What is the point of being a “high net worth” person — of being seriously rich? As wealth increases, its benefits seem to diminish, or at times, lead to major problems.

身为“高净值”人士（即达到真正富有的境界）到底意义何在？随着财富增加，其带来的好处似乎越来越少，有时甚至会带来大问题。

It is easy to see the benefits of having enough money to afford a nice house or two, private education and healthcare, the best food, expensive cars; not having to worry about what you spend. But you do not need dozens or hundreds of millions for these. Let us say ￡20m in capital and property combined, and an income of about half a million, should do the trick.

有足够的钱来购置一两处不错的房产，支付私人教育和医疗保险，买最好的食物、昂贵的汽车，而不用担心自己的开销；这些好处很容易理解。但你不需要数千万或数亿的资产就足够为这些买单。让我们假设，资本和财产总计2000万英镑、收入约50万英镑，就能达到这个境界。

A simple game illustrates¹ why it is pointless to want more than that, unless you have an unusual reason to do so (like a passion for a particular benevolent² cause or a burning desire to fly to the moon).

一个简单的游戏可以表明为什么想要拥有更多是无意义的，除非你有一个不寻常的理由想要更多（例如对某项慈善事业的热衷或者渴望登月）。

Suppose you have the UK’s national average wage, nearly ￡28,000. Now I am going to double that, for no additional work hours or change in role. For a short time you feel good, sure. But only six months later, you are already moving the goalposts, spending more and expanding your consumption horizons to fit ￡56,000.

假设你拥有英国的全国平均工资收入，近2.8万英镑。现在，在不增加工作时间和不改变工作岗位的情况下，把这个收入翻一番。没错，短期内你感觉很棒。但在仅仅6个月后，你的标杆就会开始改变，开销增加，消费范围扩大，达到与5.6万英镑收入相称的水平。

Six months later we repeat the exercise — double the money again. With ￡112,000 to play with, you feel a rush of excitement. But again, how long before that wears off and the newly moved goalposts of aspiration³ eat it up?

6个月后我们重复以上操作——把收入再翻一番。有11.2万英镑让你支配，你感到一阵兴奋。但是同样，这种兴奋又会在多长时间内消失殆尽，被再度上调的欲望标杆吞噬？

Six months later we double it again, and so on. At what point does the doubling begin to become meaningless; ￡57,344,000, ￡114,688,000, ￡229,376,000, or more than that? There are only so many boats, planes or houses one can buy.

6个月后我们再来翻一番，以此类推。在哪一个点上，收入的翻倍会开始显得毫无意义？5734.4万英镑、1.14688亿英镑、2.29376亿英镑，还是更多？一个人能够买下并享用的船、飞机或房子终究是有限的。

All sorts of new problems will have arisen as you accelerate up through the millions.

当你的收入在百万英镑的级别加速增长时，各种新的问题将会显现。

I have seen my rich friends fuss at expensive restaurants if the cutlery is not spotless, the ￡500 bottle of wine not quite right. I have looked on as they waited years for their dream houses to be completed. But worst of all, I have seen the effects of inherited wealth.

我见过我的富人朋友在高档餐厅吹毛求疵，只是因为餐具不闪闪发亮；500英镑一瓶的葡萄酒不太对味儿。我曾见证他们为自己梦想的豪宅竣工而等待数年。但最糟糕的是，我见识过继承得来财富的后果。

The impact on offspring is usually dire⁴. I have known well about 50 people who inherited enough money never to need to work. I can think of only one — incidentally, a therapist — who was not severely⁵ handicapped by their wealth.

对后代的影响通常是可怕的。我熟识大约50个继承了足够财富、以至于永远无需工作的人。就我记忆所及，其中只有一个人（顺便提一句，这是一名治疗师）没有被其财富严重“致残”。

Most of the rest never achieved anything in their careers, insofar as they attempted one. A few became ferocious⁶ workaholics, seeking to outdo their forebears, living miserable⁷ and frenzied⁸ lives. Worst of all, nearly all of them suffered a variety of depression, anxiety and substance abuse, living sad and emotionally unhealthy lives.

其余大多数人从未在职业生涯中实现过什么——如果他们曾经尝试的话。少数几个人成为不要命的工作狂，寻求超越他们的祖辈，过着乖戾和疯狂的生活。最糟糕的是，他们几乎全都遭受着不同程度的抑郁、焦虑和药物滥用，过着悲伤和情感不健康的生活。

I am not remotely suggesting that absolute poverty is the route to wisdom and emotional health, although it is true that many poor countries have far lower prevalence of mental illness than rich ones.

我绝不会说绝对贫穷是通往智慧和情感健康的途径，尽管事实是很多穷国的精神疾病发病率远低于富国。

For example, only 4 per cent of Nigerians have suffered a mental illness in the past 12 months, compared with 26 per cent of Americans — invariably the most mentally ill country in all surveys, despite being one of the richest.

例如，在过去12个月中，只有4%的尼日利亚人患上精神疾病，相比之下美国人的精神疾病发病率高达26%——在各类调查中始终是精神疾病比例最高的国家，尽管美国是最富有的国家之一。

The problem is relative, not absolute, deprivation⁹: the more we have, the greater our tendency to keep up with the Joneses; to engage in malignant¹⁰ social comparisons and conspicuous¹¹ consumption.

问题在于相对（而非绝对）贫穷：我们拥有的越多，跟别人攀比的欲望就越强烈，更容易投入恶性的社会攀比和炫耀性消费。

Huge wealth seems to drain life of meaning for its owners and their offspring. That this capital could be serving the wider community is a secondary, political issue. My point is, high net worth seems to produce low net self-worth and greater vulnerability to mental illness.

巨额财富似乎会剥夺所有者及其后代的人生意义。至于这笔资本原本可以服务于整体社会是一个次要的政治课题。我的主要观点是，高净值似乎会带来较低的自我价值感，并且更容易患上精神疾病。