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The inquisitive Redditor who posted this question on r/AskReddit says that the inspiration for this thread came from wanting to be aware of their own privilege. "I come from a well-off family, and I realized there are several parts of my life I find normal that others don't," the Redditor tells Bored Panda.
"I wanted to break out of the bubble of my rich crowd of people and at least be a little self-aware of the struggles people go through, especially since I'm going abroad for college soon and will be interacting with people from contrasting backgrounds."
"Of course, there are instances where some of my friends' experiences are surprising to me too; my parents are not billionaires, but there are people in my system [whose] parents are," u/CoolCoast7853 admits.
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When we call someone "rich," do we usually mean it in monetary terms? Because a person's social standing can also manifest itself in displays of privilege or entitlement. We were curious to know how u/CoolCoast7853 contextualizes the term "rich." The Redditor says that not all rich people flaunt their wealth.
"There are plenty of rich people [who] don't have outwardly displays of wealth. That does not change their net worth, but it does display an extent of self-awareness towards the rest of society. I wanted to know about privileges that the wealthy believed [were] expected and standard but aren't for the better half of the population," the Redditor clarifies.
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As a person from a "well-off family," u/CoolCoast7853 has a bit of a different perception of what “being rich” means. "I suppose I've spent more time than not around 'rich people,' but not adults as much as teenagers. At our age, you don't invest in monetary assets or plan out huge expenditures, so I hadn't experienced drastic displays of wealth, but from wealthy adults my parents know of, most seemed quite humble."
"It is possible that this was just because of the crowd my parents chose to hang out with, however. My parents and their friends spend money, but they don't waste it. I suppose a lot of the responses involved unnecessary expenditures that could have been put to better use," the Redditor observes.
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Friendships can be harder when one friend makes less than the other. Remember that scene from Friends during Ross' birthday dinner? Telling your friend that you don't feel comfortable or simply can't afford a fancy restaurant can be awkward and, in some cases, even humiliating. Friendship coach Danielle Bayard Jackson told HuffPost that this is a common problem she sees with her clients.
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They usually don't come to her with this particular problem, but it does come up quite often. "It's really important to feel connected as friends, and one basic way we do that is to share experiences. But a lot of social activities we engage in are highly dependent on the funds that you have available," she told HuffPost. "We might share common interests, but our access to those are different."
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Followed him out, Drove away in a Bentley.
Author of Change Your Habits, Change Your Life, Thomas C. Corley, found in his research that wealthy people tend to make friends differently. The self-made millionaires he interviewed said they consciously choose to make friends with those they aspire to be like: successful and rich people.
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But, as evidenced by this thread, money doesn't always matter in friendships. People can be friends regardless of their financial situation. Yet talking about it is almost always too awkward.
That's because it isn't just about the money itself, Professor Mark Fenton-O’Creevy, a professor of organizational behavior at the Open University, told The Guardian. According to him, people who have money also have security, freedom, power, and status.
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