{"id":383131,"date":"2025-11-16T14:29:20","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T14:29:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/383131\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T14:29:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T14:29:20","slug":"wealth-whisperers-meet-wealth-psychologists-who-help-the-ultra-rich-deal-with-money-related-stress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/383131\/","title":{"rendered":"Wealth Whisperers: Meet wealth psychologists who help the ultra-rich deal with money-related stress"},"content":{"rendered":"

Praveen Saanker<\/a>, an Indianorigin, Dubai-based family office advisor and life coach, remembers the day he sat down with Ramesh Sandhu (name changed). An Indian tech entrepreneur, Sandhu laid out his deepest fears before Saanker. He had sold 70% of his stake in his \u20b98,000 crore global software firm.<\/p>\n

After the exit, the 56-year-old experienced panic attacks, rage, insomnia and dissociation. He asked Saanker to help him find a way out, to help him find an equilibrium.<\/p>\n

Saanker, who is a management graduate with specialisation in finance and has a PhD in clinical, counselling and allied psychology from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, identified the problem as a mix of burnout, identity loss, unmanaged ADHD and attachment trauma. For the past 25 years, Sandhu\u2019s self-worth had been tied entirely to his company\u2019s performance. Saanker worked with Sandhu for over six months\u2014until he created a new routine, repaired family bonds and rediscovered purpose beyond achievement. In the end, Sandhu told Saanker: \u201cI spent 25 years thinking the exit would set me free. But freedom isn\u2019t financial, it\u2019s internal. It is being okay with yourself when you are not achieving anything.\u201d
\"wealth
The case of Sandhu is not an isolated one, says Saanker, who works out of India as well as UAE: \u201cAcross boardrooms in Mumbai, Dubai and Singapore, I have watched individuals with \u20b95,000-25,000 crore fortune struggle with sleepless nights, fractured families and gnawing emptiness.\u201d At this point, they turn to a new niche of professionals like Saanker.\"ETLive EventsThey are popularly called wealth psychologists<\/a>.
MANAGING MIND OVER MONEY<\/strong>
Across the globe, wealth psychologists are emerging as the new confidants of the rich. A wealth psychologist sits at the intersection of psychology and finance, but they are not offering investment advice. They work on something more intimate: the emotional meaning of money<\/a>. Wealth, after all, is linked with identity, family history, pride and guilt Dr Carolina Raeburn, a US-based neuropsychologist who advises highnet-worth individuals on the emotional complexities of affluence, says, \u201cIf someone feels guilt or anxiety around wealth, it is often tied to an internal narrative, sometimes inherited, sometimes unexamined. The first step is bringing those thoughts into awareness. Then we evaluate whether they are grounded in reality or shaped by expectation.\u201dIn such cases, a specialised wealth psychologist can offer more targeted insight. While a traditional therapist may focus on managing symptoms, wealth-focused work explores the deeper question of why wealth triggers certain emotions and how to move forward with clarity.\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

Source: The Knight Frank Wealth Report 2025<\/p>\n

A second-generation inheritor, for instance, may feel chronic guilt about wealth they didn\u2019t \u201cearn\u201d, leading to avoidance or underperformance. In typical therapy, the focus may be on treating anxiety. In a wealth psychology session, the conversation becomes more targeted: mapping money memories, speaking about emotional meaning attached to wealth, asking questions about what money means to them.<\/p>\n

Delhi-based psychologist Nishul Gupta sees wealth not just as a financial reality but as an emotional one, shaping identity, relationships and one\u2019s sense of meaning. \u201cSpecialised attention from a trained wealth psychologist can bring a sharper focus to the unique anxieties and challenges associated with money. However, any therapist who is sensitive to a client\u2019s context can explore how their relationship with money shapes them.\u201d<\/p>\n

A second-generation heir once confessed to Dr Donna Hillier, a Florida-based wealth psychologist who works with ultra-high-net-worth families, that he is afraid he is living someone else\u2019s dream, and doesn\u2019t know where his begins. \u201cHis wealth gave him freedom, but also paralysis. Every choice felt weighted with legacy and expectation,\u201d says Hillier.<\/p>\n

THE RICH & THE RESTLESS<\/strong>
India\u2019s new rich are multiplying faster than their emotional coping tools. According to the latest Knight Frank Wealth Report, the country had 191 billionaires in 2024, up 12% from 2023, with 26 new entrants, a sharp climb from just 7 in 2019. India also has 85,698 people worth over $10 million, ranking fourth globally.<\/p>\n

\"wealth<\/p>\n

Source: The Knight Frank Wealth Report 2025<\/p>\n

Saanker describes his work as helping India\u2019s ultra-rich unlearn the survival mindset that built their empires. India\u2019s new wealthy, mostly first-generation and often self-made, carry emotional legacies of scarcity into abundance. They have built in a generation what others built in three. But emotionally, they are still catching up. \u201cThe very qualities that helped them build wealth\u2014relentless drive, control, suspicion\u2014are destroying their peace,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

For first-generation tycoons, the passion that created wealth rarely switches off. \u201cEven with \u20b91,000 crore in liquid reserves, they cannot stop working,\u201d says Saanker. He recalls how a 72-yearold patriarch, with a \u20b94,000 crore textile empire, was unable to relinquish control. \u201cBeing a founder was his identity. To him, retirement felt like death,\u201d says Saanker. His very capable, 45-year-old son was asking his permission even for minor decisions. The business stagnated because the son never truly led, and the father resented that \u201che didn\u2019t appreciate what I built\u201d. This needed intervention: separating identity from role, finding meaning beyond work and trusting the next generation. And that\u2019s what Saanker worked on.<\/p>\n

CAN\u2019T SPELL MONEY WITHOUT ME<\/strong>
When a Delhi-based entrepreneur sold his company for \u20b910,000 crore, he expected peace. Instead, he found panic. Six months later, he was sleepless and restless, says Saanker, adding: \u201cHe told me, \u2018I have achieved everything I set out to do. Now what?\u2019 It was about unresolved fears, unchecked ego, inability to trust, lack of grounding. They had won the external game but were losing the internal one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Across continents, psychologists echo this. Hillier says: \u201cIn my practice, the most common emotional challenges include guilt, isolation, performance pressure and identity confusion, particularly when self-worth becomes intertwined with achievement or financial success.\u201d Agrees Raeburn: \u201cFor those who inherit wealth, it is common to carry quiet burdens like guilt, shame, or the pressure to uphold a legacy. The work begins with identifying which beliefs are inherited and which are chosen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many psychologists note that second-generation clients often grapple with another problem: they are raised in abundance but are deprived of selfefficacy, the belief in one\u2019s ability to achieve a goal. Having never needed to struggle for resources, they are unsure whether their choices carry weight. One of Hillier\u2019s clients, who inherited vast wealth in her 20s, once confessed: \u201cI cannot talk about my pain. It sounds ungrateful.\u201d Hillier says this captures a central paradox of financial privilege: the more one has, the less emotional permission one feels to struggle.<\/p>\n

Saanker\u2019s clients voice similar dissonance, but in India it comes laced with cultural weight. \u201cMany grew up hearing \u2018money is maya\u2019 (illusion), but they have built empires,\u201d he says. \u201cThey don\u2019t know how to reconcile material success with a moral tradition that treats detachment as virtue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saanker says Indian women often seek wealth psychologists to come to terms with the unfairness in inheritance. \u201cIn Indian family businesses, the daughter is often the most capable person in the room but the least empowered,\u201d he says. He shares the case involving a \u20b97,500 crore pharmaceutical empire. It was assumed that the daughter\u2014an MBA with 15 years at McKinsey\u2014would be at the helm. She was more qualified and experienced than her brothers. Instead, she was offered a cash settlement. \u201cThe emotional cost was enormous,\u201d says Saanker There is another aspect as well. \u201cMany women in wealthy families become shock absorbers,\u201d says Saanker. \u201cThey manage the household\u2019s harmony, hold secrets and absorb conflict. But they rarely have a space of their own.\u201d That also drives them to wealth psychologists.<\/p>\n

POOR LITTLE RICH<\/strong>
Another issue that wealth psychologists come across is loneliness. \u201cExtreme wealth often builds invisible walls between partners, generations, even within oneself. Over time, many high-net-worth individuals<\/a> start to edit their vulnerability, sharing less, trusting less,\u201d says Hillier. \u201cThe cost is loneliness behind a facade of abundance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raeburn says loneliness often manifests as \u201cguardedness, limited disclosure, or social interactions that feel performative rather than sincere\u201d. She sees it most in relationships where affection becomes entangled with expectation: \u201cMany find it difficult to discern who genuinely cares versus who is drawn to their status. The inner dialogue moves from \u2018Do I have enough?\u2019 to \u2018Who can I trust?\u2019\u201d In Indian families, the question of trust takes on cultural layers. \u201cA client told me that his relatives want money and friends want favours. And he can\u2019t trust even his children\u2019s spouses,\u201d says Saanker. \u201cThis paranoia isn\u2019t irrational. It\u2019s often born of real experiences. But it creates profound loneliness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Economic and organisational sociologist Dr Oleg Komlik calls it \u201cabundance without belonging\u201d. Komlik, who heads an undergraduate programme in behavioural sciences at the College of Management Academic Studies in Rishon LeZion, Israel, says, \u201cAffluence isolates as much as it empowers. When economic or business success becomes the primary marker of worth, the rich can find themselves surrounded by transactions rather than relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n

NEW MORAL ECONOMY<\/strong>
Komlik says, \u201cThe emergence of \u2018wealth psychologists\u2019 is part of a broader shift. Emotional life has become managed, optimised and professionalised. In earlier eras, religion or community provided moral narratives to justify wealth; now, psychology fills that role.\u201d In his view, therapy for the rich is not indulgence but infrastructure. It is \u201c…a new mechanism of moral repair for the elite\u201d. He adds, \u201cThe rich are told they \u2018deserve\u2019 their success, yet they live amid visible deprivation. That contradiction produces guilt, anxiety and a need to seek reassurance, sometimes through philanthropy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raeburn notes that for many, philanthropy becomes a pathway toward meaning and legacy, particularly when guided by personal values rather than performance. Komlik says, \u201cThe rise of wealth psychology tells us something profound about the emotional and moral limits of material progress. Societies that define success purely in financial terms eventually confront the question: success for what?\u201d For now, wealth psychologists are here to help the rich pick purpose over profit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Praveen Saanker, an Indianorigin, Dubai-based family office advisor and life coach, remembers the day he sat down with…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":383132,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[183150,183146,64,183144,80621,183147,183149,255,183145,183143,67,132,68,183142,183148],"class_list":{"0":"post-383131","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-affluence-psychology","9":"tag-billionaire-anxiety","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-emotional-meaning-of-money","12":"tag-high-net-worth-individuals","13":"tag-inheritance-guilt","14":"tag-loneliness-among-wealthy","15":"tag-personal-finance","16":"tag-praveen-saanker","17":"tag-ultra-rich-stress","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-wealth-psychologists","22":"tag-wealth-therapy"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115559857115227820","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}