It’s a big dream for a lot of people to make it rich. They’ll sacrifice a lot of things in order to climb that ladder until they’re financially comfortable. But not many people are prepared for what takes place after.
A lot of things change when you become rich, and it can become a big shock for those who aren’t prepared for these changes. Before you have to face these changes on your own, here’s what you should expect to happen once you’ve made it big time.
1. Boredom Settles In
Many people expect that once they become rich, they can do just about anything and everything that they want to, expecting that the rest of their lives are going to be full of excitement. However, that is not the case.
Once you have enough money where you don’t have to work anymore (or you just choose not to), then you have a lot of free time on your hands. So what do you do? How do you find something meaningful to fill all of that time with? A better question would be: what would you find meaningful in life anymore when everything is at your disposal?
2. Loss of Meaningful Relationships
You’ve given up a lot of things to get to this point; passed up a lot of opportunities, allowed to time to sell to pass in order to find better and bigger ventures. It has been a lot of hard work to get to that point, but what did you miss along the way?
Did you miss a lot of special events with other people while working your butt off? Have many of your friendships dwindled because you were so focused on your prize? The friendships you once had may no longer be around anymore or as strong as they used to be, and that may not be repairable.
3. Trust Becomes Difficult
When you become rich, people may start to flock to you… for all the wrong reasons. You can’t be sure who wants to be your friend because of you as a person or because of your newfound wealth, and that can make it very difficult for you to trust people. That makes romantic relationships even more difficult, as they may be pretending to have feelings for you so that they can have access to what you can offer them.
4. Spoiled Children
In the event that you have children or are planning on having children when you’re rich, then they’re more than likely going to be spoiled. They won’t have to worry about having to do much for themselves or having to struggle to get what they want.
However, you could exercise some common sense and not give them too much money that they find the need to not aspire to anything in life.
5. Sudden Wealth Can Be A Shock
If you’re one of the lucky ones who gains wealth through the lottery, then it may feel like you have to spend all of it in one go. But that could end up leaving you worse off than when you started. It puts a lot of spending power into the hands of someone who never had its power, and they don’t know what to do with it all. It can lead to bad purchasing decisions and power trips that make them feel invincible… until the law catches up to them, of course.
6. Not Handling Windfalls
That’s why the majority of people who win it big don’t invest. Investing properly, even if it’s just a small fraction of the fortune you earn, will provide you with a lot of spending money each month.
But the majority of people only think short-term and end up throwing a lot of their money away. Splurging may give you that intense rush, but it will only be fleeting. You have to think smart when you win big and weigh your options first so that you’re making the right decision.
7. Losing Yourself in Wealth
Once you become rich, they may be all people see you as. In fact, you may lose yourself in it too. You could start focusing on your wealth instead of your other characteristics and attributes until that’s all people see you as. Because people already know that you’re wealthy, there’s no chance to make a first impression and win people over with your personality. They basically only see you as a walking bag of money.
8. Losing Privacy
Becoming rich can put you in the spotlight, leading to you gaining a lot of notoriety and fame. It can all feel like a dream come true, but be prepared to be under a microscope for the rest of your life. People like to read about the rich and famous all the time, so going out in public opens the doors for people taking pictures of you all the time.
People will also start to make up stories about you and spreading them around in the tabloids, tarnishing your overall reputation just for others’ amusement.
9. Forced to Keep Secrets
Because everyone is going to be watching you all the time, which forces you to become more secretive with your life. You may not want your coworkers to know what kind of life you live or what you now have. You may want to keep your address a secret so that you don’t have random people showing up to your house at random points during the day. You may not even want to take lavish vacations because then everyone will know what kind of money you have.
10. Developing an Identity Crisis
Many people tie their identity to their work. Depending on their occupation, they’re helping other people in some sort of capacity. But if you choose to no longer work when you become rich, then you are somewhat losing a part of yourself. You may ask now that you’re rich, what’s the point of doing anything anymore and that no one really needs you and your talents, which can actually lead to decreased self-esteem.
11. Losing Touch with Society
It seems, so far, that once you become rich, you’ll become separated from society because of how people treat you and wanting to keep the rest of your life secret. It becomes easy for you to build a wall around yourself to keep yourself safe, but that can also cause you to lose touch with the rest of society. Being isolated does give you peace of mind, but human beings are naturally social creatures and there’s no way you can thrive or function if there aren’t other people in your life. After long periods of time, it can be difficult to be able to relate to normal people again, which can be misinterpreted as you acting like you’re above other people.
12. People Will Treat You Differently
Another reason more rich people become secretive with their lives is because they don’t want to be treated differently because of their money. When people know that you’re rich, they tend to adopt a different mindset in the way that they treat you. They might expect very expensive gifts from you or expect to pay for dinner all the time when you go out to eat.
It’s even worse if you have things bothering you because no one is going to want to listen to your problems. They might sound petty and childish by comparison because you have a lot of money. After all, in their eyes, if you’re rich you shouldn’t have anything to complain about.
13. Receiving Unnecessary Criticism
Everything that you do is called to attention, and it becomes very easy for people to spin your actions to fit their narrative for you. That may result in unwelcome and unnecessary criticism for a simple, innocent action. There are assumptions placed on rich people – being shallow and materialistic – and you’ll be shoved into that pigeon hole as someone who can’t possibly be an average person who makes mistakes or has problems of their own.
14. General Feeling of Uneasiness
Coming into a lot of money all of a sudden can leave you feeling very uneasy for a period of time. Not because of the sudden change in your circumstances, but you may experience some kind of guilt as you see other people around you struggling to keep their lives together. It may feel unfair that you’re well-off while others are not, and that feeling can really get to some people.
15. Suffering From Disappointment
Without something to strive towards now that you have a lot of money, you can feel pretty aimless and disappointed. Nothing may ever provide you with satisfaction ever again since you wouldn’t really have to struggle in any way to obtain those once-unreachable goals. Now, everything is close to your fingertips so that there’s no uphill climb towards them. It’s easy to buy anything that you want in order to feel something again, but that is also fleeting and will go away with time.
Sure, people think that once you’re rich, all of your problems go away. Many of them do: you won’t have to worry about paying your bills or being able to afford the basic necessities in life any longer, but it’s not without its emotional baggage. Even the richest people can still end up being quite unhappy with the way their lives have gone.
