On the Experience of Being Poor-Ish, for People Who Aren't
A while ago I read about a study that surveyed people with inherited wealth. IIRC they ranged from having inherited tens to hundreds of millions. No matter how much they had inherited, when asked how much they would need to have inherited to feel financially secure and not have to worry about money, they said they would need something like half again to double.<p>I may be misremembering the details, but that was the gist of it but I couldn&#x27;t find the article again. I suppose expectations scale up with means.<p>On the other hand discovering people they know are actually very wealthy seems to have a massive negative effect on people&#x27;s levels of empathy. Wealthy people who have suffered bereavement or personal tragedy report people who are less wealthy than themselves rarely offer sympathy and they often get comments along the lines of &#x27;knowing what it&#x27;s like for the rest of us now&#x27;, or &#x27;what it&#x27;s like to have a problem you can&#x27;t buy your way out of&#x27;.