Is growing up rich all it’s cracked up to be?

I grew up middle-class, and didn’t want for the necessities, but I certainly wasn’t flying around in private jets with my friends or walking into a walk-in closet the size of most of apartments (flip through this Tumblr blog: The Rich Kids of Instagram shared by the lovely Bridget of Money after Graduation).

Then (obviously) I know about the Hilton sisters, the Kardashian Klan, and most recently, I read about these Ecclestone sisters, who are offspring of Bernie Ecclestone, Formula One billionaire.

All of their wealth is just mind boggling.

I’m naturally (and humanly) envious of course (who wouldn’t be?) at the weekly massages, private jets, wonderful vacations and a general feeling of luxuriousness in their lifestyles.

…but then I started musing out loud to BF about their life, and I came to this conclusion:

It’d be boring to do nothing and shop all day.

I obviously can’t test these theories out, but I have experienced a small chunk of it with lifestyle inflation, where I start getting used to little luxuries and I can’t go back to to the lower quality or lesser frequency of whatever I had treated myself to before.

So having all this money, being able to buy whatever you want.. this is all great if you grew up with absolutely nothing and appreciate the littlest of things, but if you have grown up with always having everything without having anything to want for, it makes life become boring.

By boring I mean: Bland. Unchallenging. Too easy.

Want a ride in a helicopter?

Yawn. I could buy that 15-minute ride with my pocket money. Hell, why don’t I just take dad’s helicopter out for a spin?

WOULD I WANT TO WORK IF I WAS RICH?

With all of this money that you could fill a swimming pool and swim in, why would anyone want to be challenged to work?

Via

Now, I know that the super-elite mentioned above DO work to some degree (I think the Kardashians for instance, work a hell of a lot even if it seems like fluff), but when you read comments from the Ecclestone sisters where they seem to have half-heartedly tried to get a university degree (or not at all), it makes you wonder if all that wealth is wasted.

(A side note on the Kardashians, Kim Kardashian works like crazy to build her brand and business. I remember watching an episode with her stepsister who wanted to be a model but didn’t want to put the work into learning how to catwalk properly. In the episode, Kim said out of frustration: You have to work hard. REALLY hard. That raised my impression of her.)

Just like how youth is wasted on the young, wealth is wasted on the rich.

But the others? They could do so much more for themselves and to challenge their minds, aside from what they really DO accomplish, such as raising millions for charities. 

I am not saying all rich kids are like this, but I wonder if I’d be just like them.

I would not only take everything for granted, but I wouldn’t WANT to work and to not be challenged. I’d want to sit around and just stare at my clothes all day.

COULD A FACTOR BE THAT IT ISN’T MONEY THAT THEY EARNED, THEMSELVES?

It’s just so easy to spend other people’s money, but a lot harder to make and save your own, although it gives a greater sense of satisfaction.

It gives me and many people a great sense of accomplishment to have reached such heights on our own (of course, there’s always support from society and family), but everything we have, we have it because we saw it as a goal and achieved it.

..AND TO KNOW THERE IS A SAFETY NET?

Then again, I know a lot of rich kids who grew up to work as hard as anyone alive, starting their own businesses with their own money and making it on their own.

The only thing is that they are probably still not as hungry. They know their parents would save them if things got really, REALLY bad.

People without parents who have the means, don’t have that comforting safety net, so they hustle harder.

DOES HAVING LESS, BUILD CHARACTER?

..or is it just based on the person?

I am sure on the flip side, there are poor people who are lazy as hell, just as there are rich people who work like maniacs.

Still, food for thought about what I’d do if I were filthy rich. I’m curious as to what kind of person I’d be.