the 'hardest' which is why I was interested to understand how that poster defined hard.

No. Where did I say that?! I am a teacher btw, and yes I work hard. The point wasn't to say that only people on minimum wage do that. It was that some people seem to think that only people who are 'successful' (i.e. well paid) work hard.

Personally I've never understood why anyone would put wealth above family or happiness. I mean, obviously we all need to earn enough to live, and hopefully we can earn enough to make life enjoyable for ourselves and our families. Those are important goals, but I've never been able to relate to the concept of putting wealth above family or general enjoyment of life to the detriment of those things simply for wealth's own sake. (I'm talking about where someone is rolling in it and has expensive property/cars/stuff but hasn't time for hobbies or holidays, hardly sees their kids etc because they are working so hard. ) Especially when the future isn't guaranteed. I bet many people have ended up looking back regretting their priorities.

No doubt on MN this makes me a slacker in some people's eyes. 😄

Very few "rich" business owners got there easily. Most worked hard to build their businesses, often working in evenings and weekends and during holidays on their business, alongside a full time day job.

Or studying for professional/additional qualifications in weekends and evenings as well as their full time day job to change careers.

My "richest" client who is a millionaire spent years working in his garage, designing and patenting a specialist/niche electrical connector, sacrificing holidays, hobbies, and his savings. It took him about a decade to design and manufacture it, get it patented and then marketing it, and finally renting a small industrial unit and leasing machinery to manufacture it. Yes, he eventually got the rewards, but it was bloody hard work and took over his entire life to actually get there. If it hadn't worked out, he'd have ended up bankrupt, losing his home, etc. It was a hell of a risk. Most people would have given up!

Investment from an early age is also key even small amounts.

Pyscology of money and the janitor.

Hard work alone isn't a guarantee, you need to be averagely intelligent and sensible about developing your career and saving money too.

But I don't think it generally needs significant good luck if your focus is on making money not on enjoying your life/having a family/etc.

Long hours doing work that is consistently physically and/or emotionally / mentally demanding?

And you think only people on minimum wage do that? Teachers, doctors, lawyers could easily fit that description and they won't be on minimum wage.

Long hours doing work that is consistently physically and/or emotionally / mentally demanding?

It’s the people on minimum wage who work the hardest.

Define working hard?

Quite. For some privileged people, slogging your guts out every day at the best job you can get without higher qualifications, to feed your family and keep a roof over your head, just isn't the right kind of working hard. It doesn't count. 'Positioning yourself in the right place at the right time' isn't hard work. It's luck. How do you know when 'the right time' is going to be? And what kind of 'positioning' is available to people with no safety net, only just able to support themselves?

Wealthy successful people often think they got there because they worked hard. They are blinded by their privilege. It’s the people on minimum wage who work the hardest. More than one job to make ends meet in a lot of cases.

Who said anything about the sofa? You seem to be implying that if someone isn't 'successful' it can only be because they are too lazy...