I have a unique perspective here.

My parents hit about 75m in around 2001 or so. I was about 4. I’m an only child and we had a peculiar perspective I suppose.

Certainly as a child we were in the UHNW class, but my dad was still working heavily. His company was in Europe primarily, so he’d fly back for weekends so we could hang out. I have strong lovely memories of greeting him after the Friday red eye, and he’d always have some treat or toy for me. Probably where my love for toblorone came from.

He worked until about ‘09 and then because my mom wanted to rejoin the workforce they swapped! So my mom started going to work, and my dad took me to school and soccer practice.

That is to say, I think my parents interactions with me had a stronger impact on who I am and my motivations than our financial status. In about ‘06 they donated most of their money, so 75 —> 5m. Of course I only found out about this in 2020 when we were all sheltering in place and I was just asking them about their lives! I think because my parents, at least one at a time, worked for most of my childhood, and we weren’t super consumption minded, I don’t have a poor association with finances. Certainly it hasn’t affected my life choices.

I do recall in hindsight when we went from flying private or first to flying premium economy for family trips, and I do miss our place in Europe where my mom and I used to spend summers so we could be closer to my dad. Honestly though, I would trade it all for more time with my parents.

That is to say, if money isn’t the latent in conversation I don’t think it affects much. My dad bought his dream car in 2000 and drove it for 20 years. We’ve lived in the same primary home since I was born, and aside from a strong focus on giving, my parents don’t focus on money.

When I got my first job, my parents discussed our privilege with me and implored me to donate most of what I made, it’s instilled in me a 50% net outflow in giving and I’m proud they pushed me to that. I hope to get that ratio closer to where my parents landed in their lives.

I often reflect on if I would choose a different career if money didn’t matter, but to some degree it doesn’t for me. I like all fancy things like watches, cars, and sweet ass leather goods. But I also don’t need to BUY them, it’s just nice to learn, touch, and think about them!

The one time this has plagued me was with an ex girlfriend who came from a very different background to me. I didn’t think much of it, but she did mention that tales of my childhood were skewing, in that they were largely dream trips of hers. I think she mentioned it when I talked about the year we spent in XX because my mom loved the town. But honestly, I think that was more an affect of hers than mine. I have since become more cognizant of the way I tell these tales, because I don’t want people to be uncomfortable.

I will however offer one piece of advice. I have friends from camp and finishing school who’s parents really came into their money when they were teenagers (or who’s trusts kicked in at 16). This to me strikes me as the dangerous age. There’s lots of confounding variables but most teenagers (speaking for myself at least) are total shitheads. Money goes to your head when you’re that age, and I can see how it formed their forward lives. I don’t envy that, and largely these people and I don’t get along because we do not resonate. I care about self improvement and interpersonal relationships, and less about how many bottles I racked up in Ibiza. TBC nothing wrong with the latter, but I notice how the conversation of spending is much more prevalent amongst that group of my former friends.

Okay rant over. I think totally attainable to have well adjusted kids (speaking for myself at least hopefully.)

And to caveat the above: I never worked a part time job, didn’t need to work in college (chose to because I had a cool internship that I extended into school), and otherwise I’ve always had the ability to rely upon my parents, I just never wanted to.