Have you seen people sharing their income online? I bet you have. There’s even a whole series done on people’s income and how they spend their money on YouTube by CNBC Make it.
Here are some examples:
- This woman makes $55k/year in Jacksonville, Florida
- This woman makes $81K/year in Decatur, Georgia
- This man makes $270k/year in Austin, Texas
- This man makes $3.7 Million/year in Rockville, Maryland
- This woman made $141 million from her clothing business
There seems to be a trend of folks openly sharing their income and networth with the world online.
On the other hand of the spectrum are people who never reveal any part of their income and networth.
Some of these people are rich enough to be on the Forbes billionaire’s list but you would not hear about them. They are anonymous. No one in the public knows who they are and what they’re worth for various reasons:
- They earn their money through illegal means (ex. Human trafficking, drugs, slave labor, etc)
- They are dictators (ie. Kim Jon Un)
- People who started Bitcoin (Satoshi Nakomoto) (There may be more than one person behind it)
- Royal families
- Patent holders
- Hedge fund managers
- They got their money from generational wealth and their family were discrete while they were alive
There certainly are more reasons why you should keep your income and networth private than there are reasons to publicize it.
In this article, we’ll discuss 12 reasons why it may not be a good idea to reveal your income and networth.
Table of Contents
1. Keep people from asking to borrow money from you
This is a lottery winner who wore the ‘Scream’ mask to hide his identity while he was signing the legal documents on TV.
And could you blame him? It’s not unheard of to hear lottery winners talk about people calling them up asking for money from them after they come into some wealth.
In a lot of those cases, it can be hard to refuse help as it could mean the end of your friendship or familial ties.
I’d argue that you should make sure you don’t introduce yourself to such a difficult predicament if possible.
Revealing your networth and income to people could indeed ruin decades-long friendships and even strong family bonds.
If you think you’re home free from someone asking to borrow money from you because you don’t make a lot, you’re wrong. People in desperate circumstances would still deem you as being capable of lending.
Keep your income private so no one will think to ask you in the first place.
2. You may appear boastful
Depending on how much money you earn and your networth, it may seem like you are bragging so it’s wise to keep quiet.
Nobody likes to hear someone brag about how “rich” they are (Those who are after somebody’s money wouldn’t mind, however). It’s just not a good look and can be an awful portrayal of one’s character.
There are very few circumstances where speaking about your wealth is appropriate and won’t be seen as boastful.
Bragging behavior can cost you business opportunities as well as meaningful connections. It would take a questionable character to find such a behavior endearing.
Do Kown’s Luna crashed likely because he pissed off certain powerful individuals with his relentless trash-talking and bragging.
Major Luna holders (may have been a carefully orchestrated attack intended to bring down Luna) sold off all the Luna at once causing the price to plummet and other smaller investors then began to panic-sell which created a domino effect.
Understand that even if you don’t share your networth and income to brag, it may indeed be perceived as such.
3. It may cause some people to feel bad for you
Believe it or not, someone may indeed feel bad for you when you reveal your networth and income.
If you don’t earn a lot of money, this is perhaps not too surprising. But for other people, it may be surprising to hear this.
You see, to you and most other people, it may seem like you have a lot but to certain individuals out there, it may be a laughable amount.
Imagine hearing someone from a third-world country brag about making $10,000/year. To most of us living in first-world countries, that amount is next to nothing. It’s not enough to cover our basic living expenses. Yet to people in third world countries, it’s enough for them to be the top income earners of their countries.
I’m not here to bash anyone or make people feel bad about how much they earn, I’m here to knock some perspective into people.
Remember, there’s always a bigger fish. Do not embarrass yourself by bragging about your networth/income. Stay humble. Keep your number to yourself.
This isn’t about caring too much about what people think but about having the emotional intelligence to recognize how someone else may perceive you when you reveal unnecessary financial details about yourself that you may think makes you look good when in fact, the opposite can be true.
4. Some people may get jealous
Depending on how much you earn and your networth, some people may get jealous of you.
When someone is jealous of you, it’s harder for them to relax around you or do things with your best interest at heart.
That jealousy can ruin what otherwise would’ve been a pleasant friendship.
It’s inevitable that we’d feel some form of jealousy and envy (however small) toward some people we are close to as human beings (even people we love and care for, this is just human nature) so we should do our parts to make sure we mitigate that happening by keeping our income and networth private.
FinancialSamurai had mentioned in one of his blog posts that he lost one of his decades-long friendship after he agreed to reveal his annual income to him. He was since shunned and no longer invited out to play golf. His former friend could no longer feel relaxed enough around him.
Different individuals would react differently to learning that their friend makes a lot more than they do but one will almost for certain respond with at least a bit of envy and neuroticism.
There’s no need to strike a match to see if it’ll indeed go up in flame. Maybe it’ll die off, maybe it’ll erupt into flame. You gain nothing by testing it out. It’s better not to stoke a fire in the first place.
5. Keep private matters private
There’s a reason why most people keep their height, weight, age, address, income, and networth private.
It’s not to say that it’s wrong to not follow the typical practice but certain things are better off staying private than letting it out in the open.
Networth and income for instance are traditionally considered private matters.
6. Keep yourself and your friends/family safe
Telling people how much money you have and earn annually can put your friends and family in danger.
You don’t need to make millions per year for someone to decide they want to rob you or kidnap your loved ones for ransom.
All someone needs to know is that you got some money in your bank and you make some decent income for them to target you.
Keeping your networth private is good for your own safety and your loved ones’ safety.
7. Discourage defamation attempts
Some people get a kick out of destroying someone else’s life.
The internet is filled with people who got way too much time and are too aimless in life to do something for their own good.
Yes, indeed, they’d take the time, resource, and energy to defame you and destroy you completely out of jealousy if they so wish and they’d be at least partly successful.
There are more than half a million likes on Amber Heard’s first post after she lost the trial to Depp. Some people do believe Amber Heard’s claim that Johnny Depp abused her despite all the public support for Depp over Heard.
When you tell someone you got money, you might as well paint a red target on your face.
Being a public figure, for this reason, is always risky. You never know who harbors some resentment towards you and who wants to bring you down.
We can’t prevent people from disliking us, sometimes they can’t even explain why they don’t like us, it’s just safer to blend into the crowd than to stand out.
If you can’t blend into the crowd or if your career requires you to put yourself out there, you can still stay low by not revealing your income and networth which will inevitably draw attention to yourself.
8. Discourage hackers from accessing your data
Letting the public knows your networth would give them more of a reason to hack into your account and steal your data.
Hotel and public wifi aren’t safe. Hackers can easily get in and see EVERYTHING on their device(s). There are many ways to hack into someone’s laptop aside from wifi.
And when your networth is public knowledge (or known to someone), you’d put yourself at greater risk of a hack.
Be smart, be quiet about your networth and income.
9. So you don’t feel like you have to update as your networth changes
For people who reveal their networth, they’d often feel compelled to update as their networth changes.
You’d always be identified with a specific number once you revealed it even if it changed.
You may feel like you need to prove that you’ve since achieved a higher number once you’re there. The need to get validated can be a strong one, particularly in the era of social media where almost none of us feel completely secure at all times.
This often traps people into continually revealing private financial details of their lives that they otherwise would have kept quiet.
Remove all that stress and judgments by keeping your number to yourself.
10. You may attract gold diggers
I had a classmate in uni who liked to go on dates and told me how she wanted to find a rich man to marry.
Believe it or not, there are people out there who just want to land a rich husband/wife so they don’t have to work. They are after your money not necessarily you as a person.
Announcing your networth/income or revealing that you are “rich” is one of the stupidest things a person can do.
Need I explain why it would attract gold diggers and people who don’t have your best interest at heart?
You don’t even have to be ‘rich’ to attract gold diggers. Even for people who make $100,000 a year, it’s enough to entice some gold diggers. Hey, it’s not ‘rich’ but it’s at least a 6-figure income and maybe better than what some gold diggers are earning.
I see some millionaires being very open about their wealth. There was a circulating Instagram post of a person non-discretely holding his ATM slip and it had $3 million left on the balance (if you want to find out how much you need to be considered rich, click here).
It baffled me why someone would do that despite knowing the risks associated.
My theory is that they like the attention and the access to extra women to play with.
They may publically joke about not opening DMs containing photos but in reality, they like being sent nudes and being so wanted by beautiful women. It’s pitiful that those women would reduce themselves to cheap meat like that to be looked at unrestricted at all times outside their control, to gain pleasure from, and toss to the pile like you would a used toy.
Most gold diggers are women although there are male gold diggers as well.
Attractive women are the playthings of rich men. It’s not often the other way around with rich women and attractive younger men.
I see some girls throwing themselves after rich men and often feel myself studying the power imbalance that exists between them.
These rich men tend to feel invincible. They openly flirt with multiple women in front of said women without guilt or remorse and expect all the women to still be interested and in most cases, they would be correct for assuming that.
Most women would turn a blind eye to his blatant disrespect. They will endure all kinds of treatment and psychological abuse because to them, the money makes all the mixed signals and being played with, worth it.
Gold diggers wait around to get chosen and stress out over any inconsistencies or sudden withdrawal of attention from these men they hope to marry someday.
It’s really pathetic and sad. It reminds me of the butcher shop where carcasses (gold diggers) are displayed, all hoping to get picked. The huge power disparity between them can be alarming.
Many of these women are lost, they feel no peace, and they may feel unattractive at times when his attention is on another of his playthings instead of her.
All they care about is looking good because it may be the only thing that they could offer. You see, hard work fade into irrelevance when they expect someone else to fund their lifestyles.
To most rich men, attractive women are trophies, arm candies, sex dolls, temporary toys, and baby factories. They aren’t seen on the same level.
What ends up happening with these women is that they marry one of these rich men, depend on their husbands to fund their lifestyles, they have kids. With time, they inevitably age, and their husbands start being bolder with younger prettier women with fewer concealment attempts.
Unable to turn a blind eye anymore and not feeling like they are being treated as their husbands’ equals, they eventually divorce.
There are ways to hide wealth and the prenup can also drastically decrease the amount of divorce settlement.
Many gold diggers often end up with little to no money, no marketable skills, and kids to feed (or no kids because they lost the custody battle) at an age where they are invisible to most men.
It’s like watching a train derail. I cringe and feel bad for those girls. I would never and have never subjected myself to such a demeaning pitiful circumstance.
He looks down on his playthings with pity knowing full well that his access to them is guaranteed despite whatever disloyal, blatant disrespect, and mixed signals he throws at them.
To him, his money should be enticing enough to excuse all his questionable behaviors and it would be an insult for anyone to not think so.
He may patronize and condescend to expose his “toys” in raw vulnerable psychological hell and expect total compliance and interest while being neglectful of their feelings and dignity.
I see hell in most gold diggers as they hopelessly chase after a man who sees them as merely an option among many of his toys all fighting to get a piece of him.
All that passive hostility the women throw to each other, in some sense, he relishes in that too.
It’s truly a shudder-worthy scene.
To me, true love is worth way more than any amount of money. Genuine interest, loyalty, love, consistency, care, compatibility, and respect are rare.
True love is hard to find, money, however, is extremely attainable with consistency, persistence, hard work, strategy, and the right business model.
Click here to read how anyone can become rich.
Money is abundant, you just have to work hard to get it.
There’s no need to subject yourself to a lifetime of emotional torment with someone over money when you can get it yourself with a few years of total dedication.
Money doesn’t impress me, loyalty, compassion, integrity, humility, compatibility, kindness, and character does.
Money only impresses lazy gold diggers. For the ambitious, money is merely a plus in a partner, not a requirement.
Remember, money can buy you the attention and the physical presence of someone but it can’t buy genuine interest and authenticity.
You want someone who loves you for who you are, not for your money or the lifestyle you can afford them.
No matter how rich I am, I would never think to reveal my financial detail at any stage of my success because what I want is for someone to want me not for anything in return.
Lastly, doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman, gold diggers are drawn to money so no one can be exempt from being targeted. All the more reasons to keep your networth and income private.
11. You may never feel like you can trust new people again
Once you let people know that you’re rich, it’d be hard for you to trust any new person you meet.
You’d always wonder if they are after your money or are they truly interested in you as a person.
This is also one of the reasons I don’t want to reveal my identity on this blog.
(Although I know some people figured it out. “Hi! Thanks for reading my blog! I’m a bit creeped out but I guess it’s okay!” 😀 )
If I happen to do an income report in the future, I want to live assured that any new person I meet isn’t trying to get into my bank account.
That’s the thing about fame, if lots of people know about your financial circumstance, you’d never be able to start completely fresh with anyone again.
You’d always wonder if they know how much you’re worth and if they are genuine.
This reason alone should be good enough to make you rethink revealing your networth and income to people.
12. Everyone will sense the power imbalance
Go watch interviews with billionaires such as Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, you’ll notice something, people are extra careful around them. They often tiptoe around to make sure they don’t offend.
That power imbalance often makes many social interactions awkward and uncomfortable although it most certainly leads to an ego boost.
To rich people, that’s what they expect of anyone who is less “rich” than they are to behave around them.
Not telling anyone your income and networth will remove the unnecessary strain and social tension that may inevitably occur as they realize the power imbalance.
Final thought
I think those are some good reasons why you should never reveal your income and networth to anyone, especially the public.
What do you think? Are there any reasons I missed? Comment down below!
Cheers!
