I had no idea that my friend is a multi millionaire!!

The poor friends, they clearly haven’t bragged about their wealth or done anything to make you feel inferior, and yet here you are listening to gossip and “researching” them online.

This reflects really poorly on you. What a shame.

Friendships are worth more than money, yes, why should it matter?

I don’t see why this would trouble you in any way. Except if they aren’t paying their way in terms of rounds reciprocated etc, but that would be an issue even if they were just normally placed financially, as that’s just about manners.
What they have and how they spend it hasn’t affected your friendship so far and is nothing to do with you. They don’t owe you expensive gifts at Christmas anymore than they would were they poor.
We have friends that are immensely wealthy. We are pleased for them and DH occasionally ruefully looks at the man’s supercars and sighs. Other than that we just have a normal friendship with them.

Really? Mixing friendship and money is a faster way to ruin a friendship than going nosying online and being upset by what you find. My bank account is for me to allocate not you to eye up.

It doesn’t matter how much money they have they can spend it how they wish. I have several friends that are millionaires some multi and they are very frugal which probably helps. I’m very generous and will never be a millionaire🤣

Well all I can say is I was profoundly disappointed by the revelation.

I chose this thread from the "trending box" which said "I had no idea that my friend is a ..." and was expecting "swinger" - which I'd have found far more entertaining than millionaire.

Ffs. You have no idea if they are multimillionaires or not. You don’t know what his salary is! The value of the company is not their personal wealth unless they were to sell it. You cannot take money from your business and spend it personally.

For all you know he pays himself £150k.

I think your friend has been great for not telling you about her financial standing. Especially given what effect the discovery of their wealth is doing to you.

I do get why you would be shocked

however, by the sounds of things almost none of that company is liquid cash and they are just extracting a salary from it in the normal range so are not living any sort of rich lifestyle.

as for profit . It could be loss making (would need to see the accounts) despite the turnover. It could be very niche and hard to sell should they want to realise the value so effectively the assets are of no real value to them on a day to day basis. I assume all they will do is pass the company on to their children and the value of the assets aren’t realised. But yes technically they could if they needed to.

Remember they might have been gifted the company themselves but they are the ones keeping it going and maintaining the value which isn’t easy so I don’t think it’s fair to make out that somehow it’s easier for them just because they didn’t get it up from scratch!

You are definitely not unreasonable. That’s very mad and this thread is madder. So if My pal who lives next door in a house just like mine turns out to be a billionaire, this is no big deal and totally normal?

They is being tight and there is being fair. I assume you are not buying more drinks because you think that can’t afford it, you just want to have a good time and they are going along with it.

I think just knock the gift giving on the head. I think as an adult it’s tedious anyway, and she clearly values your friendship outside of the gifts you give her.

Start cutting back slowing on your spending with them. Determine what you are going to spend on a night out. You can’t help
how you feel if you are being more generous with less and there is no point pretending that it isn’t causing tension. au would feel the same in your situation.

Well done on your house. It’s a great achievement. You have security and that is fabulous.

I had been feeling quite good recently about money, as we pay off our mortgage later this year (house worth about £340k for context), and we will have a reasonable amount in savings. Now I just feel a bit Meh, as we will never attain anything like this
You're never going to be happy with this attitude. Seriously, what is the point?!
You said yourself you've been feeling fairly good recently as you're in a good position about to pay off your mortgage and have good savings.
Yet you go all "meh" and "s'not fair!" when you hear of others?!
Either bask in self inflicted "miseryness" or enjoy what you do have.

Well exactly. No judgment here. Just saying ‘wealth’ doesn’t necessarily show in how you gift/dress/buy rounds of drinks. 100 percent behind handing down clothes.

What a nasty, mean-spirited "friend" you are.

Someone can be ‘stingy’ or not depending on the audience. If you don’t want to make someone feel awkward and/or see you as a resource, then you’re going to be careful in how you spend around them.

If you spend as some people think the wealthy ‘should’ then it can be ‘so profligate! They’re showing off!’, and/or ‘they should pay for me, after all they can afford it’. Conversely, if you don’t then it’s ‘stingy!’. Financial disparity can entirely change the dynamics of relationships, and as such, it’s hardly surprising that some prefer for their financial standing to remain private.

Also, there is a difference between net worth and liquid wealth.

On paper I am a director of a company that turns over 2 million. However, I can confirm, I am definitely not a millionaire and sometimes have to sacrifice part of my earnings ( dividend ) as the cash flow just simply won’t allow. Most months I also end up in my over draft despite trying not to over spend. I’ve also not had a pay rise in 3 years.

That’s not being stingy?

Echoing other people that the majority of wealthy people I've known are also extremely tight. To the point where it can even be offensive, like your gift situation/reluctant to buy rounds etc.
However I was raised that we don't talk about finances and that is supposed to stay private, so it wouldn't have been something I'd expect them to share. In fact if they did, it could even be deemed as bragging about their fortune.
Although saying that, just by looking at the price of their house, it's no secret that they're doing alright for themselves.

The issue I would have is having an extremely close friend or relative in this financial situation & not offering to invest a little in my business.

What’s it got to do with you?

😂

This thread is simply insane!
MN at it's craziest. 😂

Ps I'm a multi billionaire with my own very successful business but I just drive a crap car and shop in Lidl so none of my friends, who are all on benefits, would ever guess how fabulously wealthy I really am.

My brother has been a millionaire since mid 20s. I’m a single mom who is way older than him. 1 salary. I get on with it. I’m mega proud of my brother. It is what it is. He’s not fast with getting the drinks in either! I just have learnt to live with his life is not my life.

At least 2 of mine are!

I don't really understand how "discovering" this changes anything. You have always known that there are people far richer than you- why does it change anything that you have known one of them for years?
You are obviously dissatisfied with your life- otherwise why would you research the net worth of your friends?
Your life is good- how does this change anything, saying you want to be rich so you can buy properties for your kids is really quite unconvincing.