Rich relatives

I think it would be right to have a once off conversation with him alone, pointing that you don't have such resources and that you find such remarks difficult.

No need to isolate from him, unless he's a gobs*ite.

What did you say when he suggested getting a BMW?

I remember when i bought a new car a few years my brother in law asked with genuine bemusement 'why didn't you get an Audi Q6?'.

Now that particular car was more than twice my budget but instead of telling him that i just said they didn't have it in the colour that i wanted.

The lottery is a tax on stupidity. The poorest 10% of society contributes 80% of the National Lotterys earnings. You have a better chance of being a fortune 500 CEO than winning the jackpot. The issue isnt the money, its that it stunts your monetary creativity to earning your own money by getting that promotion, adding on a Continous Profession Development upgrade, going out in their own start up business. In the same time that you could be waiting for well off old relatives to die off, you could be living your own dream now.

Also I have seen it myself, people go funny in the head when they are old writing wills. They often leave farms to long forgotten nephews who did well in the UK building. The nephew who spent his youth hoping to get the farm at 50 was often given £20k out of the sale of the farm and wished the best of luck.

The people who have the most luck in life are the ones who look for and take on the most oppertunies in a strategic fashion.

Sometimes people can be so used to a lifestyle that they genuinely dont know what its like to pay a mortgage.

I've a brother who works in the tech area. Made a lot of money in his 20s (sold a company he set up). Still earns a lot and married into money. Lives in a large house. Never had a mortgage or any type of debt. He's a quiet character, and does not in any way act as if hes better than anyone. But, it normal day to day conversations with other family members its clear that he has no idea of the financial pressure that most squeezed middle type families live under. Maybe your brother is like this, just more extroverted?

Five! houses no less to one sibling and none to another. Should have been nicer to your relative. Where did luck come into it?

Hard work and financial stability are only loosely connected. Far more important factors are: socioeconomic status of household you were raised in and your health. Both of which are mostly out of your control.

People like to think their financial "success" is down to them personally - working harder, being smarter. It rarely is.

Look at the backgrounds of most of the wealthiest people in Ireland, most have had significant leg ups.

Being born rich is a terrible teacher in life. It also makes it harder to relate to people. People with large disposable income, it's all about showing that you're wealthy. Totally vacuous in many instances. I think life on easy mode all the time is just not an interesting existence.

I once chatted with a fella who had a very bad workplace accident that almost killed him. He won several million in a settlement and invested his money well. I was reading the paper by myself in a pub and he came over and put a coaster under my pint and we got chatting. He told me his story. And what he told me was actually quite sad. He couldn't get a gf who really liked him, as they only were after his money. He hadn't got many friends that he truly connected with and ones that he had before became sour.

Too much wealth can be alienating and it's not something I'd like to be defined by. Your brothers kids getting all they want will do nothing for them in the long run.

I think a quiet word asking the brother to stop proposing solutions that you can't afford might help.

For some light entertainment, on youtube search for the "Richer than you" comedy sketches by Harry Enfield (probably 1990s). In this the poor sister, always the butt of snide comments, won the lotto and arrived in a new top end Merc.

The funniest of those sketches was when the rich guy was boasting in an hotel, and it turned out that the guy he was boasting to owned the hotel!

The point of these jokes is that the problem is not the normal person but the person trying to make them feel small.

The only thing I would say is that neither of them are truely wealthy. 200k is a nice sum but not exactly give up work money.

5 houses is nice depending on location but don’t worry. Plenty of stress.

No point comparing. Contentment comes from with in.