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Can friendship survive a wealth divide?

Depends on the friends. If you have interests that reflect the differing amounts of wealth, then maybe no. But $120k a year isn't enough that it puts that person in a phenomenally different class, i.e. you aren't traveling the world in your golden yacht if you make $120,000 a year. Even for people who make much more it's not always a problem; there are plenty of down-to-earth millionaires who do regular activities and don't swim in pools of cash (if anyone here does that and would like to have me over, I'm free this weekend 😀).

So my short answer is "yes". If it's not going to work out it's because either or both people care about money too much, either from lack or excess.
 
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Yes, easily. Within my group of friends we make from ~165k to 24k (though he just got a better job). Sure the people at the high end might have more toys and take more trips but 165k isn't so much more that their flaunting wealth. The only sticking point could be things like going out to a nice place for a celebration dinner or some such but really you should be able to deal with that if you are decent friends. Now someone making $2M vs someone making $30k could be a bigger issue but even then there is no reason it has to be.
 
Bart*Simpson said:
Easy. Just don't tell anyone you know how much you make. It's none of their business anyway.
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Sometimes it's pretty obvious there's a huge difference.

I don't know exactly how much a friend of mine makes but since he lives in a huge $2M+ house with a swimming pool and goes on worldwide vacations, I expect quite a bit. 🙂

Still, it's not an issue between us since I don't care how much he makes or what he spends his money on.
 
Easily. If anyone starts any smack I just tell them to watch it or I'll use my massive wealth to have their cardboard box burned to the ground.
 
Depends on the common interest that binds you together. If he likes going out to fancy bars you can't afford or something then you have a problem. If you both just like going to the movies or whatever then it won't matter.
 
Had a group of friends with much higher incomes than mine (like double). They often were inviting me to concerts, or nights out in the City or weekend trips or even vacations to Hawaii and Mexico. I oftentimes I had to decline and it made me feel pretty bad when it was a really fun thing they had planned. Especially when they'd come back all excited about the things they saw and did. The friendships survived the wealth divide, but I felt like I was in the outer orbit of our group at times.
 
dirtboy said:
Yes, as long as you don't flaunt, brag or talk about your income.
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Or if you're making $200k vs $35k, don't complain about "feeding your family" or "oh god, I don't know how I'm going to pay so many bills."

It may not elicit much sympathy.



Source: A relative knew someone since college. The relative was in an office job making a livable income. The friend was a pharmaceutical sales rep. Money money money.
 
Nope, not for me at least.

Had a friend who drove an Audi, both parents were very high income, had a mansion in a rich part of town, always talked about expensive sports she partook in, how many Air Miles she had, and how she was about to fly off to Europe to teach rich kids.

She didn't really have a stick up her ass, when it came to money at least, but I kept most of my poverty activities to myself when we were friends.
 
based on the numbers in the OP, i personally can attest to it. one of my good highschool buddies is 34 and still waiting at restaurants and living with family. i'd bet he makes right around $35k or maybe a little bit more, but we're still good friends.
 
purbeast0 said:
based on the numbers in the OP, i personally can attest to it. one of my good highschool buddies is 34 and still waiting at restaurants and living with family. i'd bet he makes right around $35k or maybe a little bit more, but we're still good friends.
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34k living with mom is kinda like 100k and having a family.

I can attest to the fact that my sisters family probably makes 300k gross and the way they think and the way I think are leagues apart and we've definitely drifted apart.
 
I would say differences in income are probably one of the easiest things for a friendship to overcome, if it even is an issue at all. I see more friendships ended over religious and political differences than anything else.
 
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