What are the disadvantages of being very wealthy?

[Whirliwig72]

Unless I win the lottery I'm never going to be more than comfortably off but I do like to dream! So please tell me, from your own experiences or those of people close to you are there any real downsides to being seriously minted or does money make everything easier and more fabulous?

Inheritance tax

Having to employ an accountant

Your gold shoes being too tight?!?

Not getting tax credits?

Honestly.. Other people

I guess if you were that rich you could have little toe amputation surgery to get those dam shoes to fit properly ;)

Kidnapping fears?

Labootin - please expand. Do you mean jealousy or getting fleeced by people cos they take advantage of your wealth?

Family next door is seriously loaded but they always look grumpy and stressed -nosey parker that I am I always wonder why?

Jealously ( not from real friends obv. You find out pretty quickly who they are) but it's very enlightening to see the change in people you meet when they realise where you live.

Plus my diamond shoes give me blisters

:o Labootin!

Whirliwig, might you neighbours have any number of issues? Like a dying relative, or depression or marital problems or something else.
There are problems that have fuck all to do with money.

You can have every penny I have if you cure my son.

Pagwatch - i'm so sorry didn't mean to be crass. Big hugs to you and your family.

No. I am sorry whirliwig. Honest. Ignore me.
It is a jokey thread and I am just grumpy.

I am not sure what very wealthy means tbh. But the thing that is tricky when you have more than some of your friends/family is managing things to do with cash. Like going out you can be caught between appearing like a tight wanker if you just pay your share or a flash wanker if you try to pay for them.

And the tight diamond shoes of course. Plus the glare makes you squint.

Second coming... So true its made me chortle.

some of the sights I saw at the Christmas party...

Pag .. It's a fine line

I don't know if I would like all that responsibility all at once. You would need a staff of some sort to maintain it. How would you be as an employer?

Secondcoming: wow that's appalling behaviour from the wallet hunters!! :o I love the 'ugly wallet' expression (stores away in brain for future reference!)

I live in a small fish / big pond scenario where a lot of wealth surrounds but bypasses me ;) - I notice that the local yummy mummies are always immaculate. No saggy trackies/ perfect make up/ always very slim and lovely that kind of maintenance must take serious effort not sure i'd be good at that. Currently I have little hairy goat legs/ bikini like an old man's beard and feet that are rougher than an elephants arse but i'm comfortable and my body does all it needs to do to look after and care for my family :)

Not me, but I know someone who has become very rich.

She seems happy in the main. But I think one of the main downsides is the gap it puts between her and others - she still sees her old friends and is good at being "normal" - but everyone is obviously aware that she's loaded and they're not. If she pays everyone's cafe bill, it could seem showy; if she doesn't, it could seem tight, especially when some people are really skint. She has people who she once thought were friends, making up specious cases against her to try and get a pay-off. If she makes a new friend, it's hard to know what their motives are (which may be why rich people hang out together, because then they know the other person isn't cosying up to their money).

I have considered this in my lottery daydreams too. If I won countless pots of cash, I'd like to help some people out. But if you did that, it would change their relationship with you - they'd always feel they had to be grateful. If you didn't, but just sat on your cash, you'd look mean and isolate yourself.

We are not wealthy ourselves so this may smack of jealousy a bit but:

Worrying all the time about not being wealthy anymore.

Not appreciating stuff because you get too much of it.

People making friends with you for your money rather than you.

People not making friends with you because of your money and not getting to know you.

Having to manage your money all the time (eg tax returns etc.)

And of course the blisters and glinting mentioned above

I think id somehow manage to cope with the disadvantages if I were suddenly minted. Ive coped with shit stuff while broke so I think id be ok.

Horrrible stuff is horrible stuff either way. as they say id rather cry in a porche! [which is all id do in it as I cant even drive]

I'd suck at being an employer, I don't delegate very easily and would be walked all over. We had to have a temp nanny once when I was recovering from an appendicitis. The poor lady had to practically beg me to let her do anything!

I think id probably worry a bit about new peoples motives.

We did have a couple of years living in a fairly crappy semi while we were accessing some special provision for DS2. Ds1 made friends with one particular boy and invited him to tea. His mother turned up, looked a bit and never accepted another invitation over and never again invited ds1.

Then we moved here. She had to come here one day because of a school thing. Literally within minutes she was all 'oh gosh, we must get together. I come over this way all the time, shall we meet up. Let's "
I said 'er. No. Bye'

I imagine that some people who win millions on the lottery experience problems with their friends and family for several reasons.

Obviously there's the jealousy thing. But also a lot of friends/family might find it hard to know how to treat someone after they have just paid off their mortgage for them or something else very generous and life-changing. If they feel indebted to them they might no longer be able to treat them normally, disagree with or criticise them, just the usual things we do unconsciously with people we are close to.

People don't believe me when I say I would hate to win tens of millions. But I'm sure money like that could just as easily change your life for the worse as the better.

My old boss ( hedge fund gazillionaire ) had every relative in his address book phone him at least once a year for handouts. He had bought houses, cars, paid school fees etc for so many people. He felt very conscious that he had to be successful to keep up these peoples lifestyles. In a ridiculous way, I felt sorry for him. He was from a very poor family and couldn't bear to let people down. And I don't think any of them gave a crap about him personally.