Reddit users recently answered a tough question: What makes wealthy people go broke? The answers came fast and were pretty straightforward. The top mistake by far? Divorce.
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“Divorce and drugs,” one person flatly said. “Divorce costs a fortune. Doing it now. Trust me,” another one added.
Plenty of responses shared the same idea: it’s not just the emotional toll, but the legal, financial and lifestyle fallout that can devastate a person’s net worth. “The four D’s. Death, disease, dismemberment, or divorce,” one Redditor summarized it simply.
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Even when people start with wealth and ambition, personal decisions can derail long-term success. “[Former Berkshire Hathaway vice chair] Charlie Munger said the single most important decision a person can make is who they marry,” one commenter said. “The cost, disruption and destruction of value from a divorce is serious.”
That wasn’t the only mistake people pointed out. Lifestyle creep, addiction, gambling, bad investments, poor planning, and trying to look rich also made the list. “It’s almost always lifestyle creep that stops people from advancing,” one person said. “Then when things go bad they refuse to take a step back again, financially ruining themselves.”
Another high-risk pattern: overspending to impress others. “Trying to look rich” and “keeping up with the Joneses” came up often. As one person put it, “If people lived like you see on TV they would no longer be millionaires.”
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The thread also highlighted how helping others can become a financial hazard. “Not learning how to say no when friends and family ask for money,” one commenter warned. Another agreed, saying, “Before they know it, they are in credit card debt, behind on their mortgage, and out of options.”
“Not learning how to say no when friends and family ask for money,” one person warned. “I have seen more people doing well overextend themselves out of guilt/obligation and end up underwater than I’ve seen people go broke making bad bets.
While all these mistakes matter, divorce came up again and again. It wasn’t just the most frequent answer; it was often described as the most financially devastating. One person called it “a financial tsunami.”
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Avoiding these pitfalls doesn’t always mean managing your investments better; it often means managing your decisions better. That’s where financial planning services like Domain Money come in. Their certified professional-led guidance is designed for professionals earning $100,000 or more, helping them make smarter decisions before mistakes get expensive.
As one Redditor put it, “Best to learn this lesson in your 20s. Plenty of time left to make better decisions.”
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