To think alot of people who have money/assets generally are clueless and lack empathy for those who don't.

[LindaHamilton]

I was chatting to colleague today about the UK couple who won the 61 million in the lotto. Colleague is much better paid than me and owns a house here in South East... She started ranting about how nobody needs that money and ''you'd get bored blah blah blah''

Other colleague also on a much better salary than me, who was given a big inheritance last year said similar and that she wouldn't want to win the lotto and why would anybody want that money?

On a similar note I'm reading many posts tonight on here and people saying their inheritance they received was no big deal and I've seen threads like this before. Basically people who got inheritances telling people who got none to stop complaining and to be happy. Easy to bloody say when you were given an inheritance....

AIBU to think there is a massive lack of empathy here? And people with money try to act like it's no big deal and think that those who don't have it should just suck it up?

Most of the well off people I know got there through luck and being born at the right time. I know people who retired in their early 50’s due to luck on the housing market, who had they been born 20 years later would be working to pension age and beyond, but they put it down to working hard all their lives. But pretty much everyone employed works hard, the lowest paid jobs I have done have been the hardest and the most physically demanding with the least job security.

There is such hatred for inherited wealth that they are perhaps just playing it down.

I've said this many times before on here. 27 years ago, almost, I lost a son, born at 27 weeks with a congenital heart condition incompatible with life. My feelings are still:

Firstly that I'd have happily lived in a cardboard box if we could have kept him.

Secondly, there are parts of the following year I can barely remember because I was in a dark place and even then there weren't fora to turn to for suppprt. However I am well aware that it would have been a thousand times harder had we been skint. I look back on those times and imagine how much worse things would have been if there had been no money. It was a dreadful time but not as dreadful as it could have been.

This thread is absolutely abysmal.

So very sorry @RosesAndHellebores. 💐

My second son was stillborn over 40 years ago and your comment about living in a cardboard box so resonates with me. We were skint when it happened but no amount of money would have made it any better. That kind of pain is no respecter of wealth or status.

And would you consider those who have overcome poverty to go on to be rich a sizable percentage? I wonder how many have just that...
I remember one of my housemates at Uni telling me that if she couldn't find a job for the summer her mother, who was on benefits, genuinely couldn't afford to feed her - I had never considered that level of poverty existed.

They usually have a point though - having come from nothing they’re the people who know it’s possible to put yourself on the path to a better future if you work hard at it.

Hard work isn’t just about working 12 hour days in a job you hate, it’s about making choices to put yourself on a trajectory to a better future - even if it’s one tiny step at a time.

I can’t say I have a lot of sympathy / empathy for those who moan about how hard life is, but for whatever reason don’t do anything about it.

I suppose it depends what you mean by overcoming poverty. To me, overcoming poverty is moving to a life where you have 'enough'. Not rich, you can just pay all your bills and feed your family without stress.

We received a reasonable amount of inheritance.

We have both also worked hard all our lives, and have never been the sort to blow our money on some of the crap that others do.

I have all the empathy in the world for people less well off than ourselves.

Very little for people who whine about it, when they won't get off their backsides and work hard for it, or who insist on having all the latest gadgets, iPhones, new cars, etc, which are all bought on credit, just to keep up appearances.

I too can't see how anyone could possible NEED the amount that the couple you're talking about have won.

It would be far better if instead of having these massive payouts, there were more small ones, say up to £5 million.

You are exactly the person the OP is talking about, Lazypeopledrivemecrazy.

I have all the empathy in the world for people less well off than ourselves. Really?

I think it's easy to forget, and easy not to look at your own privilege. I hope I do remember- stuff like the bailiff at our door when I was 16, and having to sell our house because my dad had guaranteed a loan to fraudsters. But note that we did have a house to sell, and although we had to move in with relatives, our relatives had spare rooms, and my mum had a decent job and got given money by her mum to get another house. So although that feeling of instability and loss stays with me, we were never homeless and we had the resources of privilege to call on. And although i reakky was skint in my 20s and 30s, i still made decisikns that someone with financial confidence would make. Things have got financially better and better since I was in my late 40s. I just hope I don't forget.

I akao think it's not unreasonable to think that nobody needs £61million. I genuinely think that would be incredibly destabilising and demotivating. To me that's a different conversation.

The estate pays 45% tax on its income and every 10 years 6% on the value of its property. This has been reported in more serious sections of the press. A writer noted that based on average property yields the annual tax bill would be over £70m and the 6% lump sum charge would be £600m. That would put him into one of the highest taxpayers in the country - by accident.

Your post rings true , but having said that , most big win lottery winners don't end up happy . Lots of relationships fail , they chase big houses , lots of cars etc and that alone does not being happiness per se.

It would be much better if the lottery was capped at a certain amount ( in the millions , let's say 10 )

You'd buy tickets with numbers already on and a amount of lottery tickets numbers would come up ( bit like a raffle )

That way you'd get a few winners set up for life,with more likelihood of coping with the amount won.

A few tickets could also be charity ones so they also benefit .

Exactly.

Life is massively more difficult if you don't grow up with the sort of advantages and support networks that the more privileged people do, such as generational wealth, supportive and intact family unit, high quality education, secure housing, parents with good contacts who push you forward, inheritance etc etc etc.

Yes, I see it all of the time in here and in real life.

Tone deaf is what I’d call it

Wow.

I'm no longer surprised people in this country keep voting Conservative, regardless how inept and destructive they are.

Yeah, it's all about choices. That's right.

Well he's being honest isnt he, what do you expect him to say 'well I started off working 12 hour shifts in a meat packing factory'

Another astonishingly tone deaf and un-self-aware post.

I am not sure I agree that wealthy people can't feel empathy for those who are struggling.

We made a decision to buy a property slightly further out. As opposed to those who can only dream of getting on the property ladder.

My dad was wealthy.

until we had bought our forever home

my mum was much more generous and helped us all financially

I empathise with people who are struggling but sometimes I see that they struggle to save or wait until they can afford things and make in my opinion poor choices.

There is only so much money you can have before it becomes meaningless. Life cannot just be about money. Only the comfortably off ever say stuff like this.

Eye-opening thread, this.

I'm always fascinated when people who have inheritance say it's not lucky or w/e because to get inheritance a family member died. I get the sentiment but...people who don't get inheritance also have family members die.

Why should people empathise? Because it's one of the things that makes us human.

I notice on here and IRL that people overlook luck and chance in how they've got to a certain position. And feel defensive that you're insinuating they haven't worked for things. But both aspects can be true.

I got my (admittedly not very well paid) job through knowing someone else that worked there. I didn't have an interview, or prove I was a better candidate than anyone else. (Luck)

The reason I live in a nice house is because DH got on the property ladder when he was young and had a property with equity. (Luck) Relying on my own salary, I wouldn't be on the property ladder at all.

The reason he got on the property ladder young was through hard work and it was a time where property was more affordable. He will argue it was ,all due to hard work til the cows come home, but realistically the ratio of wages: property prices was a lot lower in the 80s.

When you read on threads where people earn 100k+ most will say hard work, determination, drive, taking opportunities etc all those be true but often (not always) there is an element of chance or luck, or privilege as well. Even just being naturally gifted (eg iq or intelligence, sport, art etc) gives you a headstart ahead of others in those areas.

I agree op

The truth is that 99% people reading this thread won the lottery....they day they were born: a majority of the world population leave in impoverished countries. There are still hundreds and hundreds of millions of people who leave with just one dollar per day. Let's not forget the war-torn countries and dictatorships either.

So instead of wasting your lives whining, be thankful for what you have.

The estate pays 45% tax on its income - I'm curious as to which tax are they paying? The estate isn't a person so won't be paying income tax - corporation tax isn't 45%?

This discussion just reminded me of this:

I work for some wealthy people. Some comments have left me slightly blindsided. “ There has always been poverty”’for one!

I’m sure it’s true that money doesn’t but happiness (I wouldn’t know- I’m not minted) but I’m sure I’d rather cry in secure housing with all my bills easily paid.