10 Things That Change in Your Life When You Become Rich

The following contribution is from another author.

Striving to be wealthy is a life goal that a lot of people aim for. Money seems to be the solution to most people’s problems, but they might not understand that there are some changes that take place once they become rich. Although it can feel like an improvement for the better, some of these changes can affect your life in ways you never thought of before. Here are the top ten things that change when you become rich.

1) Personal and Real Property

Like most people, when they upgrade their wealth, they’re going to upgrade their car and house (if you’re in the market for a new home, why not look at lake pend oreille real estate?) to choices that more reflect their sense of style. You’re going to enjoy the upgrade, but that feeling is going to wear off eventually. You’ll start to realize how isolated and disconnected you’ll feel in your new home, in a neighborhood you’re not familiar with, far away from your close friends.

2) Your Friends

Everyone thinks that once they make it big, everything is going to stay the same and that their friends are never going to leave them, especially if you’ve known them since middle school. However, it’s going to be a gradual change over time that you won’t notice until it’s too late. Maintaining your wealth is going to eat up a lot of your time, especially if you want to remain successful in the field, and that doesn’t give you a lot of free reign to socialize with your friends.

And the less you spend time with your friends, the less you’re going to have in common when you do find the time. You’ll no longer have the same problems or goals, so you’re not going to have much to talk about or sympathize with. In fact, you’re more likely to have things in common with other people in your industry, leading you to socialize in their circles instead.

3) Goals

Beforehand, your only goal was to get rich. After you’ve attained that goal, your interests are going to drift somewhere else, to other goalposts that you want to overcome. What it means to be successful is going to change for you as well. Instead of just being rich, your new goals might be having influence, having generational wealth, or having some significance to society. Instead of taking care of your financial problems, the money you earn can become the means to which you want to be remembered.

4) Your Taxes

With your increased income, your taxes are going to change as well. You’re going to realize that you’re paying a lot more for all of the money you’re earning, and when you’re paying that much every year, you’re going to realize how much more you want to pay attention to your taxes. In order to properly take care of your money, you’ll probably want to hire a good C.P.A. to help you do your taxes for you.

5) Where You Vacation

Vacations might once have meant a road trip, a weekend at the beach, or a week-long stay on another coast. But when you get rich, a vacation can be something else entirely. Where do you want to go? Wherever your money can take you, you can stay as long as you like now that you’re no longer stuck to the daily grind of the 9-to-5. The world is practically your oyster when it comes to vacations.

6) The Foods You Eat

If you’re used to Taco Bell for lunch every day, then being rich is going to take you to new culinary heights. You can choose to eat organic, dine at the finest restaurants with ridiculous menus, and explore all of the culinary options that are at your financial disposal. Or you have the budget to hire your own private chef to make your meals for you at home, specifically for your tastes. This means that you have the option of eating more healthy without having to break your wallet.

7) The Attention You Receive

Being mediocre means that you can slip under the radar, but once you make it big, everyone’s going to pay more attention to you. With that attention can come jealousy, as people are going to want what you have. Whether it’s a big house, a beautiful car, or the company of beautiful people following you around, other people are going to covet what you have with the belief that their lives will have more meaning. You’ll be flirted with and people will treat you differently if they can get even remotely closer to getting what you have. Keep in mind, however, that this can lead to people pretending to be your friend so that they can use you for success.

8) The Concept Of A Legacy

As you get older, you’ll start to pay more attention to your mortality and what you’re going to leave behind. You’ll want to be remembered somehow, and you want to determine how people are going to remember you. This is why most wealthy individuals start charities or build parks or hospitals with their names attached to them so that they can be remembered.

9) Not Giving A Crap

Everyone is conditioned early in life to seek the approval of others. It’s what the human race thrives on. However, when you have more money under your belt, you tend to care less about what other people think about you. This is because you’ve become more self-sufficient and rely on other people less, so you don’t have to focus on pleasing them anymore. Trying to impress people is no longer something you pour all of your energy into.

10) What Makes You Happy

It’s true what they say: money doesn’t buy you happiness. Money might get you the things you’ve been yearning for when you’re poor, but it’s not going to give you the things you might have taken for granted, such as spending time with friends and family, building authentic friendships, and having a fixed goal in life. When you start to live like every day is exciting with the money that you have, even that is going to wear out and start to feel boring after a while.

Becoming rich can definitely change a person… if you let it. It’s up to you to determine what kind of life you’re going to have and the people you want to keep around you.