Author Topic: Scared of my own increasing wealth. Your thoughts?  (Read 9486 times)

LifestyleDeflation

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Scared of my own increasing wealth. Your thoughts?
« on: June 04, 2015, 09:57:20 AM »
I just had a nightmare in which I was nearly killed by people physically and violently attacked my place of business- throwing rocks through windows, glass embedded in myself and the children (we work with kids), property looted.

The scary thing is that I'm close to some people who seem to feel that anyone who makes money is exploiting the poor. I'm not a perfect business owner by any stretch of the imagination, but I do my best to be transparent and treat my employees well while still maintaining significant profitability in a very high overhead line of business. I see them hating on companies they don't even know about, just because they're big companies. Think Baltimore riots-- where so many businesses who had the utmost respect for the cause, but were looted and demonized anyway.

And it terrifies me to think that someone who is otherwise a decent human being could feel that way about me-- could see my success as not something to celebrate but something to annihilate.

I know that it's irrational to attack success for the sake of attacking success, but it's fucking scary to think that if the wrong person noticed my success, I might actually be physically assaulted for it. Mind you, I haven't even broken 6 figures in cash yet.

Has anyone dealt with feelings like this before? This is definitely the most stressful time of year for me, so I'm sure that I'll feel less overwhelmed by it in the future, but I'm wondering what you guys have been through.

surfhb

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Re: Scared of my own increasing wealth. Your thoughts?
« Reply #1 on: June 04, 2015, 10:16:27 AM »
Be thankful you live in a country with a decent social safety net system.   In places like India, you might have to hire personal FT security.   In countries like that you just don't let it be know in anyway that you have wealth.   

I laugh when people mention we should do away with the welfare system in the U.S.    I'm sure they would just love seeing this country become a third world nation?
« Last Edit: June 04, 2015, 10:21:39 AM by surfhb »

mozar

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Re: Scared of my own increasing wealth. Your thoughts?
« Reply #2 on: June 04, 2015, 10:36:18 AM »
I definitly have those fears. I lived in poor neighborhoods growing up and if someone knew you had more than a hundred you would get jumped. Do you live in a poor neighborhood or even if you don't I recommend practicing stealth wealth. As a business owner I think you could help your image by volunteering a bit in your town.

Ricky

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Re: Scared of my own increasing wealth. Your thoughts?
« Reply #3 on: June 04, 2015, 10:43:27 AM »
Must depend on where you live. I've never once felt like that and a lot of people know my situation.

catccc

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Re: Scared of my own increasing wealth. Your thoughts?
« Reply #4 on: June 04, 2015, 10:48:52 AM »
then don't make your success noticeable.  easy.

Any chance you are part of a minority group?  I am and it certainly is scary to think that someone will harm you just because of a stereotype or generalization.  I cannot hide my face every day.  You can easily hide your wealth.  I mean, unless you are the leader of a very well known organization, like Bill Gates.



TimmyTightWad

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Re: Scared of my own increasing wealth. Your thoughts?
« Reply #5 on: June 04, 2015, 11:12:43 AM »
I don't know about being afraid of physical violence. But growing up I use to make sure I turned down my car stereo when I drove through my local neighborhood. When I bought a large TV i kept the box in the basement as opposed to putting it out in the trash. Stuff like that. I'm fairly secretive about my income/wealth anyway, even with friends and family because it can cause resentment and jealousy.

rocksinmyhead

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Re: Scared of my own increasing wealth. Your thoughts?
« Reply #6 on: June 04, 2015, 11:22:33 AM »
then don't make your success noticeable.  easy.

I've always felt like "people not thinking you're a rich asshole" is kind of a side benefit of mustachianism. If you aren't flaunting lots of material goods, I think most people will leave you alone. even if they know you're a business owner/the boss, seems to me that bosses who lead relatively modest lifestyles are respected more/hated less.

forummm

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Re: Scared of my own increasing wealth. Your thoughts?
« Reply #7 on: June 04, 2015, 02:48:53 PM »
I think if you don't flaunt it, people won't know.

On the other hand, your dream does sound pretty scary. Best to help you sleep easy by dealing with the problem. Just send all your excess funds to me at...

HairyUpperLip

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Re: Scared of my own increasing wealth. Your thoughts?
« Reply #8 on: June 04, 2015, 02:57:13 PM »
I think if you don't flaunt it, people won't know.

On the other hand, your dream does sound pretty scary. Best to help you sleep easy by dealing with the problem. Just send all your excess funds to me at...

But then they'll attack you.

clearly the best option would be to divvy it up between us two so that neither us are wealthy enough to be a target.

Letj

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Re: Scared of my own increasing wealth. Your thoughts?
« Reply #9 on: June 04, 2015, 05:30:30 PM »
Be thankful you live in a country with a decent social safety net system.   In places like India, you might have to hire personal FT security.   In countries like that you just don't let it be know in anyway that you have wealth.   

I laugh when people mention we should do away with the welfare system in the U.S.    I'm sure they would just love seeing this country become a third world nation?

I tell my Republican aquaintances this all the time. They will not be able to live in this country if we allowed our poor to roam the streets and digging through garbage dumps searching for food. In most countries including most of Europe you can't let your friends and neighbors know that you have any money. That's why the wealthy in those countries keep a low profile or live behind iron gates.  I know that in France a new fancy car in your yard would get you investigated if your neighbor reports that you may be selling drugs because your job would not allow you to have such a fancy car.

vagon

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Re: Scared of my own increasing wealth. Your thoughts?
« Reply #10 on: June 04, 2015, 06:06:22 PM »
If you're worried about your perception in the community then change it. Contribute to school fundraisers, sponsor local sports teams/events etc etc. I'm not talking throwing tonnes of cash at it, just enough to help out and get your profile associated as something good for the community.

I literally cant fathom anyone being pissed at a business that works with kids, employs locals, doesnt have (I assume) a showy owner. the community stuff will just make the prior facts more well known and obvious. You might even get more business out of it.

Ricky

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Re: Scared of my own increasing wealth. Your thoughts?
« Reply #11 on: June 04, 2015, 07:31:46 PM »
I literally cant fathom anyone being pissed at a business that works with kids, employs locals, doesnt have (I assume) a showy owner. the community stuff will just make the prior facts more well known and obvious. You might even get more business out of it.

There are two sides to that coin. I literally couldn't fathom the opposite. What the owner does with his time/life shouldn't have anything to do with anyone's perception of the business. Being successful in a Capitalistic society equates to supplying enough value for cheap enough to where there is profit to be made. Holding people accountable to some invisible moral standard is completely a completely arbitrary way to judge someone's success.

That said, I realize the real world loves putting these arbitrary guidelines on successful people, but it's completely irrelevant to their success.

BlueHouse

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Re: Scared of my own increasing wealth. Your thoughts?
« Reply #12 on: June 04, 2015, 07:49:58 PM »
I've known people who were exiled from their own countries, or even within their own borders and I e heard many say the same types of things :  when the hordes riot, they attack those closest to them first. Servants attack their employers, employees attack their employers or the physical stores. But these were places where income inequality and classes were so vastly different than the U.S.  Think South Africa, Zimbabwe farm killings and Iran after the revolution. So many people attacked because having money made others suspect you were informing on them.
I guess it depends on your circumstances. Fear sucks. Find some way to reduce it by finding something in common with the masses and sharing with them through volunteering, givebacks, community sessions, etc.

forummm

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Re: Scared of my own increasing wealth. Your thoughts?
« Reply #13 on: June 04, 2015, 08:04:41 PM »
I think if you don't flaunt it, people won't know.

On the other hand, your dream does sound pretty scary. Best to help you sleep easy by dealing with the problem. Just send all your excess funds to me at...

But then they'll attack you.

I'm willing to make that sacrifice for a fellow mustachian.

clearly the best option would be to divvy it up between us two so that neither us are wealthy enough to be a target.

It really wouldn't be fair to put you at that risk.

alsoknownasDean

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Re: Scared of my own increasing wealth. Your thoughts?
« Reply #14 on: June 04, 2015, 09:16:53 PM »
Sounds like you're in a high-crime area. I'd suggest moving.

aspiringnomad

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Re: Scared of my own increasing wealth. Your thoughts?
« Reply #15 on: June 04, 2015, 09:39:27 PM »
[snip]
« Last Edit: August 24, 2015, 08:23:53 PM by dcmustachio »

Guizmo

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Re: Scared of my own increasing wealth. Your thoughts?
« Reply #16 on: June 04, 2015, 10:16:33 PM »
Most people that talk about disliking business owners aren't talking about small/medium operations like yours. They are talking about huge corporations that treat their workers like shit.

Don't eat up the hype about the poors coming to attack you because you are moderately wealthy. As long as you don't live in a terrible neighborhood, very few people notice you at all.

Bateaux

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Re: Scared of my own increasing wealth. Your thoughts?
« Reply #17 on: June 04, 2015, 11:51:42 PM »
I pay taxes so that police with guns will show up when called and carry away those that would harm me or steal my property.

jengod

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Re: Scared of my own increasing wealth. Your thoughts?
« Reply #18 on: June 04, 2015, 11:53:07 PM »
Read Thou Shalt Prosper by Rabbi Lapin. It helps with this, a little.

vagon

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Re: Scared of my own increasing wealth. Your thoughts?
« Reply #19 on: June 05, 2015, 12:22:05 AM »
There are two sides to that coin. I literally couldn't fathom the opposite. What the owner does with his time/life shouldn't have anything to do with anyone's perception of the business. Being successful in a Capitalistic society equates to supplying enough value for cheap enough to where there is profit to be made. Holding people accountable to some invisible moral standard is completely a completely arbitrary way to judge someone's success.

That said, I realize the real world loves putting these arbitrary guidelines on successful people, but it's completely irrelevant to their success.

Well there's this capitalist utopia and reality. Things dont work in black and white and people are clearly not rational in the economic sense. Case in point the fear of a riot in a first world country due to availability bias. In any case there's also money to be made off of the irrationality. If that means supporting a couple of local sports teams you wouldn't otherwise care for, then I would do it.

dcheesi

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Re: Scared of my own increasing wealth. Your thoughts?
« Reply #20 on: June 05, 2015, 03:06:33 AM »
Be thankful you live in a country with a decent social safety net system.   In places like India, you might have to hire personal FT security.   In countries like that you just don't let it be know in anyway that you have wealth.   

I laugh when people mention we should do away with the welfare system in the U.S.    I'm sure they would just love seeing this country become a third world nation?

I tell my Republican aquaintances this all the time. They will not be able to live in this country if we allowed our poor to roam the streets and digging through garbage dumps searching for food. In most countries including most of Europe you can't let your friends and neighbors know that you have any money. That's why the wealthy in those countries keep a low profile or live behind iron gates.  I know that in France a new fancy car in your yard would get you investigated if your neighbor reports that you may be selling drugs because your job would not allow you to have such a fancy car.
I agree with your argument as it relates to "developing nations". But how does anti-wealth sentiment in  places like France help your argument? Maybe I'm just ignorant here,  but doesn't France have more of a social safety net than we do in the US?

I'm a red panda

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Re: Scared of my own increasing wealth. Your thoughts?
« Reply #21 on: June 05, 2015, 07:12:42 AM »
I think most mustachian people are relatively safe from violence associated with wealth.  If you own a used car, ride a bike most places, don't go out to eat, have a small house- you aren't going to be targeted as someone who is rich.  People probably will assume you are actually poor.

GuitarStv

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Re: Scared of my own increasing wealth. Your thoughts?
« Reply #22 on: June 05, 2015, 07:24:30 AM »
then don't make your success noticeable.  easy.

I've always felt like "people not thinking you're a rich asshole" is kind of a side benefit of mustachianism. If you aren't flaunting lots of material goods, I think most people will leave you alone. even if they know you're a business owner/the boss, seems to me that bosses who lead relatively modest lifestyles are respected more/hated less.

+1

Not being a douchebag with money goes a long way towards not generating ire towards you.

astvilla

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Re: Scared of my own increasing wealth. Your thoughts?
« Reply #23 on: June 05, 2015, 07:24:54 AM »
I thought the purpose of mustachianism was to live poor and as a consequence you will look poor. No idea what kind of business you are in. And there are customers of yours who love your business and are on good terms, right? Not everyone in your clientele is a violent person who despises people with success and wealth.

Maybe the layout of your business and the interior looks really rich? Perhaps make your business look a little more rough-edged, get into the neighborhood character. Doesn't have to be modern and new but can still be clean.  Plus those Baltimore riots were borne out of police brutality. Yes there are people like that but the riots in Baltimore had to be triggered and Baltimore police pulled the trigger.  People aren't going to mass and riot one day for no reason.

As someone said, we pay taxes so police can protect us from harm...though as we've seen and from probably our own experiences, they are more a bully and mafia-like than a force of good. (off-topic but a police office rear-ended an elderly lady's car causing damage, the officer looked at it and said, "oh that was already there before" and drove off. who you gonna call? the cops?!)

rocksinmyhead

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Re: Scared of my own increasing wealth. Your thoughts?
« Reply #24 on: June 05, 2015, 08:55:42 AM »
Edit: And to clarify, I don't think anyone right now looks at what I do and says I'm a bad person. I think I have a positive public image, and really the things I worry about are the type of people who wouldn't even care about that-- "yeah- he donates to the local sports team, but he's a slimy business man who exploits his workers" (without knowing a thing about what I do except for that I make money)

honestly I think people that would think that no matter what you do/without knowing anything about your business are probably a really small percentage of the overall population, and not worth worrying about. as others have said, violent riots start for different reasons and we do live in a civilized country with a police force. not to get a song from Frozen stuck in anyone's heads, but let it go! "circle of control" and all that. :)

Jeremy E.

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Re: Scared of my own increasing wealth. Your thoughts?
« Reply #25 on: June 05, 2015, 10:09:21 AM »
I live in Idaho, we don't have that problem :D