How Success Shapes Friendships, What to Do with Inherited Money, and Why Patriotism Matters

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Speaker 4 Welcome to Office Hours with Prop G. This is the part of the show where we answer your questions about business, big tech, entrepreneurship, and whatever else is on your mind.

Speaker 4 If you'd like to submit a question for next time, you can send a voice recording to officehours at propgmedia.com. Again, that's officehours at propgmedia.com.

Speaker 4 Or post your question on the Scott Galloway subreddit, and we just might feature it in our next episode. Our first question comes from CM14 on Reddit.

Speaker 4 They say, how have your social relationships evolved as your financial success and fame grew? And have you been able to maintain core friendships over the years?

Speaker 4 How do you share your success and celebrate your wins with friends and family and not make them feel uncomfortable or awkward?

Speaker 4 So.

Speaker 4 Someone asked me the other day if I'd ever been in therapy, and I haven't. And I'm considering it because I've been struggling recently, just feeling kind of down.

Speaker 4 And I say this a lot, but my mood and gratitude does not foot to my blessing. So I'm thinking about finally maybe seeing somebody.
But I haven't to date.

Speaker 4 And but my therapy is I talk to friends almost every night. And also something, a best practice which I only took up about 15, 20 years ago, which I wish I'd started earlier.

Speaker 4 I now don't make any significant decision personally, professionally, economically without speaking to people.

Speaker 4 Because I have found that no matter how smart you are, it is impossible to read the label from inside of the bottle.

Speaker 4 And you just benefit so much from having a kitchen cabinet and talking through things with friends.

Speaker 4 And even if you decide to ignore their advice and make a stupid decision, I find just talking through stuff that's bothering me or upsetting me with people who care about me and are objective and will push back on me and say when I'm wrong or, you know, supportive but honest, if you will, is really helpful for my own mental health.

Speaker 4 I guess it's a form of

Speaker 4 therapy. In terms of how friendships have evolved or not evolved,

Speaker 4 look, there's something there.

Speaker 4 The answer you want to give is, you know, friendship is friendship and money hasn't changed things. I do find,

Speaker 4 so I have sort of two buckets of friends or three, kind of family friends or acquaintances from way back when.

Speaker 4 And then I have my college friends, my fraternity friends, and then I have friends I've sort of collected along the way.

Speaker 4 And the easy ones are the friends you collect along the way. are usually you're in the same ecosystem.

Speaker 4 And that is they're also people who have a certain level of success or also kind of grinding or living in New York, whatever it might be, but you're kind of all in the same weight class.

Speaker 4 And that is, it doesn't matter if you're worth 100 million or a million, as long as you're kind of wealthy, you're all sort of in the same weight class, if you will.

Speaker 4 And then there's my fraternity friends, and most of them are successful. They are, I was in a fraternity that was essentially a bunch of wealthy Jewish kids from the valley at UCLA, ZBT.

Speaker 4 And most of them went to graduate school, few doctors, some entrepreneurs. A lot of them went to law school.

Speaker 4 And what was most interesting about that is that almost, I don't think any of them were still practicing law, great education, but they ended up doing different things.

Speaker 4 And to the one, they're almost all

Speaker 4 either successful or very successful. So that doesn't come up.
I will say that with some of my

Speaker 4 older friendships of people where you have maybe more

Speaker 4 time in common than

Speaker 4 overlap in terms of your life today, that

Speaker 4 the disparity in economic power is

Speaker 4 apparent and can be sometimes uncomfortable. I try to be just very

Speaker 4 self-aware that I was born on third base and not evaluate people based on their economic success.

Speaker 4 I do believe in America, if you're hardworking and have your shit together, you're going to achieve a certain level of economic success.

Speaker 4 I think any dude who is male and white and born in the 60s or 70s, if you're decent to good at what you do, you should have a certain level of economic sustainability.

Speaker 4 But those who aren't super successful, you realize a lot of that, a lot of your super success or their lack thereof is really more a function of being in the right place at the right time.

Speaker 4 If you are this successful, you have a debt. You have a debt to help other people have as many opportunities to

Speaker 4 try and bask in the same sunlight and the same glow and the same luck or have the same opportunities to get lucky that you had.

Speaker 4 If this sounds like a fucking word salad and I don't know the answer here, trust your instincts. Anyways,

Speaker 4 thanks for the question.

Speaker 4 Question number two comes from Beneficial Fox 442 on Reddit.

Speaker 5 They say, Hi, Scott.

Speaker 4 I have a confession to make. I am a trust fund baby.
I'm 35 and I inherited a large chunk of money from my grandfather when I turned 30, mid-seven figures.

Speaker 4 I'm extremely grateful that I don't need to worry about making money and have the freedom to do what I want with my life, but I'm also very insecure about the fact that I don't need to work to support myself and my family.

Speaker 4 I'm extremely passionate about filmmaking and playwriting, which are not exactly high-growth industries, and I have not yet achieved the level of success I seek.

Speaker 4 How would you advise a trust-funded baby who doesn't want to do something he hates to make money he doesn't need, but also wishes to make a meaningful contribution to society, follow his talents as an artist, and be a good role model for his children?

Speaker 4 Oh my God, these questions are so hard.

Speaker 4 So, what I would say is if you're fortunate enough to have the economic blessings to do something like that, that generally most people can't afford to do, then A, the fact that you're self-aware enough to realize this is a big step.

Speaker 4 And also try and be just generous

Speaker 4 and pay other people well. How do you be a role model to your children?

Speaker 4 They don't, they look at how, first off, I think the best thing you can do to raise good sons and also this probably daughters is just be really good to their mother. Be generous, be nice.

Speaker 4 Maybe you're aggressive and a killer out in the professional world, but at home you are generous, loving, and really witness your partner's life. And I think your kids will pick up on that.

Speaker 4 I think the best thing you can do for sons is A, to be present, but also be just incredibly supportive and kind and loving and affectionate with their mother.

Speaker 4 And I think as someone who is wealthy, it sounds like you recognize your blessings. I wouldn't be too self-conscious about it.

Speaker 4 I would just recognize that you have a debt, that when you're this fortunate, you have a debt to pay back to society.

Speaker 4 You were born with an especially good hand, and that debt can be expressed or paid back in a number of ways. And that is paying the people well who work with you.

Speaker 4 That is maybe producing things that have, you know, some sort of social commentary.

Speaker 4 I've made friends with this guy who's a producer who's the son of an exceptionally wealthy venture capitalist. But he has a very strong sense of self and humility.

Speaker 4 And there's just a certain pragmatism to him. And he hosts these events where he brings in thought leaders.
You know, he's a good citizen. He's trying to be, he's trying to add value.

Speaker 4 He's been married for 26 years, a good dad.

Speaker 4 But I also think he realizes that as someone who gets to produce these films, he's blessed. And I get the sense that he's not in any way entitled.

Speaker 4 I think the most obnoxious group of people in history that aren't evil or violent people are tech brothers who are under the impression that their billions came from their grit and their talent and not from their good fortune or their good decision to move to America or to be born here and their ability to weaponize government such that if they make the jump to light speed and become wealthy, they can become exceptionally wealthy through regulatory capture or by influencing government or what have you.

Speaker 4 I find that just so fucking obnoxious. So in some, don't be the equivalent of a tech brother.
And it sounds like even the fact you're asking this question

Speaker 4 means you're aware of it. So what do you do? You pay your people well.
You model good behavior and manners to your sons and and your daughters. You're good to their mother.

Speaker 4 But also mid-seven figures, this is going to sound weird. That sounds like, what is that? So seven figures is 1 million, mid-seven figures is $5 million.

Speaker 4 I personally, if I were you, would take that money, invest it, and try and be self-sustaining without it

Speaker 4 and grow it because you're wealthier than most people. But even with $5 million,

Speaker 4 if you have several kids and want to live in a nice neighborhood in a blue state and want to continue to work, you can't really work and not make money, even with that amount of money.

Speaker 4 If you get 4% or 5% a year, inflation will take away 3% of it. So if you get 8%, which is the marketer's return, you get 5%.
You lose at least one or one.

Speaker 4 You're making $200,000 a year.

Speaker 4 So in sum, be kind.

Speaker 4 Be a good dad, be a good husband, pay your people well, but also recognize you may feel wealthy, but if you want to maintain the lifestyle of a wealthy person, it wouldn't be a bad idea to charge yourself or challenge yourself to being self-sustaining, distinct of that nest egg.

Speaker 4 Put it away, don't touch it, and then by the time you're my age, you will be wealthy. That money will double or triple.

Speaker 4 The difference between $5 million and $20 million is enormous.

Speaker 4 And then you have kind of the money such that you can live a wealthy lifestyle. You know, 4% post-tax on that is $800,000 a year.
Almost anybody should be able to live a reasonable life on that.

Speaker 4 We'll be right back after a quick break.

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Speaker 4 Welcome back onto our final question.

Speaker 4 Hey Scott, this is Gustav Ribeiro from just outside the sea. I'm a big fan of all the prof jupods.

Speaker 4 Now as a proud father of a little boy, I especially appreciate how you draw your attention to how you raise young boys and men. You often say to raise loving patriotic men.

Speaker 4 And I completely get the loving part, but I always wonder why the emphasis on patriotic. Now, don't get me wrong, I see the value in some level of patriotism.

Speaker 4 It can make us more inclined to care for our fellow citizens, even those that are quite different from us.

Speaker 4 But of all the values I would like to instill in my son, curiosity, honesty, generosity, patriotism would probably be further down the list.

Speaker 4 And from everything I see you say in all the different media, I would imagine that will also be the case. So why the emphasis on patriotism? Thanks.

Speaker 4 Thanks for the question. So patriotism or national pride has been on just a downward spiral in recent years.
A record low 58% of U.S.

Speaker 4 adults say they're extremely or very proud to be American, down nine points from the last year and five points below the previous low in 2020. The decline is driven mostly by Democrats.

Speaker 4 We have a habit of like hating ourselves on the Democratic side of the party. Just 36 percent now say they're extremely or very proud compared with 62 percent a year ago.

Speaker 4 It's one of the things I fucking hate about Democrats is as much as we bitch about everything based on identity, well, where is it better? And by the way, it's not as much

Speaker 4 or as bad on the Republican side. Their pride is much steadier, including 92 percent this year.
Among younger Americans, pride in the country is notably weaker and more polarized.

Speaker 4 Only 41 percent of young Americans say they're proud to be American, while 29 percent say they're embarrassed to be American. Think about that.

Speaker 4 Almost a third of young people say they're embarrassed to be American.

Speaker 4 I can kind of see that right now when you're doing stupid shit like declaring economic war on our allies and this sclerotic foreign policy.

Speaker 4 I can understand.

Speaker 4 why they might feel not great about their country right now. The partisan divide is stark.
76 or three in four young Republicans say they're proud versus just 8% who say they're embarrassed.

Speaker 4 Among young Democrats, the pattern reverses. 54% report feeling embarrassed to be American, and only 25%

Speaker 4 say they're proud. By gender, 48% of young men and just 33% of young women say they're proud to be American.

Speaker 4 I think probably a lot of that has to do with the fact that for the first time we are rolling back a right, specifically the overturning of Roe v.

Speaker 4 Wade and the fact that in some states a woman might have to carry a pregnancy to term, which is nothing but just pure fucking unadulterated misogyny. Full stop.
Full stop.

Speaker 4 Why do I teach my kids about patriotism?

Speaker 4 And why do I force them to watch Saving Private Ryan and movies like Forrest Gump that I think kind of show a little bit about American history and ask them to take history classes and tell them bedtime stories about my parents immigrating from Scotland and England and then coming into the U.S.

Speaker 4 and the opportunities and disappointments they faced? Look, the smartest thing I have ever done, the best decision I have ever made, was to be born in America. Full stop.
Full stop.

Speaker 4 To be born in California in the 60s as a white heterosexual male, and that's the bad part, is a disproportionate amount of that prosperity was crammed into one-third of the population.

Speaker 4 Between 1945 and 2000, America, with 5% of the world's population, registered 33% of the economic growth. So we were 6X better off than the rest of the world.

Speaker 4 And then you take a third of the population and you take that growth and cram it all into people with pale skin, outdoor plumbing.

Speaker 4 You essentially have the luckiest generation in history, and that is my generation, specifically white heterosexual males in that generation.

Speaker 4 But having said that, even people who didn't fit my demographic, I still think had more opportunity than that demographic had in other nations. But I have a debt.

Speaker 4 If it wasn't for the generosity and vision of California taxpayers and the Regents of the University of California, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you right now.

Speaker 4 I wouldn't be able to do, you know, take my kids to Singapore and Australia over the holidays, which is what we're doing.

Speaker 4 And a lot of that is not my fault. It's that my parents, and something that helped me,

Speaker 4 I want to say have closure, but be more fond of my father, was that he took an enormous risk getting on a steamship at the age of, I think it was 20 or 21.

Speaker 4 and coming to the U.S. And his risk aggressiveness, his willingness to take that risk, changed my life by being born in San Diego and not in Glasgow.

Speaker 4 If I'd been born in Glasgow, there's just no fucking way I would be living the life I have right now. I'm a remarkably talented guy.

Speaker 4 I might be the most successful salesperson at the Hyundai dealership in Edinburgh, but I just wouldn't be, I wouldn't have registered this type of freedom, registered this type of economic opportunity, got to do the interesting things I get to do, have the kind of influence I have.

Speaker 4 And that is because a ton of Americans have sacrificed

Speaker 4 to give me those opportunities, whether it's fighting in World War II, whether it's risking personal safety in marches, whether it's fighting for civil rights, whether it's a system that rewards risk-taking and attracts capital, our capital markets, whether it's creating a university system that is hands-down the best in the world, whether it's a general gestalt of loving unremarkable kids.

Speaker 4 And I think we've lost some of that. And so I believe

Speaker 4 that the first thing, one of the first things I want to do is make sure my kids recognize how privileged they are to be born into wealth, to recognize how important it is to have a kindness practice,

Speaker 4 and also to recognize the smartest thing they ever did, they inherited from their father. And that is they were smart enough to be born in America.
I appreciate the question.

Speaker 4 That's all for this episode. If you'd like to submit a question, please email a voice voice recording to officehours at propgmedia.com.
Again, that's officehours at propgmedia.com.

Speaker 4 Or if you prefer to ask on Reddit, just post your question on the Scott Galloway subreddit, and we just might feature it in an upcoming episode.

Speaker 4 This episode was produced by Jennifer Sanchez. Our assistant producer is Laura Jannair.
Drew Burrows is our technical director. Thank you for listening to the Propjectry Pod from PropG Media.