To think that hard work alone does not make you wealthy

[ooohbetty]

I like watching Rich House Poor House and it has got me thinking, a lot of people work hard, hold down jobs, juggle childcare or caring for other relatives, some work long hours and can get help with child care, others don't have childcare but work hard when they can around school hours etc.
Both sets of families in the programme so far seemed to work hard and do their best but are still on the opposite ends of being rich and poor. So if someone says I'm here today with all this wealth because I work hard I think well from where I'm watching the other family seem to be working hard too, I do wonder, if a lot of folk work hard, surely the extra wealth has to come down to the actually vocations they have and possible other sets of circumstances that they have had presented to themselves at the right time in their lives where they can take these opportunities up.
There must be other factors to getting wealthy or am I being daft?

[AndhowcouldIeverrefuse]

I've been so stressed with work I felt seriously like walking out under a bus. This is not uncommon for city professionals.

Wow, seriously? It is common for city professionals to feel suicidal because of work? I sincerely hope that what you get in exchange for that is worth it.

[1Mother20152015]

Yes, it is for some.
I am pretty laid back about it but particularly when you start it's quite difficult. You might be working all night and all day, no sleep, no break, no over time and that kind of stuff but you get well paid. Pact with the devil at times.... Although not all well paid jobs are like that.

[Lellikelly26]

Hard work alone does not make you wealthy. You need to be clever, ruthless or in a lucrative industry or extremely talented (rare imp) I worked more hours than my husband as a teacher and earnt a quarter of his salary. People in shops work extremely hard and will never earn good money. Pick your career wisely if money is your goal

[RaindropsAndSparkles]

The rub though Lelli is that if you pick a career based on money alone you are unlikely to live it and therefore you will never be truly successful doing it.

Wherever I have worked so many have always complained. They will today. But I love it.

[Horses4]

I was at a work event on Friday night, and a senior person was spouting about the "giveaway" society and the "lower echelons" and how he works hard and why should he pay taxes for anyone to have anything for free. I chose to make my excuses and leave at that point 😒

[knaffedoff]

I know someone who received a comment about the number of vacations she enjoyed (think about 6 per year with 2 being Caribbean cruise types). This mum responded "yes and if you work hard you too can have the same" . The person enjoying the vacation worked 1 day a week in a minimum paid job whilst her husband supported her and the kids

[magpiemischief]

I think all the people on that programme worked hard.

What struck me, though, was everyone benefitted from spending more time with their families. The experience was a sort of holiday at both ends of the wealth spectrum. Because they didn’t have to go to work much in the week they spent doing the programme.

Apart from the woman who lived in the area with high crime rates - which would really bother me, I saw a similar level of happiness. Some of the children of the rich families didn’t see their parents much and were complaining about it.

On watching the programme I was surprised to see we have a similar amount to spend after our mortgage as the bottom 10 percent. Even though our income is higher. We don’t really feel it. Shopping at Aldi and batch cooking literally saves us thousands. Some of those rich people really frittered their money away - they didn’t get much from it.

[1Mother20152015]

magpie, I agree. It's quite a nice programme. They deliberately pick not well off but working families rather than those on benefits so it is not the usual benefits bashing type of programme which is a nice change. The hard working less well off man with the blended family - they are having problems because they have had a baby before they can afford it and are now living in Watford with only one income not two and more children than most of us could afford to have.

No one on the programme relaly mentioned that the restaurant owning couple did not spend more time together. Only the father and 2 of the chidlren did the house swap whilst the wife had to stay running the restaurants so they didn't even get more time to spend together during the swap in terms of a whole family being together.

The lady who is a cleaner or housekeeper was rightly telling her daughters to work hard at school. I don't think they need the tutoring etc that she wished she could afford however. It is simple as if you throw money at it children particularly idle children do well.

magpie makes a very good point above about income left after mortgage or rent is paid (and childcare costs for those of us who work full time). It is really only that net figure that matters.

[DayManChampionOfTheSun]

I've been so stressed with work I felt seriously like walking out under a bus. This is not uncommon for city professionals

Wow, seriously? It is common for city professionals to feel suicidal because of work? I sincerely hope that what you get in exchange for that is worth it

This is a feeling I very much can understand. I would not say I have been ‘suicidal’ as such but there has been fleeting thoughts go through my head just because I am so stressed and have on that particular day had enough. And I’m not in London on some rediculous salary either, just work is very stressful industry that I fell into as a temp and progressed to a point that I now feel stuck.

OP I don’t think hard work makes you wealthy, there is so much more to it than that. I think luck also plays a large role tbh.

[magpiemischief]

Personally I think where I would feel the real difference is living in an unsafe area, with lots of crime. That is what I found heartbreaking. If that was tackled successfully, it would make a huge difference to communities.

I know there are people who struggle more financially. However I didn’t see a real struggle regarding food and activities with the money they had. We have a similar amount. A lot of our activities are free. They did have lots of children though so I suppose clothing costs might mount up. But this was not shown in the programme. The awful rates of PAYG power was shown. This is wrong.

[1Mother20152015]

My area is fairly mixed in outer London but I don't fear for my safety or my children's. However some inner London council blocks are probably a different kettle of fish. That lady could move perhaps - there are council house swaps you can do although I am sure it is not easy as a single mother of 3 and as she's a housekeeper she needs to live in an area where people are rich enough to afford housekeeping services.

[HalfAConanDoyle]

I feel that I work very hard: I'm a comprehensive school teacher. Do I work less hard than a city banker/hedge fund manager etc? I struggle financially. And often find myself funding the equipment I need for school. Life is not fair. X

[LightDrizzle]

My DH has become wealthy from a background of deprivation.
I agree that taking risks is often key to the trajectory of people who go from nothing to wealth, alongside hard work, focus and aptitude.
Until he was 5, he shared a single bed with two of his siblings in a condemned house without an inside tap. Moving to a council property on a sink estate was like winning the lottery for his poor Mum; it had an inside toilet and a bathroom. He is the only one of his many siblings to be successful, one has a solid, factory job, but the rest have only worked sporadically and have fairly chaotic lives including prison. DH doesn’t know why the same circumstances motivated him to strive for better and believe it was possible when it didn’t work out that way for them. He left a monumentally crap school at 16 with the minimum O-levels to get an office job earning much less than mates who went on the building sites or worked for the Council. He’d written prospectively to firms out of the phone book asking for jobs before leaving school. He studied accountancy at night at the local FE (not Chartered, - something less prestigious) then after about 8 years working at the antediluvian business he’d joined at 16, he set up a tiny one-man business in a windowless serviced office that was part of a local enterprise initiative and slowly grew the business. He has started about four businesses and either sold them or been bought out. He’s been hit by difficulties and has to remortgage his house, and even pay wages on credit cards in the worst of times. Most of his working life he has been comfortably off, not really wealthy by middle class standards, only in the last 5 years has his business grown stratospherically and his personal wealth with it. He works incredibly hard, he’s passionate about what he does, and constantly reads the industry press and attends conferences to keep abreast of the most recent developments, products and practice. He’s never complacent. Although he left school at 16, he did a formal MENSA test (done in person in those days) in his late 20s and was ascribed an IQ of 158 and he is undoubtedly incredibly bright. He is just very driven, focussed and able.
I’m middle-class Oxbridge but have achieved peanuts comparatively. I’m very risk averse amongst other factors.
His family think he’s lucky, his mum used to say “If our [DH] fell in the River X, he’d come out wearing a new suit”, but I see no evidence for that, in fact he’s had crushing blows and had to weather losses and reverses, he just clawed his way back.
I find genuine rags to riches stories fascinating, it’s amazing. I do think they are quite rare. Most very wealthy people start out with at least some capital; either financial or educational or both.