“I’ve been with my partner for years, and we’re getting married in a few months. ... When you turn 16, a standard gift from his family is a $50K car, and everyone gets $1 million at 18 from their trust fund to pay for college, and then, you get your remaining millions when you graduate.”

As a Senior Staff Writer at BuzzFeed, I cover real-life stories that explore relationships, lifestyle (including travel and beauty), and the internet's most fascinating trends.

Note: Some responses were pulled from these Reddit threads: 1, 2, 3.

"I married a man much like me, upper-middle-class, but one who engaged in illegal activities, and he stuck me with the bill. Luckily, I was never charged. Today, I am happily unmarried, middle-class, with many male friends who feel for the underprivileged, just like I. There are probably a lot of rich guys who are empathetic and help the poor, but I never met any of them."

"The only thing that really bugged me was when my cousin showed up at my mom's memorial service earlier this year, in a flashy dress that was by a famous designer. (She told us it was Chanel.) Worse, she wore at least $1.5 million worth of large, flashy diamonds. Nice for her, but kind of inappropriate for a memorial service. Almost everyone else was attired in plain black or navy clothes with little, if any, jewelry. Guess she was just being her, and I should appreciate what I have, not envy or complain about others! (Sorry that I did.)"

"Unless it involves their business, money is no object to them. They mostly aren't frugal and never ask the price. (Some stealth wealth people are the complete opposite.) They make a lot of time for their hobbies and to be with their kids."

"There was also my wedding to his daughter. Not only did he foot the bill for everything (the wedding reception consumed 12.5 gallons of Patrón), but he flew my wife and me for a three-week honeymoon anywhere in the world on his dime. He gave us his Amex Black and said have fun. Six countries, well over $100K in a honeymoon, and never said a word."

"They didn't think I was good enough and constantly acted cold. It was very hard on me before, but I learned not to care about others, and it improved me. I couldn't care less because I'm happy. It would be nice if they liked me, but I only need my S.O. and my family."

"Fast-forward two years, I took my half of his retirement account, which was about $70K, and invested it, and now, I have close to a million. I'm shooting for $5 million. Oh yeah, and now, I don't have to 'discover' yet another maxed-out credit card in my name ever again."

"I lived with a horrendously rich friend; his family is aristocracy in his home country. One thing I've noticed about him is that he's completely incapable of grasping that if I stop working, I just stop being able to eat. He was confused about why I was worried about taking a week off work and didn't understand that I was worried I'd lose money. He seemed to think that most people work because they choose to because he's never had to work."

"That coming weekend, he and my mother-in-law put an offer in on a lake cabin with one of the best views I've ever seen in my life. I'd hate to know what they paid for that. I still didn't really understand what they did or didn't have until they made me executor of their estate. The vast majority of what they die with is going to charity and their church. Just wild. Moral of the story: Looks can be deceiving, and just because they have it, doesn't mean that you'll inherit it."

"But they are so nice. They are charitable, they are kind, and they are earnest. Do I feel I've changed a bit? Probably. I now feel a bit out of place with my extended family at events, but that was bound to probably happen anyway."

"I'm now married, and we are doing just fine financially now; we bring in good money and are in a pretty high percentile for our net worth per age bracket. But it's a far cry from the millions I believe she already had and millions more she was set to inherit one day."

"It ended in divorce. He got a payout from the family, but I don't think it was worth it."

"The woman I dumped was the heiress of a large company, which she sold after we broke up and netted around $100 million. She married a guy, and they now have three homes, Range Rovers, a Ferrari...you name it. I'm still friends with her on Facebook. I think about it a lot. I have no doubt I am much happier now with a faithful wife and four beautiful children, but damn, that Ferrari looks like fun. I managed to get myself in a $250K+ job by age 30 and have given my stay-at-home-mom wife and four children a wonderful little life, but it's a far cry from the 1%."

"It was gorgeous! I had never been to Europe before that and was in complete awe. His parents owned multiple homes in the best districts and in other countries for vacations. They were so sweet and gave me 500 euros the day they met me because I was so nice! I got another couple of grand for my student loans purely because they heard how much of a burden that is in America and didn't want me to struggle. They also bought us a house as our wedding gift. That didn't sit well with me and my family since we've always worked, but that's another story.

Problem? My husband never had to work for anything. Any time he needed money, they, especially his mom, would just hand it off without an issue, no matter the amount. He never bothered with college and basically just did what he wanted until meeting me. Upon learning this, I stated that I refused to accept an engagement ring with money he didn't rightfully earn. That's when, at age 24, he realized that working for your money is hard. He thought he'd easily just start a business like his parents and failed because he had no idea how complicated it truly was. His parents realized what they had done and cut him off so he could learn the value of a dollar. I fully supported the decision. He had to learn how to struggle for the first time since things were not easy soon afterward. Now things are rougher, but we've come together, built savings, run a small business, and became a stronger couple in the end."

"Right after high school, my second girlfriend's father was a tech guy who was in the Navy when he was younger and then sold code to big companies to this day. Would never have known he had this much, and he was constantly worried that 'people were after him and his wealth.' We didn’t last two years. My current girlfriend and future wife has a father who owns a small construction company; her grandfather was a top 1% salesperson for a $100 billion company, and her great-grandfather was the first salesperson in the Midwest for a famous coffee brand. Me? I grew up dirt-floor poor with seven siblings on a farm."

"I married my husband who did not come from a wealthy family, but he had a master's and a six-figure job. I've been with him for most of my adult life, and it's been wonderful. He could care less about money, but he isn't wasteful, and he isn't extravagant. Growing up, my parents told me, 'It's just as easy to fall in love with a wealthy man as it is to fall in love with a poor man.' I fell in love with my best friend and have no regrets."

"When I talk to my daughter and her husband, I just kind of feel strange when they talk so casually about going out all the time — like, the idea of having enough money to go to these upscale bars and restaurants all the time seems wild. Also, there's the value they seem to place on 'going out' and buying expensive gifts; everything fun is based around money. All my life, some of the best memories I have is just hanging out with my friends, scrapping some stupid game together with the little that we had. ... With them, it seems like they go brain-dead if they can't buy something. It all seems artificial to me."

"He invested his pretty wisely, and now has a good amount of money in the bank along with his own investments and such. The weirdest thing is how it's so easy for him to just do things and write them off as no big deal. Like, once we got engaged and started consolidating our finances, he paid off my student loans and credit cards without thinking about it and just shrugged it off when I asked him about it — money is just something that exists to him, and he's smart with it. 

I don't feel like it's changed me or him much since we got together, as I always knew he had money. He's still just the way he always was. He was raised in a different state from his dad's family, which is where the family money comes from, so he's a fairly normal, well-adjusted adult, unlike some of his cousins. I would say I'm a bit more relaxed when it comes to accepting him paying for things. When we started dating, it was hard for me to be okay with it. It felt like pity or charity because I was so clearly broke compared to him. There has been some weird resentment from some of my friends and family, though. I can't talk about things we do or like because I get some snide comment about how nice it must be to be spoiled, which is annoying because he doesn't really pay for anything in my day-to-day life. It's definitely put a wedge between some of my friends/family because of it."

"They were just mean, heartless, and had zero empathy. They expected the world to bend to them, but they grew up with servants and opportunities that no one else would get. If Dad could write an eight-digit check, you can get into university, or get a job with the government, or anything you want. Doors open. It's a different world. Money buys all sorts of things. Yes, they were bright and smart, but it was a different world. Money. Access. Power. No consequences. The rest of us just don’t live this way. They never had to be nice or kind. They felt entitled to whatever it was that day. Nothing was fun or special. Nice dinners at fancy places were inadequate. Nothing was good enough. There was no pleasure in anything. The restaurant catering to your every whim? Still not good enough. Access to the best seats? Still can’t be happy. It doesn’t matter. Nothing was good enough, and they were unpleasant the whole way through it. I was embarrassed to be standing next to them or sitting across from them."

"One time, the dishwasher in our flat broke, but we didn't have to pay a dime for repairs because his friend from high school's parents owned the building, so they fixed it for free as a favor."

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.