Man Asks If He’s Wrong For Not Sharing Inherited ‘Wealth’ With His Girlfriend

Dec 13, 2022 by apost team

No matter how much you love and trust your partner, sometimes you don’t tell them everything. It may be for their own good, but it also may backfire and blow up in your face. Unfortunately, one man found the latter to be true when he hid his wealth from his girlfriend. It turned into an incredibly difficult situation involving a lot of money and a sense of lack of trust.

The 29-year-old man went to Reddit in August 2022 to explain his situation. The original poster (OP) talked about how he received a large inheritance from his late wealthy aunt a few years ago. He had never been very close to his aunt and was pretty surprised to find that she left so much money for him, his siblings, and their cousins. OP said that he received a whopping $50,000.

However, he used the money almost instantly – at least, he used most of it almost immediately. So when his girlfriend found out that he had an inheritance that he never told her about, she felt betrayed. She couldn’t believe OP would hide something like that from her, especially since they were together at the time he received the inheritance.

OP didn’t see an issue with this, though, as it was his money and his choice of how he used it. This resulted in a huge fight between the couple. Afterward, OP was left wondering if he made the right decision in keeping his inheritance to himself or if he should have mentioned it to his girlfriend.

Starting off his Reddit post, OP asked, “AITA for ‘hiding’ my wealth?” He explained that his late wealthy aunt left behind assets that were worth several million dollars, most of which went to her children. However, OP was surprised to find out that his aunt had left him $50,000. His siblings and his cousins also received the same amount.

“When I got the money, I used most of it to pay off the rest of my student loans,” OP said. “Next, I bought a new computer and put the rest towards retirement.”

OP’s girlfriend had been hanging out with one of his cousins when she learned about the money they all received. He explained:

“This triggered an argument the next time we saw each other about why I was keeping this a secret from her and why I never offered to use it to help her with her own debt. I told her that it wasn't really a secret; it was just something I never really felt a need to talk about. I got the money, and used most of it immediately. There was nothing really left to talk about.”

However, this didn’t go over well with his girlfriend. “She was upset at that, saying that I should have talked about it with her first and that the money could have really helped her back then,” OP said. “I was kind of baffled because when I got the inheritance, we'd only been seeing each other for a couple months. Way too early for that kind of financial entanglement.”

The situation continued to get worse, and OP found himself repeating the same information over and over. 

apost.com

He continued: “She got even more upset and said that I should use some of it for her now, but I once again told her the money was basically gone. All that's left is in a retirement account, and I'm not touching that.”

Unfortunately, the couple’s bickering didn’t seem to let up. “We argued back and forth some more, and I got the sense she didn't quite believe me about the money and thought that I had more left than I said I did,” OP said. “Nothing I could say would convince her otherwise.”

His girlfriend was still upset and called him “selfish” before leaving to go stay with her sister. Sadly, OP and his girlfriend stayed on rough terms, as he explained, “We've been in a sort of cold war for about a week and I can't help wonder if I did something wrong.”

Fortunately for OP, many Reddit users came to his defense in the comments and told him that he handled the situation the correct way. One person said, “Your GF sounds like a red flag.” Another added, “It’s good to see her true colors now. You decide what do with that info.”

A third user commented: “It's disturbing that she sees your windfall as community money. Has she ever used a substantial chunk of her income to pay your personal debt? That's the only circumstance that would warrant expecting you to help pay her bills.”

OP hasn’t offered an update on the situation, but it’s safe to say that most people thought he was right to use his inheritance how he best saw fit.

What would you do if you were in this man’s situation? Would you be upset if you were his partner? Let us know, and be sure to pass this along to your family and friends.