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Change Your Life! |
Sudden wealth syndrome’ of the Siliconaires |
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August 21, 2000
Calgary, Canada (UNB) – It can ruin their lives, rip their families apart and lead them on a path of destructive behaviour. The high-tech world is making thousands of very young people very rich, but psychologists say it is creating a new illness - sudden wealth syndrome. Some seek help because they are too rich and cannot handle their wealth. Others, because they crave more money or feel guilty. “Instead of solving all their problems it often brings forth guilt, stress and confusion,” says Dr Stephen Goldbart, a psychologist who runs an institute near Silicon Valley, where 64 new millionaires are reportedly created everyday. Most of them are people in their 20s and 30s who find themselves suddenly rich, Dr Goldbart calls the Siliconaires, a Canadian national daily National Post reported Saturday. He noticed a change about 10 years ago when people from middle class backgrounds started coming into large sums of money. With the dot.com trend of last five years, his client numbers have steadily increased. The number of millionaires in the United States and Canada has risen almost 40 per cent since 1997 to 2.5 million. According to another estimate, Canada’s millionaire population tripled since 1989 to about 220,000 and is expected to triple again by 2005. Young baby boomers across the continent are inheriting money in the largest intergenerational transfer of wealth ever seen, estimated to be between US$41 trillion and US$136 trillion in the US alone in the next 50 years. Becoming unexpectedly rich has its drawbacks, says the psychologist. Some experience panic attacks, severe depression and insomnia; others withdraw from society, go on maniacal shopping sprees. The explosion of millionaires and their preoccupation with money is more prevalent in the US and Canada than in Europe. Canadians are more closely related philosophically with their American counterparts. Part of Dr Goldbar’s cure for the unhappy rich is to get them involved in the community and not just writing cheques to charities. |