Do rich people feel guilty?

[OneWiseAmberOP]

By rich I mean comfortably private school, buying luxury items and holidays on a regular basis witohut having to save up for it.

If you think you've earned your money and people are just jealous do you not see 'your' money came from extactive capitalistic practices and its taken from the pockets of people who are not rich...?

I don’t have birkins but I have over 200k (Excluding pension and house equity) in the bank…do I feel guilty?!…not in the slightest. My dh and I worked hard for everything we have. It’s not my job to feel guilty for it.

DH and I are retired now, but as NHS consultants, our combined household income topped out at £300,000. Our kids were privately educated and we don’t have to save up for luxuries, so I guess we meet your definition of rich, but I’m not sure how exactly we have made our money through ‘extractive capitalistic practices.’

We’ve had our share of money struggles. Now very comfortable. No guilty feeling here.

But guilt implies having done something wrong. Unless people have got rich through criminal or immoral activities why should they feel guilty?

You know China has the second highest number of millionaires and second most billionaires in the world right?

Why spend time being angry at others good fortune? As long as they haven’t hurt anyone then I don’t think that anyone should feel guilty for what they have.

I've been dirt poor my whole life (slight exaggeration 😂) and I dont see why the rich should feel guilty. And I certainly dont spend my time blaming others for my finances. Or feeling bad that i dont have as mich as some. Comparison is the thief of joy.

Wouldn’t that just be a terrible waste of time?

Truthfully, even if you give poor people an equal slice, equal opportunities, more often than not they will be poor again before too long. It is not as if financial education is not available to everyone- some choose to use it, most don’t. We all have plenty of opportunity. We all have the same amount of time. So no - no guilt whatsoever.

Although I do hope the children who go without, will find a fire in their belly to earn more and escape poverty.

It isn't the fault of the one who has a closet of bikinis' fault that someone's 6 year old cant afford the present they want.
Children need to learn they can't always have what they want

I think everyone should exactly as they please with their money. That includes billionaires.

Well, that's probably because it has a population of 2 billion people. As a percentage of population it's way down the list.

We started with nothing.
DH worked in a very lucrative, niche, industry sector that was physically dangerous, sometimes in a hostile environment. It included staying awake for 48 hours at a time on a fairly regular basis, and often working away from the family for a month at a time, with a turnaround of one week. I was effectively a single mother for a decade.

His job also meant we had to relocate the family to countries as dictated by his employer. Think moving every two years with every single one of these countries a developing nation where Health and Safety didn't exist.

I don't think people are jealous of the wealth we have now, as many people wouldn't be prepared to do what we did. Looking back, you could say that the ones being exploited at the time were the workers, as health and safety is vastly improved nowadays. While the pay and benefits were superb, our wealth was created by hard work, persistence, resilience, saving, and a focus on the future.

It is an industry that depends on multi billion sums in capital investment, so I wouldn't say our wealth came out of the pockets of people who are not rich themselves.

tl;dr
NO.

@OneWiseAmberOP Well it depends if they're rich and materialistic or rich but value life experiences and people over "stuff".

If someone has worked hard to earn their fortune then they should spend it on whatever they like.

But it's important not to lose sight of the fact that life is for living, and not everyone is quite so fortunate as to have those opportunities. A large percentage of the top wealthy people in this country are wealthy due to inheritance and their parents wealth.

If I was wealthy, would I take my family on amazing holidays? Absolutely! Would I buy a nice house and a nice/reliable car? Absolutely! But would I have a wardrobe full of designer bags and clothes? Absolutely not. If I could afford a Birkin then I'd be donating the money to help others instead.

I'm not wealthy but we live comfortably, and are certainly not a materialistic family.

I'm far from rich but because I'm getting on a bit and my DC aren't financially dependent anymore, and I'm at the top of my career, I'm very comfortable. I went on four holidays last year and while my tastes in other areas are modest I can afford to buy what I want when I want it.
I don't feel guilty as such, as I've been dirt poor in the past and think to some extent I've served my dues. But I do feel very aware.
I never take my comfort for granted. I never deny the role good fortune has played, in keeping me healthy enough to earn, being part of a couple and the joint income that brings, and that ive not had to become a carer. I never deny the advantages I had of being a young adult at a time when university was free and house prices more affordable.
I never judge people who are struggling or resent the help they recieve from the state or frame myself as more deserving. Mostly I feel I'm simply luckier, and there but for the grace of God. I'm happy to pay the tax I'm asked to and happy if it goes to those less fortunate.

No 😂 😂 We’re not ‘rich’ but we’re probably the most well off out of our friends (household income of £110k) I don’t feel bad in the slightest that we can do nice things, how are we stopping our friends from doing those things? We’re not asking them to pay for us.

Handing over about £70k a year in tax plus now an extra £10k a year in VAT on private school fees alleviates me of any guilt. I’m more than paying my way in society.

Why though? Nothing I have done has anything to do with this person. I haven't taken anything from them. They don't have any less money because of me. My taxes, or money given to charity might have helped them though. I. Don't understand why I should feel guilty.

There is nothing to expand upon. I answered your question based on your idea of what being ‘rich’ is. No, I don’t feel guilty. Not even remotely.

No
i work hard, made choices and sacrifices.

those who don’t work and sit on benefits should feel much more guilty

hth

I don’t think criminals feel much guilt?

I guess it depends where the wealth comes from but those who do get rich by nefarious means are unlikely to feel guilt in the first place.

So we should all be poor?

If everyone was rich, society would collapse.

No point having the money to build a seventeen bed mansion if there are no workers to construct it.

How would you buy food if there were no farmers or factory workers?

Obvious wind up. Try harder.

No.
I was born overseas. My parents emigrated due to persecution and came with very little financially but they were professionals. Their parents died and they had no inheritance.

There is a large age gap between us siblings as my parents would consider having another child until they knew they could provide a good life for the one(s) they already had.

They put the education of my siblings first and foremost - not private education (they didn’t have the money at the time) but we went to grammar school.
The directed us into degrees that would lead into professions that were secure - no non vocational degrees/clear career path (history with the intention of doing law would have been fine).

My DH and his parents are also immigrants. They lived hand to mouth, working 6 days a week etc, as the squirreled away funds to send him to a local ok-ish private secondary. Those in his class that went to the local state have been struggling throughout out their adult lives. No siblings.
First in his generation to go to university.

We both had an inherent drive. Our parents never had to ask us to do homework, revise etc. We just did it.
We played hard and worked hard during our degrees. Did post graduate qualifications whilst working. Saved money.

The rise in salary was initially slow but then it accelerated when we were in a position to take on more work and do it efficiently.

We both now work more than full-time (60-ish houses week), each earning around £250k each.
We have a large mortgage but it is well within our means.
We have two children in private school and parents contribute to their fees, now that they have much more disposable income.
They can see that we both have and continue to work hard and do the best we can for our DC. If we were profligate then they would not be supporting us in this way.
They also have money to cover care fees so they won’t be a “burden” (horrible term and I don’t mean it in this sense) on the state in this way.

So, no, I don’t feel any guilt.