One of the downsides of getting rich that people don’t talk about is that SOME friends and family will start to see you as their own personal ATM machine.
Case in point…
One of my best friends from high school (Jeremy) always struggled with money when we were younger.
He was a hard worker, and made enough money bartending to get by…
However his money management was terrible.
If he had a big night at the bar, he wouldn’t put it in his piggybank and save it…
He’d go out and have a $200 dinner with all the fixings, while gulping down multiple bottles of wine.
So because of this…
He was always living paycheck to paycheck.
So I tried to help him.
When he had slower weeks at the bar, I’d lend him money to help him get through it.
Sometimes it was $600…
Other times it was $1000…
Either way, if he asked, I was there to help him.
And to his credit, he was always good at paying me back.
I didn’t have to chase him down…
Or hassle him about paying me.
He always paid on time.
But towards the end of our friendship that changed.
Why?
Cause Jeremy started to resent the success I was having.
In the early years of me lending him money, I was making around $100k a year…
But later on that skyrocketed, and I was pulling in north of $700k a year.
So a big increase.
And for some reason, this rubbed Jeremy the wrong way.
Instead of him being appreciative of me helping him out, he started to act like I OWED him the money.
You could just feel the resentment.
And bitterness towards me.
Eventually this spiraled into what would be the end of our friendship when I lent him $800, and he basically ducked me for the next six months.
He wouldn’t answer my texts…
And if I stopped over at his house (which was 3 houses away from mine) he’d hide in his room and not answer the door.
This obviously didn’t sit well with me.
I mean I didn’t even care about the money.
It was the principle.
If he was willing to do something like this to a good friend, then I decided I didn’t want to be friends with him anymore.
So I cut him off.
I stopped hanging out with him…
Stopped lending him money…
And I haven’t talked to him since 2014.
Which is really sad.
Cause him and I were best buds since we were like 15.
But here’s the thing…
Money can make people do strange things.
And when money got involved in our friendship, he wasn’t able to handle it.
He got resentful…
And he started seeing me as his personal ATM.
So I felt like I had to end it.
Like I said, a sad story for him and I…
But for you, this is a great learning lesson.
Cause if you get rich, you will 100% have situations like this come up.
You’ll have friends and family trying to borrow money from you.
Some will be sincere about it and only ask when they need it….
Others will feel like you “owe them” and they’ll have no shame in asking.
But it will happen.
And whether you say “yes” or “no” to giving them money, it’s going to cause a strain in your relationship.
Just know that…
Simply giving them the money won’t make the problem go away.
So my advice?
Try to avoid giving money to family and friends at all costs.
Like my story with Jeremy, it usually turns out bad.
So I’d avoid it if you can.
Make sense?
I hope so.
Cause that’s all I got for ya today.
I’ll be back tomorrow with more insight on the “dark side of getting rich”.
Enjoy your Wednesday,
– Justin
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