One thing I always thought about being so wealthy is you must always wonder if anyone is really your friend or really loves you.
If I was rich I’d keep a low profile I think.
If I was rich I’d keep a low profile I think.
You are smart.
I found that the older I got, the less money I needed to live on.
I made a big bunch in my early 40’s and quit to run my own business. Then retired. I don’t have tens of millions. But I pay my bills. I can go on a trip. I am not leaving my kids a lot.
My tax plan is to have my last check bounce.
It is interesting to consider their side. The ‘lottery winner’ problems that might arise with sudden wealth would be different than these two, who had a bit of luck with timing but otherwise both had nice tech jobs and earned their money.
Not all family members or friends would be in similar circumstances. So they kind of grew apart from them over time. The bit about the 6 year old asking if they were going in the private jet was neat. Seems like good parenting to fly commercial after that.
At some point in the wealth building track, Seneca’s words from a couple of thousand years ago might start to make sense: “It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.”
People who are wealthy should avoid making their wealth their social identity.
I would definitely keep a low profile. Gold diggers, the “relatives” who magically appear for the first time, suck ups just hoping you’ll sprinkle some cash on them.....Yuck! Not the kind of people I want to be around. I also don’t want to be around snobs. My dad was a doc. We were members at a couple country clubs - one because it had a pool and tennis courts and was nearby. The other was a beach club that started out free to join and by the time I was a teenager cost as much as a nice new car to join. I got to see snobs up close as a kid. My parents and I always detested people like that. My parents called it “the money disease”.