On September 23rd of this year, a New York player won the $104 million dollar Mega Millions jackpot. As always, the same conversation of ‘what would you do with that kind of money?’ rears its head. Would you buy a mansion? A yacht? Ten yachts? Maybe you would invest it and hope to make even more. Maybe you would donate some of it, half of it, all of it. When you hit that level of extreme wealth, the world is suddenly at your fingertips.
And yet, your mountain of green puts a red bullseye on your back. Wherever you turn next, someone will ask for a piece of the pie, and that’s fine, right? Your family will sustain themselves for generations; you’ll be able to help out your closest friends with any financial struggles they might be having; the charities of your choice will flourish with your lending hand, and nothing will put a dent in your seemingly endless stack of cash.
Then, suddenly, friends who haven’t returned your calls in years start to come out of the woodwork. Your ex wants to meet for lunch. Your third grade bully has a change in heart. You finally get an invite you to the neighbors’ Christmas party, the ones that have always hated you. Coincidentally, a lot of people realize what good company you are, and want to hang out.
This is precisely why I would live with my wealth in secret–to avoid the fakers. Sure, I’d get myself a comfortably big house in a nice neighborhood. I’d make sure my family had everything they needed. All of my children, and my children’s children, and their children’s children would be able to afford college. I would donate to various charities, though ask to remain anonymous. I wouldn’t sit on my pile of money and do nothing, but I wouldn’t squander it on material objects either.
I wouldn’t build a castle with a hundred rooms and a parking garage full of Bugattis. I wouldn’t pay to have my name on every building in the hemisphere. I wouldn’t buy a racehorse, and I most certainly wouldn’t buy that $3,000 jacket from Brooks Brothers that they keep in a bulletproof display.
That’s $500 per gold button.
These are all unnecessary things that would invite the people that don’t truly care about me to come pretend that they do, and those are the poorest people of all.
With so much money comes the temptation to spend it on useless material things. Maybe my perspective would be different if this weren’t a hypothetical, but at this point in my life I am perfectly comfortable wearing sweats and driving an old Ford. Once you become a walking ATM, you lose the validity of your relationships, which truly are the most important things in your life. If I were filthy rich, my goal would be for you to never know it.
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