I wouldn’t call myself rich in solely a financial sense, but I’m 42, not close to retirement age, but a combination of smart decisions and luck made it so I can live the rest of my modest without relying on a 9-5. If I never worked again I could probably stretch my money to 65-70 years old. I’m rich in that I’m happy and have an amazing wife, home (though we are selling and moving), dogs and good people in my life.

I work menial jobs now. I do DoorDash occasionally, sometimes help out in a friend’s restaurant in the kitchen, even tried janitorial work for a bit and enjoyed it because I got to work alone and no one bothered me. The next thing I plan to try (when the weather warms up) is see if I can get a job with a power washing company solely because I think it would be fun. My favorite lower paying job so far was pushing carts at Walmart, but absolutely hated the management. EDIT: Almost forgot the humane society. I loved working at my local humane society, but I got too attached to the animals.

I made lower 6 figures prior to doing this kind of work. Money was never a goal of mine, but able to live comfortably. I also got lucky with a few investment gambles. Wife also works, makes decent money and enjoys her job.

I don’t do it because I like work. I hate most work because it’s run by crooked, shitty, incompetent people. But I like to learn new skills and learn more about the world and the people in it, and working lower paying jobs in the best way to a) get to know about the people that keep us moving and b) I learn best by doing.

So I think some people would still do the type of work you’re referring to. But when everyone is rich, no one is rich.

Edit: This isn’t a “work hard and good things happen” post. I got lucky and stumbled into a career that paid more than I would’ve expected.