more money, more problems?

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Tweak155

Lifer
Sep 23, 2003
11,449
264
126
I'll just say I had way less stress when I was living in a $300/mo house with 4 other guys and making $10 an hr than now where I pull in a lot more than that. Once you start getting money you start setting bigger goals but if you're good with your money you still have an urge to save all the extra cash you pull in. Also, it becomes a lot harder to track where your money is going. This causes stress in itself. If I can bring it back to the simple days, this money would have less stress involved.

Overall the things I own now are definitely way nicer, same with the area I live in. But now I just worry about different things and they usually end up equating to way more money.

Back then $50 loss sucked. Now, I could drop $50 at a restaurant several times a week and not even think about it, but when $500+ items come into play it adds more "weight" to it, even though proportionally, it should be about the same. Its a mental game I tell you.
 

lokiju

Lifer
May 29, 2003
18,526
5
0
The more you have, the more people want to take away. This is true with anything.

I know lots of families who do grew up really poor with one or two people who ended up making a decent living. Every other day is immediate family asking for money. It's the same line every single time..."Oh, you make 50K a year, you should have lots of money to help me".

Sounds like my brothers wife's family sadly.

He's comparatively successful and they're always asking for money. Then when he's a sucker enough to give in it's always delayed being paid back or something lame like "I'll trade give you this xbox instead of the money I owe you" that they likely stole or got for free.
 

PricklyPete

Lifer
Sep 17, 2002
14,582
162
106
It depends on the person.

I have seen people that got $100,000, or even $200,000 from a will or insurance settlement, and in a couple of months they have blown the money with nothing to show for it.

One guy I know, he got around $200,000 when he turned 18. The money came from trust fund. Within 3 or 4 months he had blown all of the $200,000 and had nothing to show for it. He bought a new truck for $40,000, a couple of $10,000 4-wheelers, and trashed them all. The ATVs got water in the motors and were sold for maybe $2,000. The truck was traded in a few months later on another new truck. In all, I think he bought 3 or 4 trucks, one right after the other.

I think that money can cause bitter feelings. I know people who got an insurance settlement, then developed attitudes that they were better then everyone else.

I think if I had a trust fund coming to me...I'd prefer two things:
1) that I had no idea about it till I'm 40
2) that I don't get it till I'm 40

I wasn't mature enough at 18 to handle that kind of money windfall.

This one lady I know, she refers to middle class people as trash. She got her money through an insurance settlement from a car wreck. Even though she was raised in a poor family, she now looks down on people that struggle for money.

This seems to be common. I've met a number of people who have grown up poor and developed insecurities regarding money. Now as they've gotten older and have gotten money (whether through hard work or luck), they look down at the "steerage" (as one guy I know referred to them). Really ridiculous.
 

crashtestdummy

Platinum Member
Feb 18, 2010
2,893
0
0
My father always claims that his life was a lot easier when he was poor. I've offered a very simple solution to his problem, but he has just to take me up on it. ;)
 

Binarycow

Golden Member
Jan 10, 2010
1,238
2
76
Money can't buy happiness but it can buy lots of hookers and blow and if you're not happy with lots of hookers and blow then something is very fucking wrong with you.
 

nanette1985

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 2005
4,209
2
0
I've been rich, I've been poor, and I grew up middle class in middle america. Can't speak for anyone else, but the money didn't really have much relationship to the problems. If you can live within your means when you're poor, you'll do it when you're rich. If you constantly want things you can't afford, no amount of money will ever be enough.

When you're poor, you know who your friends are.
The more money you have, the more you have to exert yourself to deal with money. That can be enjoyable :) or a real PITA :( depending on what you like.
 

tcsenter

Lifer
Sep 7, 2001
18,954
577
126
One guy I know, he got around $200,000 when he turned 18. The money came from trust fund. Within 3 or 4 months he had blown all of the $200,000 and had nothing to show for it. He bought a new truck for $40,000, a couple of $10,000 4-wheelers, and trashed them all.
A childhood friend received a big settlement after being hit (pedestrian) by a car doing est. 45MPH, driven by 70-some year old man who "didn't see him". The driver didn't even brake until after the impact. He was in a coma for about a month, wasn't expected to survive, broke both femurs (compound fractures), burst one of his lungs, had a head injury, ruptured spleen, so on and so forth. He had to do months of speech therapy, couldn't feed himself for months, but he finally got back to 90% after unimaginably grueling and long rehab.

After paying taxes, his lawyer got his cut, out-of-pocket medical expenses, he was left with about $250K. And he went crazy with it. Bought a 4x4 truck with lots of accessories and custom goodies (I admit, that truck was bad ass). Bought a couple motorcycles, would drop $1K at the bar buying everyone drinks, would drop $2K at strip clubs, got two drunk driving tickets, wrecked the truck, etc.

Now he's basically broke and went back to work. Best decision he ever made was to buy a really decent fixer-upper home on 1/2 acre in a community with low property taxes for $140K and paid 50% down. The mortgage and taxes are really affordable and he can manage it on his job, so he still has the home and even has some equity in it. But other than that, he's got little else to show (I think he still has a motorcycle) except the scars and some physical limitations.

I feel kind of bad for him because I don't think he was 100% mentally competent at the time he received the money. His head injury was bad, he had an open skull fracture (which means there was air inside of his head). His family should have gotten him some kind of conservator or whatever to control his money, but its too late now.
 
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ShawnD1

Lifer
May 24, 2003
15,987
2
81
I feel kind of bad for him because I don't think he was 100% mentally competent at the time he received the money. His head injury was bad, he had an open skull fracture (which means there was air inside of his head). His family should have gotten him some kind of conservator or whatever to control his money, but its too late now.
Damage to the front of the brain causes poor behavior/impulse control. That would explain him going nuts if you believe that it was out of character.
 
Feb 6, 2007
16,432
1
81
I think the more money you have, the more problems you face. But they aren't as bad. Rich people have to deal with mortgages, car payments, investments, fluctuations in the market, planning for vacations, job-related stress from being in a position of power, intercontinental travel, things like that. Poor people have to worry about getting food and paying rent. So while the problems that rich people deal with might be more numerous, they aren't as dire as "will I make enough money to not be homeless this month."
 

Josh

Lifer
Mar 20, 2000
10,917
0
0
mo+money+mo+problems.gif
 

SZLiao214

Diamond Member
Sep 9, 2003
3,270
2
81
It really depends on how the person can deal with money. Money certainly can make life a lot easier.
 

Gibson486

Lifer
Aug 9, 2000
18,378
2
0
Sounds like my brothers wife's family sadly.

He's comparatively successful and they're always asking for money. Then when he's a sucker enough to give in it's always delayed being paid back or something lame like "I'll trade give you this xbox instead of the money I owe you" that they likely stole or got for free.

Paid back? they actually tried to pay it back? That would be a new concept to them...:D
 

AstroManLuca

Lifer
Jun 24, 2004
15,628
5
81
In order to enjoy premium cable packages, take frequent trips to the casino, and exercise their Gawd-given right as red-blooded 'Merican to drive a monstrous vehicle that gets 12MPG.

I see lots of people working paycheck to paycheck. And every last one of them either has never heard of birth control or they piss their income down the drain on bullshit consumerism (hell I was one of them for most of my 20s).

- don't have cable
- don't ever gamble
- drive a 35 mpg car
- use birth control
- still have nothing left over to save

shit's too expensive these days and wages have not gone up to match
 

JMapleton

Diamond Member
Nov 19, 2008
4,179
2
81
- don't have cable
- don't ever gamble
- drive a 35 mpg car
- use birth control
- still have nothing left over to save

shit's too expensive these days and wages have not gone up to match

It is true wages have not increased as quickly as the cost of living has, but you must be doing something wrong.

Do you work overtime at work when offered it? I know without my overtime sprees (600 hours total of OT last year, I was the highest paid person out of 100+ at my company who work in my department), I would not be able to afford the things I do.