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Wealth is no protection from mental illness or addiction. Either of those can put even the richest person into the gutter. And there are plenty of examples of wealthy figures in sports or the entertainment industry who made millions and wound up back in ordinary circumstances because they mismanaged their money and spent it all. That's not the same as living in the gutter, but once someone's used to a hedonistic lifestyle, going back to being an ordinary Joe or Jane who has to live on a budget has got to smart.
Right.
My brother was born into an affluent family. My parents made sure he had the best education. He was primed to inherit a thriving business as well.
But he has mental health issues, and subsequently addiction issues as well. So all his education and early affluence (not actually his but given to him) is now basically gone and he's living in disability.
It's sad but it's also difficult to actually help him.
We hear the opposite all the time, someone who came from a council estate/ghetto and built themselves up (though it's not as common as the sensationalized stories).
The reverse I imagine must be even more so uncommon, middle class to extremely wealthy people who later lose everything and become homeless or live in abhorrent conditions.
People say that stories like these happened in the recession but is that really true? How many of those people were stable beforehand and owned their house, car, etc...fully without being on a mortgage/loan. Can a multi millionaire who has actual million dollar assets lose everything?
Yup. Personally. I watched my mom go from lower middle class to upper middle class/well off to dead broke. When I was small we were not rich not poor, we weren’t starving but we weren’t eating steak on weekends. In fact when I was little steak meat was very expensive.
When we came to the US I watched my mom become pretty successful get married and then watched her and her husband go from highly successful - well off to filing BK and losing everything. And when I say everything I mean everything. Cars, houses, cash etc. all in the name of pride.
I watched a friend of mine get money from a settlement from the Ford/Firestone fiasco. Couple of million. His brother died in the accident. Everyone said he was rich. He blew all the money on boats, trucks and opened coffee shops. All fell apart because he had no idea how to invest his money right. Works at Home Depot now.
I have seen personal friends go crazy with HELOC loans and go buy new cars boats, vacations, trucks etc. most lost their houses and toys has to get sold off for pennies on the dollar. I remember a buddy was trying to sell me his 50,000 dollar truck for 25,000. It was three years old. The bubble bust was in full swing. Everything was cheap. I declined.
It was a good lesson learned. I wowed never to make the mistakes they made
But he has mental health issues, and subsequently addiction issues as well. So all his education and early affluence (not actually his but given to him) is now basically gone and he's living in disability.
It's sad but it's also difficult to actually help him.
Same with my Ex. His sister was my role model- she loved her brother and could have set him up for life with the money she had but she didn't. She paid for rehab twice and then left him to fend for himself. DS once asked me why Aunt C didn't take Dad into her giant, beautiful house on a private beach in NJ. I asked DS how long he thought Dad would say if she let him camp out till he got his act together. He got the point. My Ex's family was VERY supportive of me during the divorce and I think that was one of the reasons why- they knew that all you can do for them is never enough and that DS and I needed to get out to survive. Aunt C and Uncle B came out to Des Moines for DS' wedding and my family welcomed them warmly.
I still regret what my Ex lost- everything and everyone important to him. I wouldn't wish mental illness on anyone.
My late father in law. As a poor child from Kentucky he plowed behind a mule. Left home at 15, moved to another state, lied about his age and got a job. After bouncing around a while at different jobs, he found something he loved and ended up staying there 53 years.
He saved his money, never spent foolishly and lived within his means. When this man died he left his wife with no debt, not even on his brand new pickup. Beautiful home paid for, and more than enough money to last his widow until she passes. As a matter of fact, we were astonished at how much money he had accumulated. Like I said, he always saved and invested his money wisely. Goes to show you that you don’t need a six figure income when you harness the power of compound interest over a lifetime of saving.
This would be an example of a "rags to riches" story.
The OP is seeking examples of people whose financial trajectory was in the opposite direction, "riches to rags."
Same with my Ex. His sister was my role model- she loved her brother and could have set him up for life with the money she had but she didn't. She paid for rehab twice and then left him to fend for himself. DS once asked me why Aunt C didn't take Dad into her giant, beautiful house on a private beach in NJ. I asked DS how long he thought Dad would say if she let him camp out till he got his act together. He got the point. My Ex's family was VERY supportive of me during the divorce and I think that was one of the reasons why- they knew that all you can do for them is never enough and that DS and I needed to get out to survive. Aunt C and Uncle B came out to Des Moines for DS' wedding and my family welcomed them warmly.
I still regret what my Ex lost- everything and everyone important to him. I wouldn't wish mental illness on anyone.
Yeah, and what's sad is that there are so many people who don't seek help for it. It can be managed for the most part with a good psychiatrist and medication but many people just won't take the neccesary steps to get help. I suffer from mental illness and have a huge inheritance coming my way down the line, I will say even if I was full blown certifiably insane I wouldn't be stupid with the money, however.
Wealth is no protection from mental illness or addiction. Either of those can put even the richest person into the gutter. And there are plenty of examples of wealthy figures in sports or the entertainment industry who made millions and wound up back in ordinary circumstances because they mismanaged their money and spent it all. That's not the same as living in the gutter, but once someone's used to a hedonistic lifestyle, going back to being an ordinary Joe or Jane who has to live on a budget has got to smart.
Yeah for sure, it’s very depressing to move down in life. I try to avoid moving up my living situation before I’ve been ready for that move for a long time. Even if your circumstance is fine and average, if you were living in luxury it’s a shock. Just spending some time in this dated, lousy apartment between homes is depressing for me and this is a $2,000/month apartment. I had to sell a luxury condo in the past and move to a budget one, then a townhouse, and it wasn’t a fun adjustment. I made sure after that to move up slowly so that I could always live beneath my means and maintain that lifestyle.
I haven’t known anyone who has lost it all and had a lot. I had a good friend who inherited $170,000 or so, he didn’t have a job, and he decided not to get one, not to take his freelance business seriously, and he blew through the entire amount of money in about 3-4 years. It was sad to watch honestly. Meals out all of the time, stupid purchases, no concept of how to manage his money. Just an idiot. Then he has spent the whole time since then coach surfing and mooching off friends including me in the past. We’re no longer friends.
I don’t understand, literally, why people don’t go get financial planners/advisors/CPAs and make their money work for them. Are they dumb? I’ll gladly pay a 1% commission to let a professional manage my money, and make money for me. I have zero shame in admitting that a professional could do a way better job than me managing my money.
My mother doesn’t lift a finger and her financial guy has definitely made her money work for her. I don’t know the details (not my business) but I do know that once she got her huge inheritance the first thing she did was find the best financial planner in town.
I was in the car with her once and the guy called, she answered on speakerphone and the guy was like, “Hey I moved some things around, it would cost you nothing to pay your ($50,000) car loan off.” Must be nice, Mom. Lol. I don’t know all the secrets to investing so I would want a professional to manage it.
Former pro athles are littered with riches to rag stories. A lot of lottery winners.
There are more rich to rags stories than rags to rich.
If you are stupid with money you live life in the rags.
I think these are the most common riches to rags stories. NFL and NBA are full of them. Allen Iverson made $200 million over his career and ended up broke (bought multiple homes, cars, etc. not only for himself bit for his friends too). Although he was actually saved by good fortune. He had a lifetime deal with Reebok that kicked in and pays him almost $800K/year, so I guess he doesn't count. Although many athletes aren't that lucky, and the ones that have no financial smarts, end up broke.
On the rare occasion, it's not always the athletes' faults. Vernon Davis hired someone to manage his money and ended up getting swindled, lost a fortune. After that he took courses on financial management and now gives seminars to players so that nothing like that happens to them. His story was pretty impressive on 60 Minutes a few years back.
I had a working GF once who had fled penniless from a wealthy sociopath. I called her "the nouveau pauvre".
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