I can understand your situation because mine is in many ways similar. I grew up lower middle class economically, but well educated. Then I worked hard, but was also incredibly lucky and probably benefitted from White Male privilege as well without knowing it, since that probably affected what opportunities I was offered, how I was treated by people at external companies, etc. I ended up an order of magnitude wealthier than any of my friends. It is nice to have the material comfort and the free time that money permits, but it can also create a distance from people even if you don’t want it to.
If you have more than enough money, then you understand that it does not bring happiness. What brings happiness is meaningful experiences, and good relationships. Money can help with getting certain experiences, but it can also fuck up relationships, because people get really weird about money. It can provoke jealousy. People close to you who don’t feel they have enough of it can start feeling entitled to some of yours. It gets falsely conflated with a person’s value as a human being, to the point that people will say “That person is worth £ XXX”.
Some suggestions:
-Don’t make any highly visible or major & irreversible changes in your lifestyle without taking your time.
-A big one, for example, would be selling your business, or even a part of it, or giving up control in any sort of irreversible way. Don’t do that lightly. You understand your business well, so continuing to own it might well be the best way to “store” and grow your wealth, unless you need to transfer ownership to a successor in order to preserve its value. If you care about the people who work in your business, or the customers, or the suppliers, then succession is one of the most important processes for you to manage well in order for you to feel fulfilled.
-Don’t talk about your wealth with too many of the people you care about, because even if you want to help them out, it can create strange tensions in relationships. They can feel indebted to you, and then resentful of you, even if you genuinely wanted to make a no-strings-attached gift.
-Do get financial advice, but be wary of financial advisors and don’t trust one too easily. If somebody promises to take care of it all for you from day one, be very wary. A high quality advisor would be very happy to manage a small portion of your wealth for some number of years and build your trust before seeking to manage more of it.
-Invest some of your time in your own financial education and literacy. You don’t need to be an expert yourself, but you need to be able to judge others who claim to be experts, so that you can make good decisions around whom to trust.
-Be aware that cash needs to be invested or it will lose its value to inflation, only a little each year, but with massive depreciation over longer periods. However, be aware also that if you do invest, especially without being a financial expert, all of the different types of finance providers between you and your underlying investments can easily easily 1/3 or more of your total investment returns. A high quality advisor will be able and willing to explain all of the different fees you will be paying, from the top to the bottom of the stack, in clear language that you can understand. If they say it’s too complicated to understand, it more likely means there are hidden fees from which they benefit.
-Think about which experiences you want to have in life, and also about what changes you’d like to see in the world. Then, do your research and try to find the most effective ways to convert money into experiences and/or change in the world.
-Be ready to experiment or take incremental steps. Apply a smaller amount of money to something first. If you like the result, then apply a larger amount. With your business, consider delegating more, without stepping back completely all in one go.
-Apply a sensible, conservative rule of thumb in considering how much you need for yourself. While some people use higher numbers than this, I think the sustainable after-tax non-depleting withdrawal rate in real terms could be around 2%, even if the assets are reasonably well-invested. That means that if you have £1 million, you can safely spend £20k (after tax) and still have a good chance for the remaining assets to still be worth £1 million in purchasing power one year later. ]
Feel free to DM me in case you want to discuss this in any more detail. I can say upfront the following:
- I don’t want any of your money, because I already have enough;
- I am not a part of any business or organisation that can offer you any services, paid or free. I am a client of some investment firms and some charity advisors, and I am also a medium-sized donor to several charitable organisations. I would be happy to speak with you offline about how I chose which ones to work with, if you would like. So far I am happy with all of them.
- I would like to live in a world where money serves people, instead of it being the other way around, and where people with more than they need use some of it to make the world a better place.
If I can help #3 to happen then it will be a good use of my time, and that is why I am making the offer for you to send me a direct message (by clicking on my user name) if you would like.