Being wealthy really sucks
Poor Little Rich Kid writes: My parents are self-made millionaires.
They support my lifestyle by providing a car and house, and paying for the odd, large, unexpected bill. But since I was a kid I’ve been petrified at the thought of inheriting this wealth, because they worked all their lives to build it up. It’s like an iceberg that has chipped off my entire shoulder.
I don’t live to excess and I work and invest my savings. My trouble is, there’s all sorts of support for people in any other kind of situation, but there’s nothing except the odd depressing Reddit thread for children of wealthy parents. I feel so alone.
I know better than anyone that money does not buy happiness. It just sits there like a security blanket that keeps on growing and growing. I truly hope that I, my kids, your kids, or anyone’s kids are not screwed up by their parents’ wealth. What would you do in my position?
Barefoot responds: You don’t sound screwed up to me at all.
Trust me, I’ve had many, many infuriating discussions with trust-fund kids and many of them mistakenly see money as love, because growing up, that’s what they saw their parents loved most.
You are wise enough to know that’s bulldust. So, the smartest thing you could do is not follow in your parents’ footsteps. Use your money to buy yourself time, not just things: spend your time (and some of your fortune) helping people other than yourself. Find a cause that energises you. Yes, that sounds trite and cliched, but it’s not nearly as cliched as being a Prada-wearing, BMW-driving trustafarian with a daddy hang-up that no amount of cocaine can blow away.
My grape expectations
Craig says: I have a dream — I want to start my own vineyard.
I love wine! We live on 8ha in Gippsland (Victoria) and I want to add 4ha of vines. I always thought it was a pipe dream, but last year I got an inheritance of $250,000 from my grandmother. I want to use that money to create something.
I want to bottle my own wine. It’s very profitable. My wife is not so sure and wants to pay it off the mortgage. Is this a good idea?
Barefoot responds: I know nothing about wine, so I asked the best winemaker I know, Ben Rankin.
Ben won the Young Gun of Wine award from his industry peers, so he knows what he’s talking about.
Over to Ben:
“I see a lot of doctors, lawyers and wealthy people who fall in love with the idea of owning a vineyard, but they never think about who they’re going to sell their wine to.
“So my advice to Craig is to work backwards: have a wine with a local winery and ask them about their experience, how much they’re selling their wine for and to who, and how much money they’re making.
“It can be a tough slog. A vineyard costs between $30,000 and $50,000 for every 400sqm (irrigation, posts, vines) to set up, and then you’ve got three years before you have a crop. So, you’re basically working for free and you’ve got all the risk. As you know well, Scott, there are bushfires, floods, kangaroos, rabbits, hailstorms …”
Thanks Ben. I’d go with paying down the mortgage Craig (and buying a case of your favourite plonk).
Speaking of which, I famously don’t drink any more, but back when I did it was Ben’s wine that was my rolled-gold favourite.
In fact, I used to give away his plonk to hoity-toity wine snobs and they’d often tell me it “tasted like $200 wine”.
I don’t get paid anything to say that, other than to see my readers get to drink amazing good wine.
Tell him Barefoot sent you!