The term "passive income" currently generates 14.2 million monthly searches on Google, a figure that has tripled since the 2008 financial crisis. Most of these searches are conducted by individuals looking for a digital escape hatch from the traditional forty-hour work week. They are sold a vision of automated dropshipping stores and self-publishing empires that require nothing more than an initial setup and a stable internet connection. It is a seductive, profitable, and largely fraudulent narrative.

The reality of wealth accumulation is far more demanding than the "set and forget" philosophy suggests. In my four decades covering the London Stock Exchange and the venture capital corridors of Sand Hill Road, I have yet to meet a truly wealthy individual who does not work harder than their employees. They are not working on the assembly line, but they are obsessively managing the systems that keep that line moving. Wealth is not a destination you reach and then park; it is a high-maintenance machine that requires constant calibration.