It’s tough to muster sympathy for the extravagantly rich, especially with income inequality around the world increasing. Money fixes many problems and opens countless doors, but extensive wealth has also been linked to depression, anxiety and elevated stress levels.
Beyond the practical demands of deciding which luxury real estate portfolio to expand next, the ultra-wealthy frequently face family tensions, strained friendships, social criticisms and even concerns about personal safety. For many, questions of identity and self-worth become intertwined with financial status, creating a persistent sense of uncertainty and unease.
Rich, stressed and misunderstood: life is hard for the top 1%. Luckily, private banks have begun to recognise the unique psychological struggles of owning vast assets. Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch have all hired behavioural scientists and psychotherapists to help their high-net-worth clients cope with the unbearable weight of extreme wealth. Finance therapy, as it is called, is an emerging field in psychotherapy – and it is gaining traction in the corporate world.
What is financial therapy?
Zoë Aston is a psychotherapist who helps high-earners manage the stress of sudden or significant wealth. Although financial therapy is not her only field of practice, it is a significant part of her work. “Money is central to how we relate to the world. The way we deal with our finances affects how we think about ourselves and shapes conversations with partners, friends and colleagues,” she says.
Aston’s clients range from celebrities to bankers. In recent years, she’s been invited into corporate settings to address how stress and burnout – sometimes tied to wealth – can shape and strain workplace culture.
Money is central to how we relate to the world
“A recurring frustration from my clients is that they live beyond their means and are too generous, leaving them feeling resentful and angry. This leads to a conversation about people-pleasing,” Aston says. “They often feel pressure to keep up a certain lifestyle, which leads to over-spending and feelings of emotional poverty.”
Wealth therapists are not financial advisers, Aston stresses. Their aim is to explore people’s past experiences with money, identify patterns and understand how those impact their financial behaviour. “The goal is to help people create a lifestyle that aligns realistically with their income while managing their emotional reactions to suddenly having a lot of money.”
With executive salaries reaching unprecedented highs, organisations could start offering wealth-related therapeutic support to their highest-paid employees. Aston believes such resources may soon become essential for businesses seeking to protect performance and culture.
And it’s not just the ultra-wealthy who would benefit from these services. Studies show that people across all income brackets are eager to change their relationship with money. The latest Wells Fargo 2025 Money Study found that the majority of US citizens (83%) want to learn new ways of thinking about and dealing with their finances.
When wealth becomes a workplace issue
When it comes to the workplace, wealth-related stress can negatively impact individual performance and overall company culture.
“Having money does not insulate people from psychological strain,” Aston stresses. High-earners often face immense scrutiny and can feel trapped by the job expectations that accompany their salary, she explains. “High-paying jobs often demand constant availability, requiring late-night or pre-dawn calls, for example, which can lead to severe burnout.”
Having money does not insulate people from psychological strain
Managing the expectations can be overwhelming. “The dissonance between external success and internal uncertainty can contribute to feelings of shame, disconnection and dangerous levels of perfectionism,” Aston says.
Psychological strain among business decision-makers can negatively impact company performance, as leaders under emotional stress typically make reactive, short-term decisions rather than strategic ones. “Unresolved stress reduces responsiveness, hijacks the mind and compromises clarity and decision-making,” she says. “At a cultural level, this can foster mistrust, defensiveness and burnout.”
Leaders who struggle with these pressures may unintentionally perpetuate a culture of over-work and silence. “I’ve seen situations where managers feel unable to show vulnerability and unhealthy norms cascade through the organisation,” Aston says. “As a result, employees may disengage – concisely or unconsciously – to protect their wellbeing.”
Wealth-related stress sometimes arises in startups that experience sudden or rapid financial success. It is especially rampant in banking and financial services, where performance is tightly bound to monetary gain. The pressure can even cause personal ethics to slip. For instance, if a young banker believes everyone around them is only in it for the money, they might feel pressured to bend the rules to hit quarterly targets. The very culture that glorifies wealth can, paradoxically, undermine the credibility it relies on.
Are you the problem?
Psychotherapists can help employers to address more than just wealth-related stress. Aston says firms should consider recruiting therapeutic support if they notice an increase in workplace conflict or absenteeism. Difficulties giving or receiving feedback, as well as power struggles between executives, can also indicate the need for outside assistance. “If you notice recurring performance issues despite people being perfectly competent, relational or psychological challenges, rather than a skills deficit, could be to blame.”
Leaders who embrace the family metaphor often underestimate just how dysfunctional that model can become
Although they often promote the merits of using external resources to address burnout and wellbeing across the workforce, C-suite leaders frequently perpetuate the problems they seek to change, Aston says. “Their behaviour sets the tone for the entire organisation, so when they model poor boundaries or dodge responsibilities, those norms carry through the ranks.”
She adds that senior management are often most resistant to change. Aston recalls an occasion where she was asked to support two feuding departments: “The employees showed up ready to engage, but the CFO and CEO found reasons not to be in the room every single session.” This is not uncommon, she adds.
For some leaders, the reluctance to engage with on-site therapists stems from concerns over confidentiality. But many others fear that the solutions proposed by psych professionals might implicate the company leadership or, worse still, negatively impact the bottom line. Meaningful organisational change often comes at a cost: people are put on leave or income structures change, for instance. For executives accustomed to prioritising shareholder value, that price is often too steep.
“When I work with C-suite leaders, I try to reframe psychological support as a strength rather than a weakness. I always hope to turn their scepticism into curiosity,” Aston says. “And they often become the strongest advocates once they experience the positive impact.”
Blurred business boundaries
Aside from wealth-related stress, the most common workplace conflicts derive from blurred boundaries, Aston says. Executives are burdened by both authority and isolation, and may therefore struggle to separate their personal identity from their professional role.
A popular narrative among many senior leaders is that companies are like families. Such sentiment can be perceived as warm and inclusive, but in practice it’s often fraught with risk. Families, after all, have messy conflicts and unspoken hierarchies. When that dynamic seeps into a workplace of hundreds or thousands of people, the result can be confusion, blurred boundaries and unhealthy dependence, Aston explains. “Leaders who embrace the family metaphor often underestimate just how dysfunctional that model can become at scale.”
Each individual must agree boundaries with their employer and each business will be receptive to different boundaries. At minimum, however, healthy boundaries include clear duties and expectations, respect for personal capacity and open communication about team and individual limits. “A workplace with strong boundaries enables accountability and compassion,” Aston says. “These virtues reduce the likelihood of stress, burnout and relational difficulties at work much more than any amount of remuneration.”
Senior leaders would be wise to acknowledge that they don’t have all the answers and to delegate employee wellbeing to professionals who specialise in it. Conflicts across the workforce – even when they arise from wealth-related stress – can derail the company culture if left unchecked. So scoffers who might struggle to sympathise with the extremely wealthy should refrain from pulling out their tiny violins just yet.
It’s tough to muster sympathy for the extravagantly rich, especially with income inequality around the world increasing. Money fixes many problems and opens countless doors, but extensive wealth has also been linked to depression, anxiety and elevated stress levels.
Beyond the practical demands of deciding which luxury real estate portfolio to expand next, the ultra-wealthy frequently face family tensions, strained friendships, social criticisms and even concerns about personal safety. For many, questions of identity and self-worth become intertwined with financial status, creating a persistent sense of uncertainty and unease.
Rich, stressed and misunderstood: life is hard for the top 1%. Luckily, private banks have begun to recognise the unique psychological struggles of owning vast assets. Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch have all hired behavioural scientists and psychotherapists to help their high-net-worth clients cope with the unbearable weight of extreme wealth. Finance therapy, as it is called, is an emerging field in psychotherapy – and it is gaining traction in the corporate world.
