The Subtle Downsides of Getting Rich

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Realizing that most of what brings happiness has nothing to do with money can be a painful admission for those who have become rich. As illustrated by Will Smith and Rick Rubin, the hope and optimism associated with dreaming of having more money often diminishes after becoming rich, as the problems and feelings of depression persist. This disillusionment can lead to a profound sense of hopelessness for many who achieve wealth.

Measuring wealth is easy. You just count it up. Measuring some of the downsides of wealth is so much harder and more nuanced. They can be so nuanced and hard to measure that many people won’t even believe they exist. A downside to wealth? How could that possibly be?

Let me propose that the absurdity of talking about the downside of wealth is part of why wealth doesn’t tend to make people as happy as they thought it would.

When the benefits of money are so obvious but the downsides are so subtle, the downsides you didn’t anticipate can be more jarring than the benefits you expected.

I want more money, of course. Almost everyone does, albeit for different reasons.

This is not an anti-wealth list -- just a collection of subtle downsides that are easy to ignore, and so common you may as well call them the only true laws of getting rich.