An anonymous millionaire has shared a story that sounds weird but thoughtful at the same time. The person who identified himself as a millionaire after his company shot up during the pandemic choose a different way to protect his money.
According to him in the story shared on the social news aggregating site, Reddit, he studied outside their country. When he finished school and got his first job, the first thing he did was call his mother at home and tell her.
However, he said “The first thing she asked was ‘how much are they paying you?'” and he told them the salary. He admitted that he was “too young” and can’t take the blame for revealing the salary to the mother.
“It all started when I went to study abroad and after graduating i landed a job. The first thing i did after getting accepted was call my mom. The first thing she asked was “how much are they paying you?”. I should’ve 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 would barely afford to live decently and save pennies. But when you convert it to my home country’s currency it’s a lot. My parents automatically thought I was now “rich” and their behavior changed,” the said.
Then the parents asked that he give them his first paycheck and also demanded to visit and when they visited, the parents just turn him into a tour guide and never also spent a “penny”.
“For once, they insisted i treat them with my first paycheck and pay for them to visit me. I naively did, and they didnt spend one penny for the whole month they “visited” me. Looking back at it they didnt care much about me, they just wanted a free vacation and made me their tour guide/atm/etc…”
And it didn’t end there. The parents started demanding gifts anytime he visits home and also asked that he contributes to his siblings’ university tuition. Even further, the parents told family members to visit.
“This became a pattern, where they expected me to regularly pay for them to “visit”, they started telling other family members that they should visit me and that i’ll take care of them. When i visit back home, they’d expect me to bring them lots of gifts and pay everytime we went out… They even started telling me that i should contribute and pay for my siblings’ uni tuitions. Funny thing when i was still a student i worked 2 jobs to support myself, and they barely texted/called me. When i got that job, i’d suddenly wake up to good morning texts and they’d call regularly lol.”
However, sensing that the family was becoming toxic and detrimental, he decided to act and create boundaries. According to him, he stopped calling home and never updated them about his life again.
“I slowly started realizing how toxic these people were and that i should draw some boundaries. So i slowly stopped calling/texting, i stopped updating them about my life, etc… i decided they didn’t deserve to know me.
“When the pandemic hit i was just starting my business and working from home gave me more time to focus on it. Gradually my business became more lucrative until i was able to quit my job. I kept reinvesting in my business then i started investing in other businesses. During this time i told my family i lost my job and i was struggling. They immediately stopped reaching out and unless i called i never heard from them.
Shockingly, when the family was informed that he had lost his job and was struggling, no one reached out again. It is only when he calls that they talk else no one reaches out to him. But things changed soon after…
“Fast forward today, i am so blessed and grateful to be financially at ease. To protect myself, i told my family i found a job but it doesnt pay much and the cost of living is high. Now when they visit, they pay for their own flights, and they don’t go out much lol. I also rent a small apartment and tell them that’s where i live (i actually live in a penthouse). I use public transport with them, idc if it takes 2 buses and 2 trains unless they wanna pay for a cab that’s what we’re doing. We go walk around the neighborhood where i actually live and we fantasize about what it would be like to live in one of those places…
I keep 2 suitcases packed with all my old clothes and i keep 3 boxes with all my usual dinnerware, books, etc. When i know they’re visiting i tell my assistant to find an apartment in x neighborhood and put my old stuff there. I tell them i changed apartments and i rent furnished ones cause they’re cheaper. So far they absolutely have no clue.
Now i still like my family and i don’t want to completely cut them off, 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’m writing this while sleeping on the floor of my living room in my “apartment”, my bedroom and couch are taken by family members. I will never tell them and they will always know me as that poor family member struggling abroad.
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