Personal Finance

I'm Not Even 40, Worth $5 Million, and Struggle to Spend Even $100. What's Wrong With Me?

Christy Bieber

Published: February 25, 2025 9:08 am

When you have a $5 million net worth in your 40s, you are many times richer than most of your fellow Americans. You have already achieved success that most people don’t even dream of, and you are in a pretty good place to do what you want — including retiring early or continuing to work if you love your job.

Unfortunately, having a lot of money doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll never have any problems when it comes to your finances. In fact, if you are so frugal that you struggle to spend even $100, then you are definitely in a situation where you have some financial issues you should address.

It’s one thing to be frugal, but refusing to spend $100 when you have so much money is a problem — and it’s one you should work to solve so you can enjoy the financial freedom you’re lucky enough to have.

Why do you struggle to spend $100?

If you have a ton of money and don’t want to spend any of it, then the first thing you should do is ask yourself why. There must be some underlying reasons you’re so scared to spend when you clearly can afford to. So it’s helpful to get to the bottom of that.

For some people, the fear of spending comes from growing up without a lot of money. If you grew up in poverty, or even in a household where money was tight, you may have deeply engrained beliefs that suggest spending money is bad. Or you may be so afraid of falling back into financial despair that you can’t handle even small expenses.

On the other hand, maybe your issue is that you equate a big bank account balance with being successful. If you wanted to amass a lot of money not to use as a tool but instead to “win” the game of getting rich, you may hesitate to take funds out because you don’t want to see your net worth decline.

You’ll take different approaches to overcoming your fear of spending depending on the reasons behind your worries, so getting to the root of the problem is your first step in solving it.

How can you overcome this issue?

Once you have identified the cause of your money concerns, you can take proactive steps to fix the situation.

If you’re scared your money won’t last, for example, you can talk to a financial advisor who can help to put your mind at ease. Your advisor can help you to see that even at a safe 3.7% withdrawal rate, a net worth of $5 million means you could spend around $185,000 a year with no issues. Your advisor can also help you make plans for worst-case scenarios in case fear of falling into poverty is your problem.

You can also take steps to force yourself to spend — and to try to make that spending guilt-free — by creating a budget. If you have a written spending and saving plan and you allocate money for specific types of purchases you may enjoy, you can feel more confident that you can spend on those items since they’ll be part of your broader budget that includes saving and investing too.

Hopefully, these techniques will make a difference in allowing you to enjoy your money more. If they don’t, talking to a therapist might be a good investment because there’s very little reason to have a ton of money if you’re never going to enjoy spending any of it.