Because some of them would constantly nag you for money and have an entitled attitude? I know my parents would never ask me for money but my cousins probably would. I think I would never talk to them again. When you have money of that size you can’t trust anybody.
I would also definitely lose many, many friends because they will expect me to pay when we go out.
Would you be willing to discard many of your family and friends?
Well, no, but I think I’d be a lot more willing to part with my money. If I’m going out to eat, yeah, I’m probably going to treat most of the time. It just seems tacky to dicker over who ordered what when for one of you money isn’t an object. And I don’t think I’d go around giving gifts to all and sundry, but I’d definitely give a lot to my parents. I don’t think they’d necessarily ask, but it would be weird not to.
At $500 million, it’s not even a factor. That’s a sum that’s actually hard to spend unless you’re buying absolutely ridiculous things for both you and everyone you like.
But let’s say it’s a more typical sum, say, $6 million. That’s a fabulous sum, but you can easily be bled dry, and that’s the fate of a lot of people who come into sudden windfalls of that size. Facebook was all abuzz recently over a woman who has spent half her lottery winnings bailing her boyfriend out of jail multiple times. That’s an unusual case, but what isn’t unusual is helping out so many of your friends and family that the money starts to get low, and that’s when you finally have to have “the talk” with everyone, but by then it’s probably too late.
I would definitely expect to pay for dinner whenever went out with friends. I have a friend who helped found a computer company and got out with $100 million who does exactly that. As for relatives, I might give one-time gifts, but would cut them off if they nagged me. But I don’t have any like that AFAIK.
Friends? I may lose a couple but not very many at all. I am kind of odd with equally odd friends; from very successful doctors and lawyers to warehouse workers - many of whom have become friends with each other through me. They all seem to get along well with each other now so I would expect them to continue to get along with me if my situation changed.
Family? I barely have contact with mothers side now and Dads side are more the kind who like to do/get everything on their own. So overall I think I’m safe.
I’d like to think the family I’m close to now would not change much if I were rich. Granted aunts, uncles and cousins I’m not close to would come out of the woodwork, but I don’t talk to them right now anyway.
As far as friends, I don’t know how they would react.
Personally if I were super rich I think I’d pay off the mortgages of all my friends and family. I live in a low cost of living area and could probably do that for less than a million for ten ish people.
I’d probably set aside a set amount each year, maybe 1% of net worth for charity and helping people and when I’m tapped out then come back next year. At 500 million growing at 4% that would leave more than enough.
I can think of one relative who would definitely have his hand out - Mr. Entitled has taken advantage of us in the past, and we’re far from rich, but we’ve always been better off than he is because we work and save. He, like the rest of the immediate family, would get a generous gift, then the gravy train would depart the station. Picking up a dinner tab wouldn’t be a biggie, but we wouldn’t be giving out new cars and fabulous vacations…
Not that I ever expect this to happen, as in the big powerball drawing, we won a whopping $4!
My best friend, who I literally would trust my life with, would never ask about it. Perhaps after a couple years he would bring it up in passing but I doubt before.
Certain members of my family would turn into a pain in the ass. Not my brothers and sister, but within their kids I suspect.
For my friends it wouldn’t be a big deal. I’ve made 4-5 times their household income for most of the last decade so I don’t think that there would be a terrible difference day to day. I pay most of the time for what we do especially if its over what they can afford and at worst we split the tab. I’d give each of them 120K tax free and that would be all they get.
I don’t talk to my extended family so there would be no change.
Sure there would be. They’d talk to you.
Most of my friends are my friends because they are not that kind of person.
But I can imagine there might be some strain with “investment opportunities”.
e.g. long-term friend asks if you can help fund her lifelong dream of performing comedy dance routines. She’s convinced it will make money, and you cannot be sure that it will not, but your expectation is very low.
I think dealing with this kind of situation tactfully would be difficult, and I can easily imagine losing chunks of money this way.