History Main / NonIdleRich

Sometimes overlaps with {{Fiction 500}}, CrimefightingWithCash, RichKidTurnedSocialActivist, or RichIdiotWithNoDayJob (when they pretend to be idle in public).

*** Lord John Lamont Quackett. The second son of a British duke, he's filthy rich... And took part in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI as an AcePilot. He also moonlights as the title character to [[VigilanteMan punish the hypocrites of Duckburg]] while playing the part of a RichIdiotWithNoDayJob.

** Bruce himself qualifies in ''both'' personas. He's just good at confusing people into thinking he's a RichIdiotWithNoDayJob, as he is at being Batman.
** Bruce in ''Film/BatmanForever'' is shown (briefly) running Wayne Enterprises. It's definitely a job, but considering he's not only CEO but also Chairman of the Board and a majority stockholder, he only has to answer to himself if he decides to take a day ... or a decade ... off.

* Literature/LordPeterWimsey, [[BlueBlood aristocrat]] detective, though he often pretends to be a RichIdiotWithNoDayJob.

* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' writer Simon Rich was born into a wealthy family (his dad is New York Times legend Frank Rich) and attended Harvard and elite NYC private schools. Also doubles as an IncrediblyLamePun.

* David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowden, is the son of [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfWindsor Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon]] and nephew of UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen. He makes furniture. Bespoke furniture, yes, but he does seem to have handled the physical assembly, at least in his younger days.

* ''Anime/PumpkinScissors'': It's this part of Alice Malvin's personality that usually wins over those still consider her just another of the idle rich.

** Dr. Hodgins, a.k.a. the "bugs and slime guy" is an heir to the Cantilever Group, a powerful corporation.

*** In one episode when a funding cut will result in one of the interns having to go, there end up being ''two'' "anonymous" monetary donations, each of which is enough to allow the Jeffersonian to keep the intern's position. Both Hodgins and Brennan look rather smug when this is announced.

* Medical examiner Sid Hammerback from ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' made millions from selling the patent on his specially-designed neck-support pillow. Not only did he keep on performing autopsies, he ''never even told most of his co-workers'' he'd become a millionaire, and gave most of the money away to a university for a forensics school.

* The eponymous married couple in the 1980s TV series ''Series/HartToHart'' (played by Robert Wagner and Stephanie Powers) were multimillionaires. They also happened to be private detectives who doggedly pursue whatever cases they've taken on.
* In ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', Peter Petrelli was this (a nurse) before becoming super empowered. In his case, though, he likely didn't accept any money from his family because they're ridiculously corrupt.

* Dennis Farina's character Joe Fontana on ''Franchise/LawAndOrder''. There was even a B-story in which Detective Green notes that Fontana dresses in tailored suits, drives a $100,000 car, and lives in a penthouse condo and wonders how he can afford all that on a cop's salary. Turns out that Fontana's grandfather was the "original Chef Luigi" (a BlandNameProduct version of Chef Boyardee) and Fontana has been living on his share of the family fortune since he was a teenager.

** In "Mr. Whipple", the titlular character is a wealthy entrepreneur who has often worked as a "dollar-a-year" man advising various government agencies.

** Also in TheMovie GrandFinale, there's Mr. Lawrence Nolan, the wealthy newpaper editor and owner of a local television station.
* Harold Finch in ''Series/PersonOfInterest'', hacker, software engineer, businessman, para-legal insurance executive and uses his unaccounted billions to fund his own crime-fighting organisation.
* The point of ''Series/ThePhilanthropist''.
** Teddy wasn't always so hands-on. It started in the pilot by accident and since then, he prefers to get personally involved instead of just cutting a check. Naturally, the board of directors is very concerned that the face of their company (not to mention a part-owner) is risking his life somewhere instead of doing his job and looking pretty on camera.
* ''Series/PoshNosh'': Minty fits this, with Simon pretending that he does.

* ''Series/{{Succession}}'': The fantastically wealthy Roy is personally involved in the day-to-day running of its media empire, with the octogenarian family patriarch Logan hold onto his position of CEO in spite of health concerns. He's placed his sons in high positions of power in the company ([[{{Nepotism}} though they don't deserve them]]) and his daughter has a career as a campaign manager for the Democratic Party. Only his eldest son Connor "does nothing," though Connor resents this description.

* Will Smith's character in ''Film/BadBoys'' is a rich-kid playboy as well as a bad-ass cop.

[[quoteright:330:[[Film/{{Red}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/victoria_beautiful_wealthy_assassin_8947.jpg]]]]

* Keqing of ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'' is one of the wealthiest people in Liyue as a member of the [[MerchantPrince Liyue Qixing]], yet she is far from afraid to get her hands dirty, often taking on menial jobs in order to better understand the perspective and needs of the workers, as her personal belief is that [[TaughtByExperience strength and knowledge come from experience]].

* Keqing of ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'' is one of the most wealthy people in Liyue as a member of the [[MerchantPrince Liyue Qixing]], yet she is far from afraid to get her hands dirty, often taking on menial jobs in order to better understand the perspective and needs of the workers, as her personal belief is that [[TaughtByExperience strength and knowledge come from experience]].

* ''VideoGame/SuikodenV'' has the main character as the Prince of Falena, a youth whose job is basically diplomatic functions, but quickly [[spoiler: following a coup where his parents are murdered and he must flee the same fate]], becomes leader of an army. It's hinted that, before [[spoiler: his mother died]], she was preparing him to be a major power player against the [[SmugSnake Salum Barows]] and [[BaldOfEvil Marscal Godwin]]. This also extends to his aunt, Sialeeds, who does many of the same things.* ''VideoGame/StreetsOfRogue'' allows you to invoke this when playing as an investment banker or [[spoiler:upper cruster]], which are both implied to be quite wealthy by the standards of the setting and have advantages that reflect this.

* Mitsuru Kirijo from ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' is the wealthy heiress to the Kirijo Group, which is a multinational conglomerate that's about as influential in her world as Google or Amazon is to ours. She still goes out into the field to fight in Tartarus like the rest of [=SEES=].

* Charlie Crews from ''Series/{{Life}}'', whose wealth comes from a $50 mil compensation for a wrongful 12-year stint in prison after being sentenced to life. He's a detective because that's what he was before and what he considers himself to be.

* Literature/PhryneFisher works as a private detective - mostly to stave off boredom, but also because she has a natural talent as a detective - despite being wealthy enough not to have to work at all.

* In Creator/WenSpencer's ''Literature/UkiahOregon'' series, Max Bennett is a multimillionaire from the software startup he took public in the late 90s. He now works as a PrivateDetective specializing in missing persons, in memory of his wife who went missing mysteriously while he was traveling. * A good many of the characters in the Literature/VorkosiganSaga. Many are Vor nobility who devote their time to defense, administration or judging civil and criminal cases, one or two are entrepreneurs or industrialists, the Emperor's wife was a lobbyist from a family of [[MerchantPrince Merchant Princes]] and the commanders of the Dendarii are mercenaries. Even poor Ivan isn't really idle rich although goodness knows he tries hard enough to be.

** His brother-in-law also qualifies: after marrying the very rich Lady Mary, Chief Inspector Parker remains a
detective. (And they even put her money into a trust for their children, just in case Parker is ever tempted.)

* The titular protagonist of {{Creator/Ngaio Marsh}}'s ''The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries'' series, Roderick Alleyn, is a working police officer despite being the younger son of a baronet, having found his previous work in the Foreign Office too unchallenging. Later, Lord Michael Lamprey asks to join the force in the short story "I Can Find My Way Out", and he assists Alleyn as a constable in ''Opening Night'' (American title ''Night at the Vulcan'').

* ComicBook/{{Sunspot}}, Brazilian billionaire turned [[Franchise/XMen mutant]] superhero. At one point he's deported back to Brazil and has to temporarily return to a 'regular' rich lifestyle, and he finds that he hates being idle and not helping people.

* Bruce Wayne's parents in ''Film/BatmanBegins''. Dr. Thomas Wayne has that huge company, but he prefers to leave the management of the company to more interested men.

* Wrestling/VinceMcMahon could have stayed behind the scenes running the Wrestling/WWE without ever appearing on television. Instead, he's done everything from ringside commentating on WWE shows to personally testing safety equipment to [[CoolOldGuy personally competing in wrestling matches himself]] at an age when many men would be thinking about retirement. A lifelong amateur bodybuilder, even in his seventies he has a physique that would shame most men half his age. His children [[Wrestling/ShaneMcMahon Shane]] and [[Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon Stephanie]] followed in his footsteps, appearing as characters and competing in their own grueling wrestling matches, Shane in particular notorious for his borderline insane stunts involving him jumping off high places onto someone else.

->'''Bruce Wayne:''' Is that where you work?\\

* In the Lewis Carroll-inspired manga ''Manga/PandoraHearts'', the 19th-century land in which it is set is governed by four dukedoms, which are in charge of running the organisation known as Pandora, whose job it is to protect the public from and take care of matters involving the dimension known as the Abyss.
* ''Manga/DetectiveConan'': While Detective Ninzaburou Shiratori comes from a very rich family, he is certainly one of the more competent and hardworking police officers there and there's no evidence about him using his family influence to climb the bureaucratic ladder.

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* In ''LightNovel/TheIrregularAtMagicHighSchool'', the engineers of [=FLT=] were initially horrified to hear [[Nepotism one of their shareholders' sons would be joining them]]. Much to their relief, he proved to be a genuinely capable and diligent boy who treats lab work as a refuge from the family that disowned him.