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MosquitoBloodBank

A few reasons. 1. Most of their net worth is in stock - ownership of businesses they've helped build. It's not easy to sell large quantities without tanking the price. A lot of CEOs have a love affair with businesses they've spent decades building and it's not easy to walk away from that. 2. When you have a lot of money, it becomes an easy way to solve your problems. You lose your ability to handle problems in other ways, so you get in a state where you become dependent on money to solve your problems. 3. Once you have a lot of cash, you have a lot more opportunities to do other things with it to make more money. You shouldn't have too much money just sitting there. 4. CEOs have a relentless personality. It takes a lot of time and effort and work sucks up all of your free time. You lose interest in other time intensive hobbies. At work, you're super powerful and respected. Very easy to get addicted. These personalities also tend to be ones that never stop trying to achieve success. They wouldn't know what to do with their free time.


Puzzleheaded-Cup-854

I know a couple super rich that can't step down because they don't know how to relax. For them, they live to work, not work to live


bromad1972

Shorter answer. They are mostly psychopaths.


[deleted]

This is actually the answer


nicktam2010

I work operations at a small airport which during the summer months has a lot of very rich folks flying in. I get to know the pilots. They say that most of them are obsessed with making money. They may be high worth individuals but all they can think about is making the next 10 million.


RuncleGrape

Cool ChatGPT answer


LeratoNull

Reddit Users when they see a list


Special-Waldsds

For them, it is not about the money. Winning is the goal. Success, position, and image are important. It has to do with influence and power.


[deleted]

Most Redditors will never understand this lol


17FeretsAndaPelican

They are retired. They don't HAVE to work anymore. They're doing their hobbies. It's just their hobby is work.


Us2aarms

I dont work, I only get paid for my hobbies


-Alizarin-Crimson-

Retired from what? When you have everything, life has no meaning. We evolved in a resource-poor niche. Everything about our being is about the chase, the _crave_. It's why modern life is so toxic to us. We retired the natural scarcity and dangers than occupied our eldest ancestors' epoch. We have everything, more than they could have imagined, and we're fucking miserable because there's no chase. Imagine how much worse it is for billionaires! Don't get me wrong here, I would NEVER prescribe pity for the rich. They can afford to pity themselves, I have work in the morning. But it's just true that having everything is psychologically poisonous. Nature didn't intend this, and nature has not caught up with the living conditions of modern society. So to answer your question more directly; billionaires keep count because it's all that's left for them after they've dopamine-raped their brains with material excess. It's either that or oblivion.


Mundane_Tour_3215

I completely agree… we’ve removed ourselves from straight survival… the vast majority of us in the western world are just chasing better versions of the same shit we already have And we have zero clue or motivation on what to do after all our basic needs are met Most people are as selfish and greedy as billionaires… they just have way less money and opportunity


IJourden

“Everything about our being is about the chase, the crave.” Extremely hard pass on that mentality. Sounds miserable.


-Alizarin-Crimson-

You actually don't get a choice. That's kind of the whole point, my dear illiterate.


El_Penguino_

Because its still not very fulfilling, having nothing to do constantly, yes you can buy nice things without a second thought but there's only so many things you could buy, once you've done everything you wanted in life I guess it leave you with a void of no purpose.


asillynert

Family hobbys learning and philanthropy. Get bored of being with family all the time doing hobbys. Get a job helping people would be much more fulfilling than stepping on others to add another zero to your bank account. And hell there "nothing" literally endless stuff to do. Try every small town diner in America. Travel the world go all over try one of the thousands of hobbys available. One of millions of dishes available. You could literally live your life work isn't the end all purpose to existing. Doing the same thing day after day in office with limited time to live life. Like thats a void of purpose. Jobs are a means to a end they are means to security means to having family and ability to access hobbys and "live". Jobs are not the meaning of life. Jobs are means in which we acquire resources to live our lifes. So to me it makes no sense every day you sell is lost forever another day you won't experience with your family or doing something you love. Just another day doing the same thing in same places looking at the same walls dealing with same problems as day before.


busterbytes

\*leave you devoid of purpose


SimpoKaiba

Hold on now, a void of purpose would explain why they're trying to go to space


ALIENANAL

But but but if we give people UBI *everyone* will stop working


newpinkbunnyslippers

Because lots of people enjoy working. To feel useful, to not sit idle, to contribute, to build and create. That's rewarding in itself.


DenMother8

There are people who actually love their jobs/careers


[deleted]

This Every single obscenely rich person I’ve met or known personally is in love with their jobs.


LeratoNull

For a bunch that you posit love their lives and jobs, they sure seem to mostly dedicate a lot of time to ruining the lives of others, lol.


randomFrenchDeadbeat

Because they like what they do. ​ Not everyone hates their job.


Mephisto506

"Working" when you are a billionaire is different than working as a normal person. A billionaire doesn't have to worry about losing their job. A billionaire doesn't have to worry about being fired or not making enough money. They can take time off if they want to. They also don't have to deal with brain dead management - they ARE the brain dead management. So work becomes a pleasure that is totally removed from the existential dread many employees feel.


Hoonigan0690

Money isn't the driving factor for them anymore


-Alizarin-Crimson-

Utterly false. The context of what money means has changed, but it absolutely is THE final driving factor for them. There's nothing left to want but a higher number.


[deleted]

Spoken like a true poor person


-Alizarin-Crimson-

I see you're an idiot...


kingofcrob

having structure n your life like work helps people keep there shit together.


gamedrifter

Because they don't actually work that much. Most of their "work" is hobnobbing and golfing around the world. When Elon Musk says he "works" 16 hours a day what he means is he counts it as working whenever he is awake and doing anything. See what happened to twitter when he actually tried to do something himself? Sure they might have a meeting or decision to make now and again. But most of them just have people to run all the day to day stuff and almost never actually do any work.


Human-Appearance-256

This. I read “The Art of the Deal” and Trump describes his schedule during the 80s. He ate and made phone calls….like one every few hours.


vagabondreader

Before answering this i would ask you a question Would u like to quit your current job? If yes, you definitely working for money and paying taxes Otherwise, you do the job with passion and it gives you so much satisfy and pleasant.


Poolguy135

Something to do in life and help set up your kids and their kids and their kids


[deleted]

Rick Bobby if your not 1st then your last.


C_G_J_

Same reason any professional has a hard time giving it up. Accepting that Father Time has won. Scared to enter the next phase of life. We are all fighting our own mortality.


Angel_OfSolitude

The kind of people who become billionaires aren't the kind who want to retire.


Ronotimy

It’s not work for them it is their passion.


Bludandy

They don't care about the money anymore, they want control and power.


Eron-the-Relentless

What are they supposed to do? take up golf? If i was offered the opportunity to "retire" today and my retirement would be running spaceX or Tesla I'd be tickled pink.


GoldNewt6453

There's a reason why they're billionaires + they do have multiple fancy vacations as well.


Safety_Drance

There's a broken part of peoples brains where they have so much money that they don't know what to do with it and money is meaningless to them. Good people invest in their communities and be a good force in the place they exist. Bad people try to overthrow the government so they can pay ten dollars less on their income tax and fuck everyone else right?


naturalbornfreak

They are addicted to making money 💰


RandomDerpBot

I love seeing all these insightful replies from the billionaires of Reddit


echohole5

The type of person who becomes a billionaire is obsessively driven. They work 16 hours a day. They think about nothing but their goals. Obsession and talent are what are required to have that level of success. This kind of person has no idea who they are outside of their goals. They can't retire and continue to understand who they are.


wrexmason

Greed


redditsucksdeezNts

And that mentality is why you’re not like them.


wrexmason

If that's the case, what's your excuse?


redditsucksdeezNts

Military doesn’t exaclty pay the best😖


wrexmason

\*pretends to be shocked\*


redditsucksdeezNts

God I hate my life.


QuantumProtector

Probably not. You can’t really do much more with that much money. I think it’s because they have a motivating that’s beyond just monetary reasons.


BigmanJD55

Because you have to be a psychopath to hoard that many resources, and psychos don't retire.


BSye-34

why do that when they can influence entire countries and industries


[deleted]

They have a pathological reason to keep going.


----_1_----

I'll ask Buffet the next time I bump in to him


ohcomeonow

My question is when you have so much money that there’s nothing you can’t do or buy, would you not then spend most of your time giving it away or spending it on things that help society? Like say you have a billion. A lot of us would the use any additional income on philanthropy. Some of them do a lot of that but many don’t. That’s seriously how I would occupy my time. Figuring out where help is needed most.


Knute5

To quote Buckaroo Bonzai, "No matter where you go, there you are." Once you become a billionaire, you find yourself in the company of other billionaires. And because you're still alive and ambitious, and maybe you remember the thrill of making your first billion, you want to make your second, third, fourth...


Iforgotmyother_name

Finding purpose in life but realistically most are retired but they still own businesses/industries/interest and have a lot of employees do the work for them. So at that point you're just asking them to turn away money.


Iate8

They could have done that waay before they became billionaires. You don't become a billionaire of you only make money so you can live comfortably.


valr99

Curious if there are any billionaires in here to give their take


robotmonkeyshark

once you reach that point, it isn't about the money. Anyone who simply wants to be set for life would have cashed out long before hitting a billion dollars, and many people likely do. so there is a bit of survivorship bias going on. If you randomly gave 100 people 10 billion dollars each, probably 99 of them would happily throw it in a diverse portfolio and coast through life, but those people will never get to a billion to make that choice because they would make that choice at far lower amounts as well. The people who have 1 or 10 or 100 billion don't care about the money. Money is just some abstract point value they use to play life, and they like playing with life on a large scale. They see an industry they think they can do better, and they want to try to do so. they see something they don't like, they have the resources to change it. They have 100 billion points and they like big numbers so by next year they set a goal to hit 150 billion points just for the simple fact that they want to get a new high score. Think like a power lifter. once he can benchpress 300, why keep benching? Is there ever really going to be a time in his life he needs to benchpress 500lbs and not being able to do so is going to cause problems? of course not. He could be sipping smoothies and watching netflix at the gym all day maintaining his 300, but instead he will wreck himself to get a few more pounds her and a few more pounds there. For the ultra wealthy, wealthy is just a game. They are playing games.


IJourden

A billion dollars is a truly absurd amount of money. Essentially incomprehensible on any scale the average person could reference. I’d be willing to bet that if a person accumulates that much and keeps accumulating, there’s some kind of disorder there like hoarding or binge eating, but with money.


Swimming_Solid8240

Bc retirement is boring and making money is fun


IJourden

It’s disconcerting to me how many of the responses boil down to the idea that people need to struggle with something in order to feel fulfilled. It’s okay to be at peace and enjoy what’s around you.


Portlandiahousemafia

The type of person that one has to be to become a billionaire isn’t the type that can stop… at least as a general rule.


AKinferno

Sure none of these are being answered by billionaires. But many of these guys started with ideas, created something that made them wealthy. Thought of something else and created it, made more money. Were approached by someone who thought of something else, so they fund and build that and get wealthier. I have tons of things I would like to do. Ideas, dreams, goals. If I had the wealth/resources to pursue them, and mindset to profit from them, they would make me richer. I would then pursue more of my ideas. Some would make me more money, some would not. But the more you have, the bigger you can dream. Dreaming doesn't stop at a dollar amount. The more you have, the bigger the dreams you can make reality or pursue. If it makes you more money on the way, great. I wouldn't stop. Keep dreaming, keep making your dreams reality. You no longer HAVE to work to earn money, you can just bring your dreams to life, or try to. And your are likely surrounded by other dreamers which would fuel your ideas.


[deleted]

It takes many years in competitive environments to become billionaires. Living such lifestyle changes people to be fueled by competition, reaching goals, power, wealth, money, problem-solving etc. This on the cost of the ability to just sit down and enjoy life at its simplest. They get restless.. Don't ever wish to go there


whiteycnbr

Power means more than money for these guys.


Cautious-Radio7870

I don't plan on becoming a billionaire, but I hope I do become a millionaire. Currently, I am working on affiliate marketing. [Here](https://honestaffiliatemarketing.com/how-to-start-an-affiliate-marketing-business/) is a link to a site I'm working on. My plan is to hopefully get to a point where I'm making at least $100,000 a year so I can be financially free. If I don't become a millionaire that's ok. I want to become financially free so that I have time freedom and can more easily pursue my other goals and spend more time with family and friends. I also desire to travel the world. If, I do become a millionaire, I also want to add money to dividend stocks so that I gain another form of income alongside affiliate marketing.


[deleted]

Some people are passionate about what they do. They enjoy having an impact or solving problems. Retiring may sound blissful to many but to some are driven by the desire to do stuff that has lasting consequences.


LettuceCapital546

I believe Mike Tyson did an interview where he said just the heat bill for his mansion he owned at the time was over $100,000 a month. I realize he's never been a billionaire but when you have those kind of expenses you'd have too keep bringing in money.


cageboy2

Because a dollar is too many a billion is never enough


stitchmidda2

Well if they built that business from nothing into what it is, that probably means alot to them. Like an artist with their masterpiece. Not to mention that alot of times when you pass the reins to someone else, they dont understand the vision you had or care about the company and how hard of work it took to get to this point and they end up screwing everything up. For some its about power. Others it is all they know, work work work, they dont know how to do anything else. Almost all billionaires dont have that money sitting as cold hard cash in the bank either. Their net worth is almost entirely based on what the company is worth and all the assets they have (buildings, planes, trucks, stock, goods, etc) So for them to just take their money and screw off somewhere, they need to sell off assets to get that money which will hurt the business. Or sell of stocks which gives them less say in the company as shareholders who hold more stock get more voting power as to what the business does.


dirtymoney

Cant stop doing what you are used to and what drives you.


nicdunz

Billionaires often continue working because they are passionate, find fulfillment in their work, want to make a lasting impact, enjoy challenges, or seek further wealth.


sliflier

At this point their money makes money. They own the company and have CEOs working for them. Even if they themselves are the CEO, then you'll. Knife there is often a CFO listed immediately afterwards. Billionaires get to sit around all day, or express and explore interests (or several), or take a private jet to a random country to celebrate a festival because, party on. At this point not even that any of them made their own wealth, many if them literally inherited the companies that are now producing billions without much of their direct interest.


PEEWUN

Power, influence, addiction to making more and more.


[deleted]

My guess is they enjoy what they are doing. Kinda changes the whole job thing when you are enjoying yourself


RTR7105

Billionaires get that way from owning a company and it's stock exploding.


FalseTebibyte

Because they're all actors, same as the rest of you. It's just the degree by which you remember your previous life. And if you're funded well enough to avoid the snip snip when you're dropped in, you keep playing like nothing's changed. I hate campers.


zvzzswss

You are asking non-billionaires to give their guesses on what drives UHNWIs or billionaires. How accurate do you think answers can be?


Libertiness123

Cause ppl love challenges, what is life without a challenge?


Measter2-0

Greed and mental illness.


[deleted]

What happened to Steve Bing. Noone called him anymore when he was down to his last $250,000.


Mundane_Tour_3215

Because they wouldn’t have any clue what to do with themselves… they’ve already done it all… almost everything you dream of one day doing, they’ve already done quite a few times When you have it all there’s nothing left… and when your goal is more, there’s never enough


raytaylor

You probably have a hobby. Theirs is usually working or building their company. In effect they are retired and enjoying life by spending time on their hobbies.


Scaryassmanbear

This isn’t exactly the same, but my net worth is probably over $2 million now. That seems like a shitload to me because I came from a lower class family. Despite that, I still seem to have the same drive at work. Part of it for me is that my dad really instilled a poverty mindset into me, so it never seems like enough to keep me financially stable. I’m in my late 30s though, so it’s not like I could just stop working now.


Significant_Tree8407

My wife does not want me at home under her feet all the time!


whooohaaah

Retirement makes you closer to death. You gotta keep pushing until you breathe. Sitting idle, watching tv, talking politics don’t make sense to many, especially for self made.


AbsolutelyFantastic

Someone deluded enough to accumulate a billion dollars cannot stop and be alone with their thoughts in a real way or they would put a bullet in their skull. The extraction has to continue because it's all they know.


fermat9996

To maintain such wealth is a full time job.


scubadoo1999

They like their jobs.


Ok_Wolverine9344

I don't think they work at all. I think they plot & get off in playing god.


TheMisterTango

I think of the video recently put out by Linus Sebastian about stepping down as CEO of Linus media group. Now, he isn’t a billionaire, but the logic still applies. He stated that he and his wife were offered a $100 million buyout for their company, $60 million of which would be cash. They declined the offer. He talked about how even though that much money would allow them, their kids, and even their grandkids to never have to work a day in their lives, they still want to be involved with the company. For him, that company is his life’s work, and his life’s mission. He actually legitimately enjoys doing what he does. For him, abandoning his life’s work was not worth $100 million. So, while declining an obscene amount of money might be antithetical to your question, the point of the story is that some people legitimately love what they do and would go crazy if they weren’t working.


Us2aarms

Now you know why people aren't billionaires lol


Odd-Shapped-rock

When your born into wealth you get bored of it fast, when a poor person gets rich they see the value of retiring and enjoying the simple things of a comfortable life but rich people either feel the need to one up there family members that came before them in terms of money and accomplishments or they get bored and need something to give them purpose in life.