Many people answer this question with a hearthelt 'YEAH!'

well there are benefits to it. we need to pay for home and food and other bills, and somehow save for retirement. most new businesses fail for various reasons, so it's a safer way to start out. and if you do it right, you gain skills that serve you later on. when i started out, i saw it as training to get myself to a place where i was a known quantity and could effectively try to do what i wanted to do. it worked out well enough for me, so it can work.

There are a lot of benefits to working. Money not even being the most important. But people whose life almost entirely revolves around their job are missing out on a lot of good stuff in life, IMHO.

Check out Choose FI or some of the other financial independence podcasts, they're all about escaping the rat race.

'Choose F1 (one)'? Choose 'Fl (the letter L)' or 'FI' (capital letter i?)?

Capital i, Choose Financial Independence

Been at my job for 17 years now. Because it, I own two cars, a boat, take vacations ( Philly this year, Cleveland last year, Savana, Charleston, DC....) And my house will be paid off in five years. I retire in seven.
Through work I have traveled to England, Scotland and China plus places in US. I now make more money than I ever have and do less physical labor than ever for it.
How? I worked hard yes. I earned the respect of my coworkers and my managers. Now in my later years, that early hard work is paying off. I live very comfortably. My corporate manager says he is jealous of me because he doesn't have time for hobbies.

Now to your point. My previous job.... I was there two weeks and was senior employee. No benefits except two weeks vacation they wanted you to work. I needed the money at the time, but moved on when the chance opened. That kind of work was not worth the money.

You did well!

Thanks for proving my point: working so others can spend money on things you don't agree with. That's exactly what this meme is about. Tip: look into this thing called 'part time work'. Very normal in a lot of countries where they realised working 60 hours a week is just beneficial for a happy few. But if you want to work hard and a lot to enrich others and hopefully be able to enjoy a few years of retirement, by all means!