Gary Clement for The National
Gary Clement for The National

Dealing with Sudden Wealth Syndrome



A Facebook request last week took me by surprise: someone I knew as a very young child has taken to cycling through various countries to raise awareness around issues she's passionate about.
While it's to be applauded, it's not remarkable. Especially when you learn that she never needs to work a day in her life. In fact, she probably hasn't - not with the need to earn, at least.
But what she has done is significant because she got off her cushy lifestyle and is doing something she believes in, looking outside herself and taking on a purpose.
Her family always had wealth, and while she lived her formative years in a much-coveted location next to one of the biggest parks in central London, she didn't know or care how much her home and life cost.
I hope she was made aware of her and her family's good fortune while she was growing up, because it would most likely relieve her from dealing with SWS - Sudden Wealth Syndrome.
Yes. There is such a thing. Two Californian psychologists came up with it. They - Stephen Goldbart and Joan Di Furia - set up the Money, Meaning and Choices Institute in 1997 to explore the "psychological opportunities and emotional challenges of having and inheriting money".
And when you read that the world is due to experience the greatest wealth transfer in history, you can see they're on to a winner. It is said that US$16 trillion of the ultra-wealthy's riches are to be passed on to the next generation over the next three decades.
It might sound like the best thing ever - to discover you've inherited a big chunk of cash. But according to research, people who are taken by surprise can suffer all sorts of stress and anxiety. If you think about it, you can see how coming into a fortune can shift all sorts of relationships in life - relationships with your friends, colleagues and even with members of your own family.
And with yourself. Just think about it - never having to earn again. What would you do with the rest of your life? Some people start off euphoric, but become irritable, burdened and stressed. They do not know what to do with the money or whether friends are turning into gold-diggers, and they develop a deep fear of losing what they have.
One solution is to give it away. This is what Chuck Collins did. He is a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies and the co-founder of Wealth for the Common Good. He is also the great-grandson of the packaged meat behemoth Oscar Mayer. Within five years of gaining an inherited fortune at age 21, he donated it all to charity. It amounted to about half a million dollars, which doesn't sound like a lot today - but this was in 1896, when it was the equivalent of about $14 million in today's dollars. The reason, he said, was that he didn't earn it and didn't feel a claim to it.
At least he had the freedom to choose what to do with it. I read that some heirs do not.
I know this won't be the case for one 12-year-old when he inherits - he's the only nephew of a friend who has no children. In fact, he's the only child in the family - and there will be no more. The entire family line on both sides comes down to him. This boy is set be a millionaire many times over when his family dies - my friend, the uncle, is amassing property in lieu of a pension fund and is leaving it all to the boy. The boy's grandmother is leaving him everything she has, as is a "God gran" - the grandmother's best friend who has no blood relations.
These are regular folk who worked for their money. He's seen them do this and understands how it came to be. But not coming from a monied background, I hope he's being prepared to deal with his future fortune.
There are others who don't know that they'll come into a lot of cash. I was quite shocked to discover that there are people in the UAE who take out life insurance policies that do just that - they pay out millions upon death. Not because that's what the family is accustomed to, rather because the main earner has decided that it's his way of securing his family's future without him, taking out insane premiums to guarantee a whopping payout.
However, sometimes children who inherit riches do not have the life skills to handle them.
These parents might be turning in their graves to know that many of them will blow it. A study by Ohio State University found that one-third of people who received an inheritance had negative savings within two years of receiving it.
A sudden inheritance might seem like the ultimate gift. But many see it and use it as fun money. It's a great opportunity only if handled with care. If not, it can be a greater burden.
Judging by the Facebook posts of my friend's child, she's got her head screwed on right. She's using her financial freedom to live a life of adventure and giving.
I wonder how much money she went through to get there.
Nima Abu Wardeh is the founder of the personal finance website cashy.me. You can reach her at nima@cashy.me and find her on Twitter at @nimaabuwardeh.
Follow us on Twitter @TheNationalPF

How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

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Bournemouth 1 (King 45 1')
Arsenal 2 (Lerma 30' og, Aubameyang 67')

Man of the Match: Sead Kolasinac (Arsenal)

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

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Director: Daniel Espinosa 

Stars: Jared Leto, Matt Smith, Adria Arjona

Rating: 2/5

Singham Again

Director: Rohit Shetty

Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone

Rating: 3/5

'Gehraiyaan'
Director:Shakun Batra

Stars:Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday, Dhairya Karwa

Rating: 4/5

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Thank You for Banking with Us

Director: Laila Abbas

Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum

Rating: 4/5

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Tree of Hell

Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla

Director: Raed Zeno

Rating: 4/5

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Company%20Profile
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Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

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APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)

Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits

Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine

Storage: 128/256/512GB

Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4

Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps

Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID

Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight

In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter

Price: From Dh2,099

Grand Slam Los Angeles results

Men:
56kg – Jorge Nakamura
62kg – Joao Gabriel de Sousa
69kg – Gianni Grippo
77kg – Caio Soares
85kg – Manuel Ribamar
94kg – Gustavo Batista
110kg – Erberth Santos

Women:
49kg – Mayssa Bastos
55kg – Nathalie Ribeiro
62kg – Gabrielle McComb
70kg – Thamara Silva
90kg – Gabrieli Pessanha

THE LOWDOWN

Romeo Akbar Walter

Rating: 2/5 stars
Produced by: Dharma Productions, Azure Entertainment
Directed by: Robby Grewal
Cast: John Abraham, Mouni Roy, Jackie Shroff and Sikandar Kher 

Info

What: 11th edition of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship

When: December 27-29, 2018

Confirmed: men: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Kevin Anderson, Dominic Thiem, Hyeon Chung, Karen Khachanov; women: Venus Williams

Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ae, Virgin megastores or call 800 86 823

Joker: Folie a Deux

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson

Director: Todd Phillips 

Rating: 2/5

COMPANY PROFILE

Company: Bidzi

● Started: 2024

● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid

● Based: Dubai, UAE

● Industry: M&A

● Funding size: Bootstrapped

● No of employees: Nine

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UAE central contracts

Full time contracts

Rohan Mustafa, Ahmed Raza, Mohammed Usman, Chirag Suri, Mohammed Boota, Sultan Ahmed, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Waheed Ahmed, Zawar Farid

Part time contracts

Aryan Lakra, Ansh Tandon, Karthik Meiyappan, Rahul Bhatia, Alishan Sharafu, CP Rizwaan, Basil Hameed, Matiullah, Fahad Nawaz, Sanchit Sharma

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Airev
Started: September 2023
Founder: Muhammad Khalid
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: Generative AI
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
 
The Perfect Couple

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor

Creator: Jenna Lamia

Rating: 3/5

Jigra
Director: Vasan Bala
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Rated: 3.5/5
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The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Power: 268bhp / 536bhp
Torque: 343Nm / 686Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
On sale: Later this year
The Details

Kabir Singh

Produced by: Cinestaan Studios, T-Series

Directed by: Sandeep Reddy Vanga

Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Suresh Oberoi, Soham Majumdar, Arjun Pahwa

Rating: 2.5/5 

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At Everton Appearances: 77; Goals: 17

At Manchester United Appearances: 559; Goals: 253

THE BIO:

Favourite holiday destination: Thailand. I go every year and I’m obsessed with the fitness camps there.

Favourite book: Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. It’s an amazing story about barefoot running.

Favourite film: A League of their Own. I used to love watching it in my granny’s house when I was seven.

Personal motto: Believe it and you can achieve it.

UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

The biog

Full name: Aisha Abdulqader Saeed

Age: 34

Emirate: Dubai

Favourite quote: "No one has ever become poor by giving"

The specs

Price: From Dh180,000 (estimate)

Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged and supercharged in-line four-cylinder

Transmission: Eight-speed automatic

Power: 320hp @ 5,700rpm

Torque: 400Nm @ 2,200rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 9.7L / 100km

if you go

The flights

Air Astana flies direct from Dubai to Almaty from Dh2,440 per person return, and to Astana (via Almaty) from Dh2,930 return, both including taxes. 

The hotels

Rooms at the Ritz-Carlton Almaty cost from Dh1,944 per night including taxes; and in Astana the new Ritz-Carlton Astana (www.marriott) costs from Dh1,325; alternatively, the new St Regis Astana costs from Dh1,458 per night including taxes. 

When to visit

March-May and September-November

Visas

Citizens of many countries, including the UAE do not need a visa to enter Kazakhstan for up to 30 days. Contact the nearest Kazakhstan embassy or consulate.