by Laura Macario

Created on: December 30, 2008

A Millionaire's Occupation

According to the private bank Coutts & Co (2006), millionaires with a current possession of more than four million Euros are not required to execute a profession. According to Roberts (2003), Rojek (1998, 2000) and authors of "The Millionaire Next door" (1998), it is false to believe that a millionaire possesses more leisure time. Today the affluent earn more status by retaining a fulltime profession and leisure is not a central life interest (Rojek, 2000, p. 1 and 6 and Roberts, 2006, p. 60 and 67). This compared to a century ago, when leisure stood for a status symbol (Veblen 1899 and quoted by Rojek 2000). On the contrary, a number of studies indicate that the majority of new-millionaires are dedicated to their profession and habitually work longer hours (Rojek 2000, Roberts 2003 and Stanley & Danko 1998, 2000). Stanley (2000) further states:

"About two-third of us work between forty-five and fifty-five hours per week".

According to Rojek (2000), some extreme wealthy men such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Richard Branson enjoy their profession and consider their work as being fun and exiting. Consequently, they often work up to sixteen hours a day and over a hundred hours a week. In some situations, the millionaires enjoy their occupation so much that it practically becomes part of their leisure (Rojek, 2000).

The growth of an individual wealth is made possible by a rise in company's salaries and by the individual's higher educational level (Stanley & Danko, 1998 and Van Hezewijk, 2003). Nonetheless, two thirds of the millionaires are self-employed or lead their own business (Stanley 2000, Van Hezewijk 2003).

The millionaires within the Netherlands are predominantly active in the real-estate business with twelve percent, followed by seven percent in investments and six percent in the construction business. This shows that individuals that are currently active in the real-estate business have a better change to become millionaires.

According to Stanley's (2000) research findings, popular American millionaires' professions are contracting, auctioneering, rice farming, owning mobile-home parks, pest (insect) controlling, coin and stamp dealing, and paving contractors. Stanley's (2000) findings demonstrate that the majority of the millionaires' wives do not engage in any profession and the few that do usually mainly as a teacher.

Coutts, Who Wants to Be a Thrillionaire? We All Do!, http://www.coutts.com/newsandinformation/20051013200 .asp, accessed 10 October 2006.

Roberts, K. (2003), Leisure in Contemporary Society. Oxon

Rojek, C. (1998), Decentring Leisure. Rethinking Leisure Theory. London.

Rojek, C. (2000), Leisure and the rich today: Veblen's thesis after a century. Journal Leisure Studies, Volume 19, number 1, pp. 1-15.

Smit, J. (1999), De Nieuwe Rijken. Miljonairs in Nederland. Prometheus, Amsterdam.

Stanley T. (2000), The Multimillionaire Mind. Harper Collins, Sydney.

Stanley, T. and Danko, W. (1998), The Multimillionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of American's Wealthy. Harper Collins, Sydney.

Van Hezewijk, J. (2003). De Nieuwe Elite van Nederland. Het new boys netwerk op jacht naar geld, status en invloed. Balans, Amsterdam.

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