The Real Reason It’s Called “F-You Money”

One of many secrets rich people won’t tell you

“The success comes, and you’re on your own. There’s no manual. One day, they give you a check…that you can’t even relate to the zeros on the end, and you can get in a lot of trouble with that much money.”

-Tom Petty, Runnin’ Down a Dream (documentary)

I went to business school because I wanted to make a lot of money. There were other legitimate reasons, but that was the driving factor.

One day during first year, a classmate shared the news that the company where his dad worked had just gone public and now his dad had “fuck you money” (FU$). He elaborated, “…meaning, he now has sufficient cash to tell his boss ‘F-you!’ and live with the consequences.”

“Wow,” I said, blown away by the concept. “That’s amazing!”

At the time, I was carrying the current equivalent of $150,000 in student debt, so any degree of financial independence sounded pretty cool. But to be so rich as not to need a job? That was incomprehensible.

Broke as I was, I didn’t know what I didn’t know about money. However, as too many lottery winners, young pro athletes, and yours truly learned after my own windfall, FU$ is more complicated than it sounds. While it grants the recipient…