Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow (Someone Else)
Posted by admin in General
Over at The Wealth Report, Robert Frank has a very interesting post and discussion in the comments about whether the adage "do what you love and the money will follow" is really true. He says this phrase is a favorite of Donald Trump's. However, Frank notes that the authors of the book The Middle Class Millionaire say that in their research the millionaires were much less likely to agree with that statement than the people who were not millionaires. Is it just wishful thinking to suppose that following your passion will eventually lead to wealth?
Well, obviously some people do follow their passion and get rich. Bruce Springsteen got rich. But this one guy I know played in bands for 15 years and finally gave up because he was sick of being poor. Once he joined the "regular" workforce, it was tough because he felt so far behind people that were 10 years younger than him. He didn't have any regrets because he'd given it a real shot, but the reality is he did what he loved and the money followed somebody else who'd gone into sales.
It's easy for Donald Trump to tell you to do what you love, because he happens to love real estate, which tends to be more lucrative than working for agencies that help single mothers on welfare. You might love the feeling of helping the single mother, but unless she later gets rich and sends you a $1 million tip to thank you, you're probably not going to get wealthy.
This is what I believe. If becoming wealthy is important to you, choose a career field that has a track record of making money. Head for Wall Street. You can make tons. You'll work your butt off, but you'll make tons.
If you want to try a career that maybe will make you wealthy, only do it if you can live with the fact that you probably won't get rich. If you know it's a longshot and are fine with that, go for it, like my friend who gave his music career a shot. You want to be an actor, an artist, a musician, a novelist – or another of those romantic careers in which only an infinitesimal number of people actually get to star in a movie or sell a painting for millions or sell out stadiums or come up with Harry Potter – go for it. But know the odds and be OK with them starting out.
If you have a passion that seems to have very little chance of making you rich, even if you're really really good at it or it's extremely fulfilling, and you're OK with having a modest amount of money, go for it. Just don't expect that you'll ever get wealthy. Sure, you might end up like the guy that spend 15 years working on the Dyson vacuum when everyone thought he was crazy, but you probably won't. And if that's OK with you, no problem.
What it comes down to is the fact that in most cases you can choose to be wealthy if you're willing to do what it takes. Doing what you love will rarely get you there, unless you happen to love things that traditionally make people a lot of money. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't do what you love.
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Justin,
As one of the authors of the book Robert Frank cites, The Middle-Class Millionaire, I couldn’t agree with your elaboration more. It’s certainly possible to be successful doing what you love in many ways that have nothing to do with money.
Our hope is that by distilling what people who have money believe about making money, people can make an informed choice. Follow their hearts, in spite of its likelihood to make them wealthy, or choose to follow the course of financial independence first, with the particular type of work you do to accumulate that wealth as a second criteria.
I’d be willing to bet that the percentage of folks who have careers paths that were chosen for them (bills, marriage, family, etc.) is far higher than the people who set out to do exactly what they intended, with the drive and focus that excludes everything but their goal.
Life is a series of choices. Springsteen made them – he is a far cry of the solo act I saw at the Mainpoint in Philadelphia in 1972 and those choices were probably at the exclusion of all else. Few of us have that kind of single mindedness.
For those that don’t, I have always written that doing what pays the bills isn’t so bad. Developing that second career, the one you are most passionate about be it music or building birdhouses, will often give a person the much needed satisfaction they are looking to own. And sometimes, doing what you enjoy does find money dutifully following.