Here are some of the things I discovered after hitting it, and watch others do the same:
1. Getting rich makes you more of who you really are. If you're a jerk underneath it all, you'll be a bigger jerk when you hit it big...and vice versa.
2. In terms of problems, you're squeezing on a balloon. It's easy to pay the bills, but a whole new set of problems and hassles will present themselves. It's just a new set of irritants. There's just as much pain, it just comes from different sources.
3. When you can have everything you want, you have to learn to control your appetites. You can't imagine how much crap you buy when you can afford everything. It's surprisingly hard for most people to control their spending once they hit it.
4. You'll turn into the First National Bank of Bill, but your loan standards will be lower...and few people will ever pay you back.
5. Old friendships will wither and some of them will die, no matter how hard you try to maintain them. Jealousy is one reason. Subtile changes in your own personality will be the other.
5. If your pals aren't all in the same boat, and similarly rich, you'll have no one to play with.
In short: Money is a tiger. You master it, or it masters you.
1. Getting rich makes you more of who you really are. If you're a jerk underneath it all, you'll be a bigger jerk when you hit it big...and vice versa.
2. In terms of problems, you're squeezing on a balloon. It's easy to pay the bills, but a whole new set of problems and hassles will present themselves. It's just a new set of irritants. There's just as much pain, it just comes from different sources.
3. When you can have everything you want, you have to learn to control your appetites. You can't imagine how much crap you buy when you can afford everything. It's surprisingly hard for most people to control their spending once they hit it.
4. You'll turn into the First National Bank of Bill, but your loan standards will be lower...and few people will ever pay you back.
5. Old friendships will wither and some of them will die, no matter how hard you try to maintain them. Jealousy is one reason. Subtile changes in your own personality will be the other.
5. If your pals aren't all in the same boat, and similarly rich, you'll have no one to play with.
In short: Money is a tiger. You master it, or it masters you.