View on Wealth by the “Super-Rich”

When people acquire large amounts of wealth, some find themselves even more unhappy than before, some are overjoyed, and others feel isolated. Financial Times interviewed three wealthy Brits (after receiving hundreds of refusals by others) to see how acquiring large sums of money can affect a person.

The first interviewee, a woman entrepreneur, was so unhappy with her wealth that she would only agree to the interview if she remained anonymous. Her initial fear when she received her fortune was that her friends and a man she recently met would treat her differently. She eventually made peace with her wealth by learning to give it away efficiently, though some people still treat her differently.

The second interviewee, a man who deliberately set out to make his fortune, enjoyed being wealthy but still felt unsatisfied. This man’s goal was to always make more money, go further, and buy more possessions.

The last interviewee, a man who inherited a large sum but who had always been wealthy, felt as though his wealth isolated him. When asked how the money affected his children, the interviewee made a face a asked to not to discuss it.

Interestingly, all three individuals protested at being named a “super-rich” individual, even though all three were among the 1,000 richest people in the country. One reason for this view is that many times individuals look up, rather than down, when assessing their own fortunes, always comparing their assets to those with more.

See Lucy Kellaway, Money’s Too Tight to Mention If You Have Lots of It, Financial Times, Dec. 4, 2011.

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.