I was born poor and grew up on welfare. But I’m pretty comfortable now and I’ll tell ya, it feels great! We had to work our asses off to get to this point, make a lot of sacrifices, and even move across the country, but it’s very nice not having to worry about every single expense that comes our way.

I wouldn’t say my parents were rich, but there was a safety net for them when I grew up. They meant my mom could go back to college when I was a kid and we didn’t have to worry about losing the house.

I would say that my family didn’t have to worry about the economic existential dread when bad things happened. I could also rely on my family having to invest in my education up to college because my parents would be shamed by extended family if I wasn’t getting my AP tests paid for.

I had to take on my college loans with a family cosigner on the understanding that I would bear that burden alone when I graduated. Since I went to school for engineering, it was considered a safe investment, which it is.

My income is such that I can live comfortably below my means, so I do. I still have to deal with the other hardships in life; I just don’t have to worry about it ruining me financially.

The two major benefits are that I can do important things without having to worry about financing them and I don’t feel guilt and dread over spending money. That said, it isn’t like all problems go away. A lot of problems are made easier, but they are still there.

There’s probably some secret reddit-alike for the rich kids who have bothered to become literate. I can’t imagine many of them have thick enough skins to hang out with the plebs and hear us talk mean about them.

I wasn’t “born rich”.

But my mom was born dirt poor. Like, the Beverly Hillbillies looked rich in the intro before they struck oil poor. Didn’t have indoor plumbing till she was a teenager poor. Dinner was what her older brothers shoot after school poor.

She made it to small town middle class. I moved to a city and I’m “city middle class” which is practically non existent these days. It’s all subjective. If I moved back to the hill I’d be like Jed Clampett coming home for a family reunion.

I don’t make a lot (more than most tho in my area, but not even close to 6 figures). But because of my upbringing and being able to avoid lifestyle creep, I have a very good buffer and don’t stress about bills piling up.

So instead I stress when my buffer is low.

I freak out if emergency savings is less than 5 digits, I imagine for the really wealthy, it’s the same just a higher number.

They might not stress about keeping the lights on, but they stress when their “high score” drops. It’s just how human brains work. There’s human variation, but if someone doesn’t have that mentality, they’re not going to stay crazy wealthy.

Which is why the saying goes:

First generation makes wealth, second saves wealth, third wastes wealth.

Usually to prolong generational wealth longer than that, someone from the first or second generation has to protect it via trusts so their kids literally can’t fuck it up but sometimes they still find a way

Btw I’m not mocking you, I’m legit curious