Why do you write this here ?
Its about working less L E S S
No doubt hardworkers like yourself are the cornerstone of North-America, exploited by the people at the bottom and the top.
Work hard, smart, whatever. Just WORK and don't expect handouts.
Working smarter is the ultimate goal. But you need a foundation. You don't find a 6 figure income without taking baby steps. Your investments don't show stronger returns until you've built them up and learned the whatever game it is that you're playing. This is the ultimate goal, reducing work hours and the stress inherent in working hard. But what I'm saying is while we're young and capable, work hard and get this foundation setup. People need to be realistic and this is where people's plans fall apart. Some people don't try at all and they get frustrated, not working at all and going straight to the miserable stage.
You don't want to be bricklaying your financial goals in your older years when you're tired and incapable. That's why I'm making hay while the sun is shining. I don't want to plug in long hours for much longer. My daughter's just 4 months old and as she gets more mobile I'd like to start scaling back the hours. With the game plan I've setup I should be able to do this. Right now I'm young and energetic. I'm becoming angrier and crankier by the day, but as long as I keep plugging away at the current pace I'll be financially secured and able to scale back the work hours before I go batshit on someone for looking at me stupidly.
All all seriousness though, working smarter is the way to go. If I had a turnkey operation I'd go for that in a heartbeat. But the safest bet is to keep my day job, put money away into retirement funds and other small investments, don't accrue consumer debt (this one killed me and kills tons of people) and not being a lazy bastard.
PS @ESFitness, apparently Costco pays a really competitive wage for scanning groceries and has full benefits. My brother-in-law works there and has just purchased his second home, so he's doing well. He hooks me up with a Costco card too which is awesome. I've never had to pay for my Costco card and he doesn't even live in Canada. Costco is good in my books!