why e rich feel anxious about not having enough money

Subscriber exclusiveEven rich people feel anxious about moneyAngela TanFollow topic:InvestPublished 1 hour agoUpdated 1 hour agoListenMany assume financial anxiety disappears once people become wealthy. That is further from the truth. You earn $100,000 per year and think you would stop losing sleep if you earned double that.Or you might have reached a net worth of $2 million but think you would feel safer with $3 million. You continually shift the goalposts on what would give you peace of mind. While this might seem like a “nice problem” to have, any issue that causes distress is worth trying to address. Unwarranted money anxiety is essentially the same as other forms of anxieties. You feel more anxious than the hard numbers would suggest you need to be, and it consumes your thinking, gets in the way of your relationships, or holds you back from doing activities that reflect your values.“Even the rich feel anxious,” Teo says.Wealth frequently comes with a bundle of expectations, and there is anxiety and pressure to make smart money decisions, such as how it should be managed, spent, passed on to future generations or used to create a legacy.Nvidia’s co-founder and chief executive, Jensen Huang, offers an interesting case study on the psychology of wealth and success.Huang is ranked by Forbes as the eighth wealthiest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of over US$187 billion (S$238 billion) as at Aug 29, 2026.Yet, despite leading one of the world’s most valuable technology companies, Huang often says he operates in a constant state of anxiety as though Nvidia could fail at any moment. Success does not prevent anxiety, he says. Sometimes it simply changes what we are anxious about. When you are struggling financially, you worry about paying next month’s bills. When you are wealthy, you may worry about protecting what you have built, staying ahead or losing it all.“What this tells us is that financial anxiety is rarely truly about money,” Teo says.“It is about safety, control and identity. When we place our entire sense of security in something the world can always threaten a portfolio, a business, a title, every fluctuation becomes not just a practical problem but an existential one. The anxiety is not irrational.”More on this topicHow much money is enough? Watch and learn from the video of the second InvestMe eventBeing rich is successful? 40% of Singaporeans seem to think soWanting moreWealth is like seawater – the more we drink, the thirstier we become, said philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer.Like salt water that dehydrates the body, more money does not quench our desires. Instead, it intensifies them, triggering a craving for an ever-bigger fortune. Modern psychology calls this hedonic adaptation. Have you ever noticed how quickly something you have longed for simply feels “normal”?Teo recalls meeting a mid-level professional who had worked for years towards a promotion. When it finally came with a pay increase, she was elated. Three months later, she said that exhilaration had evaporated.  When something good happens – whether it is a pay rise, a promotion or a new purchase like a car or a bigger house – we experience a genuine spike in positive emotion. But before long, we recalibrate. The excitement fades, and we find ourselves roughly back where we started emotionally, but with a higher baseline expectation.“The capacity to find genuine satisfaction and contentment in the present – in relationships, in small pleasures, in meaningful work – is an important determinant of our ability to experience happiness,” Teo says.For rich individuals, wealth is rarely assessed in isolation. Social comparison can fuel anxiety as wealth is measured relative to peers, to past performance and to an ever-expanding set of future liabilities. A $1 million portfolio may once have represented security. Today, it can feel insufficient in a world of rising asset prices, longevity risk and inter-generational planning.Stock markets themselves amplify this dynamic. Over the past decade, periods of strong returns in equities, especially in technology stocks, have led investors to expect outsized gains. More on this topicLearn how to manage your money better at InvestMe event on Sept 17Why being asset-rich can still result in no cash and debt The burden of preservationAccumulating wealth and maintaining it are different challenges, experts say.Accumulating wealth may require risk-taking, concentration and timing. Maintaining it demands diversification, discipline and, often, restraint. For some people, making that psychological shift from taking risks to exercising restraint can be challenging.See more onInvestST InvestMeFinancial planningFinancial literacyWealth managementTop storiesExplore top stories from all sections in one placeAsiaAsiaAsiaSingapore‘The river… was going to consume the entire world’: Nepal flood survivors recount harrowing experienceTour boss searches for missing brother and 54 pilgrims by air after Nepal floodsChinese rescuers zero in on Tibet mudslide site as lake threat easesThe Million Dollar Round Table: Is insurance’s most famous accolade now an overused honour?