Is there a way to live without working?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I first thought of posting this in General Questions, but I soon realized the topic was too trivial, and besides, it’s largely tongue-in-cheek anyway.

I’ve always been a lethargic, lazy bum, even since early childhood. I was labeled a “gifted child” in elementary school, but I always had poor study skills and no motivation. I was never a good student, but I made it through high school, finished college with a major in a “useless” subject (music), and am now somewhat gainfully employed as a Systems Analyst within the IT organization of a large corporation. I stumbled into this job because I had a knack for computer programming, but the job has turned out to involve almost no programming and lots of, well, analysis. I can’t stand what I call “businesslike” work, so I’m not really fulfilling my duties, and consequently I fear that I may eventually lose my job for poor performance. If that happens, I’ll really be in hot water, since I’ll have proven that I can’t handle a job in the IT field, and I have no other marketable skills to fall back on; meanwhile, I’m currently supporting myself and, thanks to student loans and a car loan, still have a net worth of about -$10,000. My parents are separated and neither of them makes much money, so I can’t blithely move back in with one of them. Because of all this, I’ve started doing some deep thinking about what I should really be doing with my life.

The problem is, I hate working at all, always have, and as far as I know, always will. I have never found within myself a desire (which apparently many other people have) to “get out there in the world” and “achieve” or “accomplish great things.” Thoughts of being a successful doctor, lawyer, businessman, teacher, carpenter, beekeeper, or whatever, have never appealed to me at all. Instead, what I enjoy is merely sitting around the house, pursuing hobbies and other trivial household activities that don’t involve striking out into the “big bad world out there” for any length of time. For as long as I can remember, I have had this fantasy of possessing independent means, and being able to sleep in every day of the week, stay home and read, garden, watch movies, play golf or tennis, maybe travel once in a while, etc.–basically, live my whole life as a retired person. I just don’t want to be retired from anything. :slight_smile:

Because most of the people I know, including my coworkers, seem to genuinely want to do their jobs, I’ve begun thinking: do these people really have to be here? Is it possible they know something I don’t know, that they work only because they want to, and there might be some way of getting by without working? I know there are ways of getting by without working, but I don’t think any of them will work for me. Here’s my complete list of ways to attain the wealth necessary to live comfortably without working, along with my thoughts on each item:

  1. Win the lottery
    Well, the odds are so poor that I might spend my life pouring thousands of dollars into the lottery and still never win, while the jackpots I paid into go to trailer-park-dwelling bar crawlers. Therefore, I’m not going to waste my money and time playing it at all.

  2. Inherit
    Not going to happen for me. None of my relatives are even nominally wealthy; most probably don’t even have a significant positive net worth.

  3. Work hard at succeeding in the business world, and retire early
    This is probably the most “realistic” option on the list, in that most people who want to do it badly enough probably could. To my knowledge, it can be done one of two ways: a) Start one’s own business, build it up to a high level of value, and sell it off, or b) work for someone else’s company, climb the corporate ladder, become a manager, receive stock options, etc. The chief problem here is that this plan would probably take, from start to finish, at least 15 years, and while the rest of my life would be carefree, those 15 years would be full of extremely hard work, which is exactly what I want to avoid! Then I’d be 40 by the time I was able to start my “real life.” Also, this plan would require Jack Welch-style business acumen, which I simply do not have.

  4. Succeed at a high-profile entertainment or creative endeavor (movie star, rock star, professional athlete, best-selling popular writer)
    The problem here is that attaining wealth in these fields requires a great deal of luck. There are scads of actors and pop musicians out there, but very few ever are admitted to the inner circle of Hollywood or release a record that ends up going platinum. Writing is something I could actually see myself trying–it’s an activity I’ve always enjoyed–but again, in order to become independently wealthy, I’d have to make the bestseller lists, and that requires a large measure of luck; there’s no guarantee that I’d ever get published at all, even in a lifetime of trying.

  5. Win some sort of personal-injury lawsuit or collect long-term disability benefits from my employer
    Well, there’s nothing physically wrong with me right now, so I’d have to either intentionally get injured or fake an injury or disability. While I’m lazy and could be considered immoral in that sense, I do have scruples and would never do something so dishonest.

  6. Invest, with a stellar rate of return
    This would require Warren Buffet-like financial acumen (cf. 3 above), which I have heard cannot be learned: you either have it or you don’t, and I don’t. Also, even with a spectacular rate of return, it would be many years before I had enough money to safely, permanently quit my day job.

  7. Be a househusband/stay-at-home dad
    Though this is not technically “not working,” I could actually see myself doing this. While I dislike work in the traditional sense of going out into the world and exchanging your services for a wage or salary, I don’t mind household- or family-related work. I would be perfectly happy to stay home and cook, clean, do laundry, and shuttle the kids around, while my wife worked outside the home. The problem with this idea is that my marriage prospects are currently nil, and I wouldn’t expect them to increase if I started advertising my desire to do this–I know most women find men with no desire to work unappealing.

That’s all I can think of. Is there anything else? Some secret yet perfectly legal and foolproof way to manipulate the stock market and obtain large sums of money in a short amount of time? Some time machine with which I could peek into the future and discover tomorrow’s winning lottery numbers? I must emphasize that what I desire is not wealth per se, but independent means; not a mansion and Mercedes, just a split-level and a Chevy, as long as I don’t have to work for them. I have often fantasized about the existence of what you might call a “non-working military base/monastery” which, like a regular military base or monastery, would support you and provide you with the basic necessities of life (i.e., food, clothing, and shelter,) but instead of requiring you to work there in return, would simply allow you to do as you please, spending your days reading, going for jogs/hikes, watching movies, maybe cultivating a garden. I would join in a second, but I don’t suppose such a place exists.

So that’s it. To recap, my question is: Is there any way for an average joe with no inheritance or brilliant business plan to survive (and ideally, not just survive, but maintain a relatively comfortable, American middle-class lifestyle) without working?

(To preempt the “you’ve got a bad attitude” replies: I am half-joking here. But then, being half-joking also means you’re half-serious.)

2

Well, I like working (engineer/programmer) and trying to get ahead, although not so much that I’ll kiss the boss’ ass to do it.

I’ve heard that currency speculation is easier and less risky than stock trading. I haven’t gotten around to trying it though.

Some people do make a living - but not a good or secure one - by writing shareware, creating webpages etc.

3

Or how about buying stuff and selling it on ebay, there are certainly people who do all right at that. Its gotta be better than selling the same crap at flea markets.

4

The word you are looking for is “university”.

In all seriousness my husband and I regularly joke about getting around to submitting our “Independantly Wealthy” application. This is an option I have rejected for myself but one suggestion I have for you is to become a college professor. You may have to go to school for a number of years to get a PhD to make this work, but even that could help fufill your goals.

  1. take out massive studen loan to support your grad schooling. Work to complete grad school swiftly, and publish. You said you like to write, right? And school, if you enjoy it, can be very puttery and self-paced and not at all like 9-to-5ing it for the man.

  2. Find job at obscure college. Even a junior college or community college will do.

  3. Hi Opal!

  4. Teach 4 or 5 classes each semester at most. Time comittment is almost like a full time job, but you can schedule in lots of hiding in your office under the guise of “office hours”. Be advised there may be some extra hours spent grading and in department meetings.

  5. Take summers off, usually late May to late August. Teach summer school class every couple of years. On your off years travel, garden, sleep late, etc. Publish something every 5 years or so, just to keep your hand in.

  6. Retire at 60 or 65 and spend the next 30-odd years doing whatever you damn well please.

Granted to go this route you have to find an academic subject you really want to talk about every day for decades. And I don’t mean to imply that professors are lazy in any way. Just that teaching college can allow for the type of flexibility and low-impact schedule you are looking for. And of course don’t forget the crown jewel - summers off.

Twiddle

5

Well, in Oz if you were a female it would be easy.
Just have lots of kids and go on the dole.

You could go on the dole without kids, but you wouldn’t get nearly as much.

Do they not have the dole in America?

6

Somehow become a permanent resident of Australia and go on the dole. Despite attempted “reforms” at filling in the loopholes in the law, the overbearing and inept government bureaucracy can work to your benefit.

There are generations of families who have never worked a day in their lives and live on the dole in Oz.

Of course, one needs to somehow passed the required entry requirements, emigrate to Oz and work for a few years to get passed the mandatory “no government help” laws for new migrants. You could use the time working your ass off with a cash-paid job (thus avoid paying the taxes), buy a house (first-time house-buyers get somewhere around $5-7,000 from the government as a grant!) and settle in.

Then go on the dole. If your work experience combined with your location don’t add up so that you have to take a job if ordered by the government, you can kick back and live. (Best bet is living in Dingo Whoop Whoop with your PhD in molecular chewing gum research.)

You could always travel to a state capitol every so often for a cash job while on the dole to get some more money. Just don’t put it in an Oz financial institution under your real name/tax file number. The government is getting better all the time looking/catching the poor tax/dole cheaters while ignoring the real cheats with big bucks (Everyone is equal in Oz but some are more equal than others.)

Better still, go back to university and study from Dingo Whoop Whoop via the Internet and distance education. The student dole payments are higher than just the jobless dole (have they changed that yet?). That way you can price yourself out of your local non-job market and thus increase your ability to stay on the dole.

7

it’s called being homeless. honestly, how could you expect to live comfortably and not work? if there was a way, do you think people would work as much as they do?

8

Amazingly, some people actually enjoy working.

But I digress. You can also become a professional gambler. But that probably takes as much talent as being a Warren Buffet, and a lot of self-control to boot.

9

Excuse me. The term is dole bludger. We don’t cheat. We bludge.

10

Of course, there’s another possibility…hermitage. Read “my side of the mountain” for pointers, run off into the Sierra Nevada (Or your mountain range of choice), find a nice cave, and if you live through a winter, you’ll probably be good to go!*

…Though if you even see a crazed-looking Irishman lurking in a cave, gnawing on a Skunk kibab, that’ll be me. It means working as a cashier didn’t agree with me. Just stay away from my vermin snares!

Ranchoth
(Hey, it beats the christmas rush)
*Note: If you actually do this, I absolve all myself of all liability. I don’t want to be sued when your relatives find your mummified corpse being used as a futon by a grizzly bear. :slight_smile:

11

My apologies. You are correct.

Just like Oz politicians don’t steal from the taxpayers, break the law and commit crimes. They rort. And rort. And rort.

You say tomatoe and I say tomato …

:smiley:

12

Jay Conrad Levinson (of Guerrilla Marketing fame) once wrote a whole book on how to make money without working; but it’s not clear to me whether you’re asking whether you want to make a living without working or whether you want to make a living on a freelance, contract-by-contract basis. They’re not quite the same thing.
Cheers,

13

Take something you love to do and find a way to make money at it. That way it won’t feel like working. I read about someone who liked showing people around town, and created a job for herself giving city tours to the bored wives of executives who brought them along on business trips.

14

Marry a Wealthy Widow.

This post does not constitute an offer. I am a heterosexual male, I have no husband and, perhaps crucially, I am not wealthy.

If there should be any change in my circumstances I will let you know. Please do not give up hope. There may still be a chance for you.

15

Looks like you’ve already answered your own question, eh? Wake up. :smiley:

16

There’s a woman out there who is basically a professional contest entrant. She enters all the ones she can find, wins a bunch of stuff, and sells what she doesn’t want. Kind of like Lazlo Holyfeld from Real Genius.

17

No one’s mentioned gigolo… Or is that too much like work?

18

Ah, retirement, it’s wasted on the old. :rolleyes:

19

This is the only one I can really comment on, having attempted to go the musician route before. The problem is, all those professions look like they require no work at all, but they do.

Like the song “Money For Nothing” by Dire Straits; it’s a musicians inside joke. These two moving men wish they were musicians so they wouldn’t have to move anymore. If they did start a band they would be…moving. Moving heavy cabinets, amps, instruments, PA’s,setting them up, jumping around for two hours, moving all your crap out again at two in the morning after drinking beer all night, driving home or to your hotel room and loading it in yet again at four in the morning. Then get up and go to your moving man day job until you can afford to quit it. Even once you get famous after years of moving your own stuff, you have to supervise all of the people who are now doing your loading and setup for you, and play 300+ shows a year, etc. etc. etc.

But you did hit on the secret to living without working. If you enjoy it, it’s not really work-

20

Commenting on number four as a writer, I can tell you that writing is very, very hard work. In fact, I’d say it’s much harder than anything I’ve ever done. Not only is luck necessary, but so is the ability to actually finish a novel. Easier said than done. My total salary for writing in the last three years is still less than I would be making in only one month as a programmer if I were full time, and none of that is for fiction writing.

My serious advice: work for one year saving up as much money as you can. I mean seriously scrape. Then quit for a year, living off your savings. You actually might find you don’t enjoy it as much as you think. Or you might find you love it, but in the meantime, you’ll figure out what you’d rather be doing.

P.S. If I can ever make as much as a writer as I’m making now as a programmer, I will quit and write full time.