A multimillionaire has revealed that he hides his extreme wealth from his family, describing how much effort he goes to to keep their fortune a secret.
The man took to Reddit to talk about how he tries to hide the amount of money he makes from his parents — going so far as to rent a modest apartment to trick them into believing he’s less wealthy when they visit.
Post in the thread Where from my chestthe unnamed man said he will “never tell his family the truth about his financial status.”
The entrepreneur decided to keep tight-lipped about his wealth after his family took advantage of him, constantly asking for money and treating their visits to him as “free vacations.”
At the beginning of the thread, he said, “I’m a multi-millionaire and when my family comes to visit, I rent an apartment to pretend I live there.”
A multimillionaire has revealed that they hide their extreme wealth from their family, revealing how far they will go to keep their fortune a secret
The unnamed man posted in the True Off My Chest thread saying he will ‘never tell his family the truth about his financial status’
He said it first started when he got a job after he graduated from college and his mother wondered how much money he would make.
He explained that while he didn’t make a fortune for his location, it was a lot in his home country.
So his parents assumed he was “rich” and changed their behavior.
‘It all started when I went to study abroad and got a job after graduating. The first thing I did after I got hired was call my mom.
“The first thing she asked was ‘how much are they paying you?’ I should have known then, but I was too young, I don’t blame myself. I told her my salary… Now my salary for that country was below average.
“I could hardly afford to live decently and save pennies. But if you convert it to my own country’s currency, it’s a lot. My parents automatically thought I was ‘rich’ now and changed their behavior,” he explained.
He revealed that when he got his first paycheck, his parents “insisted” that he pay everything while they visited him.
He recalled, “Looking back, they didn’t care much about me, they just wanted a free vacation and made me their guide/cash machine/etc.”
The Reddit user then said he fell into a “pattern” of funding their visits and that his family even told other members that he would “take care of them.”
“They started telling other relatives to visit me and that I would take care of them. When I came to visit at home, they expected me to bring them lots of gifts and pay every time we went out.
“They even started telling me to contribute and pay my siblings’ tuition.”
He decided to keep tight-lipped about his wealth after his family took advantage of him, constantly asking for money and treating their visits to him as “free vacations” (stock image)
It was then that the Reddit user began to realize how “toxic” his family was.
The multimillionaire said, “I slowly started to realize how toxic these people were and that I had to draw some boundaries. So I slowly stopped calling/texting them, I stopped telling them about my life, etc… I decided they didn’t deserve to know me.’
When the pandemic started, the Reddit user decided to start his business and focus on building it.
When his own business boomed, he resigned. He lied to his family and told them that he had lost his job and was struggling financially.
As a result, his family immediately stopped trying to reach him.
“Fast forward today, I am so blessed and grateful to be financially comfortable. To protect myself, I have told my family that I have found a job, but it does not pay much and the cost of living is high.
“Now when they come to visit, they pay for their own flights and don’t go out much fun,” he explained.
And to keep up with his lie, the entrepreneur claimed he rented a “tiny apartment” to fool his family about where he lives, despite actually living in a penthouse.
‘We’re going to walk around the neighborhood where I live and fantasize about what it would be like to live in such a neighborhood.
Many users flocked to the comments section to praise the man and even agree with him
“I have two suitcases full of all my old clothes and I have three boxes of all my usual crockery, books, etc. When I know they are visiting, I tell my assistant to find an apartment in Ward X and put my old stuff there.
“I tell them I’ve changed apartments and I’m renting furnished because they’re cheaper. So far they have absolutely no idea.
“Now I still love my family and I don’t want to cut them off completely, I like having them around and it’s fun for me too.
“Nobody knows about this and it’s not like I can share this with people I know in real life.
“Right now I am writing this sleeping on the floor of my living room in my ‘apartment’, my bedroom and couch being occupied by relatives. I will never tell them and they will always know me as that poor relative struggling abroad,” he revealed.
Many users flocked to the comments section to praise the man and even agree with him.
However, other people on the social media platform suggested that he ‘cut ties’ and ‘stood up’ for himself
One person commented, “Honestly, I think I would do the same thing.”
“As long as you’re happy bro! Congratulations for making things happen on your own, you deserve it! People tend to want to be around more when it suits them,” said another user.
Another user said, “If I ever made a lot of money, I know exactly the people I’d suddenly start hearing from.” I don’t blame you at all.’
“It’s kind of sad, but yeah, still smart. You don’t want to cut ties, so this seems like a good option. I hope you start a family (by that I mean friends or a real family or whatever suits you) that you appreciate for you,” another person wrote.
However, other people on the social media platform suggested that he “cut ties” and “stood up” for himself.
One person wrote, “Seriously. This is not a family issue, this is standing up for yourself and your boundaries issue. The family may not be intrusive, the family may have just tried to take some casual, understandable liberties and they weren’t told no, the impositions just got bigger over time.”
Another person said, ‘I mean, why do you keep meeting them? They’re family – so what? Who says you have to keep toxic family around? Unless you come from a culture where family is super important and you can’t just cut them off. But this will get tiresome and sooner or later they will find out and try to take advantage, but I think then you will be forced to really cut them off. I feel like you’re prolonging the inevitable.’
“The amount of mental gymnastics versus just saying no,” another person commented.