Could you tell which of your friends at school would end up rich?

[gollyquinn]

or which ones would be successful?

Thinking back to my group of friends at school - those of us who went to uni - it was obvious who would end up being wealthy. Yet equally there were some who you’d never expect.

One girl friend of mine really changed in her late 20s and started a lingerie related business which she’s sold for millions. In her early 20s she was a crazy party animal and working odd jobs.

A guy friend from school was lovely but really quite geeky, went to Cambridge to study history, became a lawyer and now is a partner at a law firm raking in millions a year. He was obviously always a star.

Well I certainly assumed those of doctor/lawyer parents would also become wealthy, and they did. The only one shocker was a girl with a top surgeon father, she was absolutely ruthless and would only befriend those who were not a competitor like me. She was mean girl and was aspiring to do medicine and certainly seemed to be going that way. Post A levels she went completely off the radar and it was years later I saw a photo of her on social media, she had completely ballooned (was always very into appearance) and was studying a very basic college course when we were in our late 20s. I messaged her, she messaged back to say she found it very hard to trust people on the internet and that medicine wasn't for her. I can only assume she had some sort of very serious MH problems, but I was very shocked that she wasn't excelling in some sort of medical field.

Spill!!!

Not sure what most of them are doing. One who went to my school is mega rich (lives in Monte Carlo) but was the daughter of a retail "tycoon". Most seem to be living very average lives. Quite a lot have emigrated and are, I suspect, having a better quality of life than if they'd stayed here.

I knew which ones would be successful, but I didn't predict which one would be the future millionaire.

The school bully died a drug-related death. I didn't expect her to do well, but I didn't expect that either. With hindsight, I feel really sorry for her.

Initials LG
Think 90s Brit Pop but still touring/popular now

I know one true millionaire from my school. He really struggled at school, got no qualifications and was diagnosed too late for help, as dyslexic. He left school and set up his own business and NBA’s been so successful.
My friend who lived in the ‘posh’ area of town, who was spoiled rotten by her parents and always got what she asked for, went on to marry into money.
Marriage didn’t work out, but after her divorce she re- married for money. I could never imagine her being with a low earner and living in a council house due to her upbringing.
Other than those two, I think the rest of us are just living bog standard lives.

Yes, girl who was out drinking at 14/15, father a bit of a gangster type, has ended up married to a notorious ex politician older than our parents, reminds me of melania trump
If anyone would marry an aged millionaire, it was her

@Echobelly

I do find it funny that there are two or three guys who seem to be doing the whole 'Business Guru' thing, touting themselves on linkedin as speakers and workshop leaders.

I know (of) someone at my school who became a 'business guru' and went to prison for fraud. It doesn't seem to have put him off, he's touting himself as some kind of mindfulness guru now.

One of my DH's best friends is now a multi-millionaire. He came from moderately wealthy family but set up a very successful business which is worth tens of millions.

A girl in my year is now a very high earning international barrister. She was very studious and worked hard at school.

Noone else as far as I'm aware although I'm hoping DH will sell his business in a few years which will make us millionaires 😂 Don't think anyone would expect that from him as he is/was quiet and averagely academic at school.

I wonder if Micky Flannagan’s classmates & teachers knew he’d do even more than ‘drive the van’? :) I’ll bet they did…

No, I don't think I could tell. I don't know anyway, as I didn't keep in touch with any of them.

I’ll add that when we had a school reunion - the yr we all turned 50 - the millionaire hadn’t changed a bit: always was a lovely bloke. I did find it telling, however, that the few former teachers there really only showed interest in speaking to him. Understandable, I guess in that he was the only one to become famous.

I found that a bit tragic. Some teachers came to a 30 year reunion and were kind of fawning over the "popular kids". It was cringe. Not sure anybody else felt that though. I sensed I was alone thinking eoow

Yes definitely. But as others have said, not for academic reasons. Being popular and attractive (whether male or female) helps enormously more than an A* A Level maths. Upbringing helps. Rich kids who had nice houses and families, grow up to have nice houses and lovely families.

I don't think any of my friends are properly 'rich' though they have jobs, homes and families so definitely successful. My friends tended to be the kids that worked quite hard so there was no reason for them not to get jobs etc.

I'm not sure what the kids who barely turned up to school and hung around on street corners every night are up to.

From social media, a girl I went to school with who now seems to have the wealthiest lifestyle is a girl who was always very spoilt by her parents financially and I think her life has just carried on in that way.

I'm not usually this bitter of a person but there was one girl in school who was quite the outcast and bullied but was also a bully herself as I used to be friends with her until I "wasn't popular enough". She used to tell us all how we were jealous because she was going to make something of her life and be so successful and we would be stuck working in McDonald's.

Had a nosey at her fb a while back and turns out she is a dishwasher in a pub.

I don't think there's anything wrong with that, I've even done it myself, just to make it clear but the way she used to go on and shame people for not being as intelligent as her, that was definitely not the career choice she had in mind. I remember she had a fit in school when the "stupid" people got unconditional offers for the uni and courses she wanted to do and she got wait listed 🙈

Yes generally it was the ones who had already had family money. They aren’t necessarily super high earners but they got huge help to get on the property ladder in their early 20s which makes a big difference.

I went to a highly academic all girls school and everyone came from fairly wealthy families. What has surprised me is the majority of friends did not go to uni, they got average jobs, got happily married and had kids. They were all very serious about school and I assumed they were therefore super ambitious. (I did not fit into any of the above). Nothing wrong with any of that, but as someone who slacked off because I didn’t see the point of anything (I had problems) I really struggle to understand what drove them to work so hard at school when they weren’t striving to be ambitious career wise.

Two people I knew became very successful and fairly well off but I didn’t see it at the time either.

To me it’s all quite bizarre.

I became quite ambitious late on due to wanting to turn my life around, I think I’m compensating for my lack of wealth background, lack of financial help from parents, fed up of being seen as the troubled one….so I have that to reflect on. Everyone else seems happy to just chill like they don’t need anything “more”.