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[quote=Anonymous]We are a reasonably well off UMC family. No complaints about our finances or lifestyle.

We are friends with a family who used to be kind of in our ballpark financially, but in the last few years have moved into a much, much higher income bracket. I feel like the family friendship has handled that shift really well -- our kids are still great friends, and when we all get together, our dynamic is pretty much the same.

But when I get together 1:1 with just my fellow mom friend, the dynamic has changed quite a bit and I'm starting to feel a little frustrated. The main thing is that as their income has gone up, it has changed a bunch of stuff about her life and I think there's some anxiety there from all the change. Stuff like joining a country club, taking much more extravagant vacations, shopping for a house upgrade, etc. It all makes sense for their new financial situation but she just talks about this stuff sooooo much. Our conversations have become very one-sided and the stuff she's talking to me about, I can't relate to at all. Like I can see how buying a 10 million dollar house is stressful and huge, but I have a limited amount I can contribute to that conversation. Especially because she's not really in the mood for joking about it -- she's capital S stressed.

The last 3-4x we've hung out, I've listened to her talk at length about financial investments, private schools, real estate, and vacation planning. These conversations are weirdly joyless -- she is essentially complaining but then she'll throw in "I know it's a good problem to have" or "I know how lucky we are." I'm not judging her. I get this transition has been weird. But I have stuff going on in my own life and I'm starting to feel like I'm just there to provide emotional support to her as she struggles with getting super rich. I feel like it's something she she talk to a professional about, and I'd love to get back to more give and take and discussing things that we can both relate to (kids generally, celebrity gossip, health/exercise, books and movies, etc. -- the fun stuff!).

How do I raise this with her? I don't want to come off as resentful (and I really am not, to be honest she is making their sudden wealthy look kind of unappealing) and I don't want to hurt her feelings or lose her as a friend. But I also don't want this dynamic to continue because if it does I don't think our friendship will survive it.[/quote]

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