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we can afford it? To never have arguments with loved ones around the topic of money? To think to yourself and be able to exclaim to the world, "Money is no object"? Most people answer this simply, "yes." |
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I've now heard this envy phenomenon enough in varying forms both inside the consulting room from clients and outside in casual conversation with acquaintances to have given it a label: windfall profits envy. |
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A "windfall" is a sudden or unexpected gain. During the course of the last couple of years specifically (and over the last decade more generally), the gains for many have indeed been rather sudden and/or unexpected, certainly higher and faster than most ever imagined. Predictably, this has resulted in a euphoric sense of well-being for those fortunate to have partaken in the bull market festivities. But it is the seething envy felt by those who are left out or who compare themselves to those who have done better that we wish to point out here. |
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There is something different about the way people talk about those who have made a lot of money in the stock market. They seem to put it in a different mental category than when someone receives an inheritance. And while envy is a common emotion to experience when someone has somethingany material possession or situationand we want it, there is an especially sharp envious reaction to finding out that friends, acquaintances, business associates, or even strangers have made a killing in the market. The shorter the period of time it took to make the money and the greater the gain, the stronger the envious reaction. |
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Rather than muster up the emotion of sympathetic joy, or the identification with the other as we feel joy for their prosperity, instead, it is easy to want to make excuses or to disparage them. We can't stand that those who start off with the greatest resources end up making the most from their investments. |
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It is not always the case that only the wealthy may partake; growing numbers of those from the middle income bracket have taken risks and done very well in the market. But more often than not, the rich are still getting richer at a faster pace than those of modest means are getting comfortable. All of this is, of course, relative to what you've got and what you want. But here are a couple of examples at the higher end of the scale, both from my clinical psychotherapy practice. |
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