Here we are on Thanksgiving week.

Again.

And I'm miserable, as usual.

My mom's favorite holiday was Thanksgiving.  And she's been gone for 8 years now.
So...for the last 8 cruel, grueling years I've suffered in agony with each passing Thanksgiving because she's not here.

Here we are on Monday of Thanksgiving week.  Most people pillaged the grocery store shelves this past weekend for food, stuffing, ingredients, turkeys, and a variety of other things for their Thanksgiving table on Thursday.

But I won't be enjoying the same holiday you will be.  Instead I'll be sitting at home, by myself.  My daughter will be with her dad's family.  I don't see my own dad or brother except on very rare occasions.  Thanksgiving isn't one of them.

One thing I will tell you is that the more wealthy you become means you'll be separated from your loved ones because of it.  I've been lucky in that I'm the Goose that Lays the Golden Egg.  (I wouldn't ever trade that position out to be the "other guy" in the equation.)  

So...when you hold that title, everyone else will stand there with their hand out or, even worse, try to steal your Golden Eggs.  Yes, that includes family, too.  (Especially family!)

And this tends to put major stress and strain on relationships you may currently have in place with your friends and family.
I will never regret being able to take care of myself financially.  (And pretty damn good at that!)  What I do wish I would have rearranged a little differently is my display of wealth.  Maybe I should have downplayed my wealth a little more and became the "Millionaire Next Door" rather than buying the $100,000 cars or the million-dollar house.

Oh well.  What do they always say?  Money will bring the best and the worst out in people.

Wait...that's not a saying of any kind, is it?

And who the hell is "they" all the time anyway?  They don't know jack sh** most of the time.

It can be painful dealing with this disparity between your ability to make money vs. your entire friend/family base trying to get at it.  

Unfortunately, the poorer your family/friend base is, the more "separated" you will become when you achieve wealth.

So...if you come from a middle class, upper-middle class or (even better) a wealthy upbringing with a financially solid friend/family base then you're in the best possible situation to be in because these people (1) won't have their hand out when you hit it big, (2) won't try to steal from you, and (3) won't be pissed off when you're bank account is exploding at the seams.

Believe it or not, this is why "success" is actually a fear people have.  They're afraid their friends and family will either beg for money or steal it.

And trust me...they do both!  (With much more frequency than you'd ever imagine.)

So...what do you do?  Decide to stay in your current station in life?

Or...

Do you make money and remain the Millionaire Next Door to where no one really knows what you have and don't have.  (This is a good route to take.)

Or...

Say "F*** it!"?  And make whatever you want to make, roll around town in your Bentley, and just deal with the people who have claimed to be your friends and family all these years?!  (This is the route I took.  It comes with both pros and cons.)

Believe it or not, this is all stuff you have to figure out before you start banking huge sums of money with your real estate empire.  It may seem insignificant now until you start rolling in some serious dough...then you'll see your posse's attitude change.  And fast!
Even worse...you're going to have to figure all this out within a very short period of time.  Try in 36 months...or less!

See you at the top!

Your mentor,

Monica Main
www.MonicaMain.com