18 Rich People Who Lost Everything And Learned What It’s Like To Live On A Much Lower Income

Don Corleone, one of the protagonists of the film The Godfather, said, “It hurts more to have something and lose it than never to have it.” This phrase can very well be used in the context of our financial life. Many people who are not used to thinking about expenses often find it difficult to get used to a tight life.

We, from Incredible.club, we wonder how some people, who were rich and lost almost everything, felt when they had to trade lobster and caviar for bread and water. We found many stories about this on the Internet. Check out!

At 25, I had an apartment, a car and a clothing store and I was still going to open a restaurant. My husband owned a fridge with 120 employees. We lived without worries. So we made the worst decision of our lives: we moved to another country because I wanted to be closer to my mother and sister.

Now we’re always in need, we can’t get out of debt, we don’t own a home, and we only see my mother and sister on birthdays. Our life is all work and more work. We had a stable business, our own home, and many friends. And here we live in a rented house, pay exorbitant taxes and have only a few friends. Also, the man who was the administrative assistant at my husband’s company took over from him, and now he drives a luxury car and has three houses. © Marina Zilin / facebook

Two years ago my husband had a good job and things were going great. We traveled the world first class, we shopped in fancy stores. My closet was the size of a bedroom, it felt like an upscale boutique. We had nannies, housekeepers, two cooks and also a driver. We were treated like VIPs everywhere because everyone knew we tipped generously.

Now that my husband’s business has failed, everything has changed dramatically. He, who used to easily spend $4,000, now makes a fuss if I spend $4 on coffee. Our cars were sold, employees fired, travel stopped—the party was over. But if I had to measure my happiness right now, I would say that nothing has changed. It may be trivial to say, but money doesn’t buy happiness. Crying over a failed marriage in a Maserati is just as bad as crying in a plain car. © M McKenzie / Quora

My grandfather made a good fortune in the 1990s. We had houses, apartments, land and stores. When I was a kid I never heard a no: I had all the toys I wanted, I never thought about where the money came from or how important it was. I thought everyone lived like this, that this was normal. All this until the day my grandfather passed away. So my father, his brothers and sisters began to divide the inheritance. In the end, after so many fights, all the money went to the lawyers and only memories of the past remained.

My parents—both with no education at all—tried to organize our lives somehow. My dad tried to start a business but it didn’t work out and we just got a huge amount of debt. Then he went to work as a driver, and my mother got a job as a cashier. They tried to make me not feel the difficulties they went through to invest in my education. I understood everything and started to take life more seriously by studying a lot. In the end, I graduated from school with excellent grades, won competitions among students several times and received a scholarship to study at the best university in the country. Soon I will finish my studies in USA.

My parents always used the situation we went through as an example and told me that the main mistake they made was not having graduated, because they simply didn’t want to learn. They thought, “What for? We already have everything”. © Arman Zhakupov / Yandex.Q

My girlfriend was from a wealthy family and I was from a middle class family. It was no problem for her to buy a T-shirt for $300 or travel to another country because her parents had enough money for everything. Like in romantic movies, we fell in love and started living together. We didn’t have a hard time, because her father had enough money. But his company went bankrupt, and she was not used to ordinary life.

She never worked, and still thinks she can spend the same way as before. She only wants to eat at expensive restaurants. She’s wonderful and kind and polite and loves me like I love her, but she still has the habit of walking into stores and saying, “Buy this.” When I say I don’t have money, her look says I’m “nothing” and that destroys me. I adore her, but it’s impossible to go on living like this. © Podslushano / VK

My family was upper middle class. And now I’m broke because I had to leave my job to finish my studies. I used to always have new shoes, but now I wear the same pair for several years; I haven’t been to a restaurant for a long time; and my teeth are full of cavities because I don’t have money to pay a dentist. None of this happened when I lived with my parents or worked. It seems that now I live in another world compared to the old life.

I’ve gotten used to a lot of things, but one of them still drives me crazy: I grew up in a house 500 meters and now my apartment is less than 50. Before that, I lived in an even smaller house with an amazing girl, and it was because of of space we had to separate: I began to feel terrible claustrophobia, as if I were locked in a room. I honestly hate this lifestyle and I can’t understand those who say money can’t buy happiness. © your_physician / reddit

I was born into a rich family and married a rich man. After my parents passed away and my husband filed for divorce, I was left with nothing. I didn’t work from 18 to 25 years old and had useless training. So I only got a job as a cleaner. I never thought I would become a maid. After living in a 1,000-meter house with 8 bedrooms, I had to live in a 1-bedroom apartment the size of my old closet. I never had to worry about how much money was in my account. Now, when I pay for the condominium and electricity, I don’t have money to buy food.

Today I own a business that I started 7 years ago. I have a nice car, a house, food, water, electricity and money. I will never again feel that having all this is something trivial. © Courtney Styles / Quora

An acquaintance married a millionaire. Once, I found her all “covered in jewels”, but she only complained: “I’m tired of beaches. Venice doesn’t make me happy and Paris doesn’t impress me”. After 5 years, I found her at a resort that was very affordable. Frankly, she didn’t look too good.
I didn’t even recognize her at first sight—she was slovenly, nothing like the socialite I’d last seen. The millionaire existed, but they didn’t get married. So when love ended, he left her with nothing. Now she regrets complaining so much instead of enjoying the trips.

I was born during a financially prosperous period, but suddenly there was a worldwide crisis. It was very strange, because one day I could get any toy just by pointing at it, and the next day I couldn’t even buy a piece of gum — my father said we didn’t have the money to pay.

I didn’t understand why my father yelled at me so much when I bought something small for myself, using the change from the money he gave me for food if just a few days ago he had given me dolls that cost 7 times as much. © Hope Laust / Quora

When I was a kid, my family was rich. We had a nice house with a swimming pool, and I took a lot of classes: ballet, drawing, karate. And so my dad invested in his best friend’s business. A year later the company went bankrupt.

Not only did my father lose everything he invested, but he also ended up being responsible for all of the company’s debts. We had to sell the house and move to a small apartment. This all happened about 10 years ago, and this experience changed me drastically, but for the better. I started to study a lot, I was careful with my personal finances and I was very economical, in fact now my salary is wonderful, and my husband earns even more than I do. © elemenelope / reddit

An acquaintance of my father in the 1990s became a successful and wealthy businessman. He said that having many children without having money creates poverty. After a while, we found him in a supermarket: he was carrying a cart full of cheap diapers. He saw us, he was embarrassed, but he tried to explain, saying that cheap diapers are more environmentally friendly.

We learned from other acquaintances that his company went bankrupt and he survives on loans. He transferred the children to a public school and the other day his third child was born. Yes, life is very tight for him.

My father’s company went bankrupt and the bank took everything we had. The people we thought were close—our father’s brothers and our family’s friends—suddenly started to be very “busy.” My mother had an operation, and none of these people answered when we called, as they thought we would ask for help paying the bills. Before my father spent all his savings helping them with their studies or business and this is what he got as a thank you.

Money is one thing and emotional support another. We only lost money, but because of the way people behaved, we also lost faith in them. © unknown author / Quora

An acquaintance of mine married a real English lord. Millionaire or not, he had a castle. A few years later they got divorced and he left her with nothing. Then she opened up to me: “I realized immediately that he would not be married to me for long and that I should try to get the most out of him, not just jewelry. He paid me for an excellent education, I keep in touch with some acquaintances, so I won’t be without money for long”. Well, what can I say — good luck to her.

I grew up in a wealthy family — my brothers and I went to a private school, we had a huge house, and at least 7 times a year the whole family went on vacation to New York, where we spent thousands of dollars on luxury stores. And then we lost almost everything and it was really hard to get used to the new lifestyle. The team of gardeners who came once a week to remove the leaves left and we had to learn how to use the lawn mower. Dinners in fine restaurants are a thing of the past. We had to learn to park our cars because we no longer had a limousine. We didn’t really know how to do a lot of normal things for everyone else.

To be honest, having money was great, but I wish I’d grown up…