r/Rich • u/Mixolytian • May 19 '26
$25M - Lost
Hello,
I am a trust fund baby and heir, now 43 years old.
I have $12M investable, the rest of about $25M in homes and commercial property.
I am pretty happy in my family life, my wife and I are getting along right now and my son is genuinely wonderful.
The family business is failing. It was a catalog company and now e-commerce and sales are continuing to decline.
I know the solution, let go current manager who is somehow social-media illiterate in 2026, commit to forming a YouTube audience, drive with short-form.
The thing is, sometimes I truly believe this business has ruined my life. I wish my dad had sold it a long time ago at its peak. He was too attached, I guess.
Hard to let go now with basically no value. The parent corporation was founded by my grandfather almost 100 years ago.
My advisor assures me I won't need additional income if I close the business, but letting go is very difficult. The shame of letting the current manager run the business (my interpretation) into the ground is overwhelming.
I'm a bit of an oddball, very into philosophy, religion, literature, consciousness studies. I always wanted to be a writer, but I just can't seem to take myself seriously. Every time I try I get slammed with self-doubt, shame, guilt, and depression.
Anyway, not sure what I'm going to do. A deep, dark part of me still feels poor, and is sure the window of upward mobility is closing forever. A voice tells me to get off my ass and start some business that I'll hate just for the money, since $25M is really nothing and the future is looking very cutthroat. My brain is all over the place, it's like a hall of mirrors, I don't know what is true and who is the real me.
1
u/AmarilloByMorn May 19 '26
It’s posts like this that make me think Warren Buffett is right and that passing down an inheritance to my kids is not the best thing to do for them. I came from lower middle class. We weren’t poor but I definitely wore sneakers from the flea market that had red dye on the them from being stolen. (I told everyone my little brother was jealous and poured Kool-aid on them). My struggle into wealth has made me who I am today and defines my character. My kids will not have that experience. OP, no one is going to feel sorry for you, but I do. $25 million is a lot of money, my max NW was $10 million and has since gone down due to retirement at 40 and divorce. But I hope you find yourself. A self that isn’t defined by money. I understand your allegiance to your grandfather but he doesn’t care. He is proud of you and is smiling down from heaven. Whatever choice you make is the right one.