I’m worth $15 million and thinking of creating “fake” jobs for my best friends – am I generous or making a big mistake?

Some people who accumulate a lot of wealth like to keep their money for themselves. And that’s okay. When you work hard to be successful, you deserve to enjoy your money. And you shouldn’t necessarily feel obligated to share it with friends.

But in this Reddit post, we have someone whose business has taken off and has accumulated a $15 million net worth. The problem, though, is that they now want to take time to travel, and they want friends to do it with.

But not surprisingly, their friends can’t afford to take the time to travel because they need to work their day jobs. And they don’t necessarily have the money to go on long trips.

What the poster is therefore thinking of doing is creating fake jobs for their friends so they can join in on their travels. They’re thinking of creating titles such as photographer, social media manager, and security guard/trainer. But they’re wondering if this is a good idea or not.

I have some immediate thoughts to share. But spoiler alert – I truly think the poster here may be playing with fire.

There are so many issues with this plan

I’m not an employment lawyer, so I can’t say whether what the poster wants to do is legal or not. But legalities aside, I think they’re making a potentially dangerous move.

It’s not a healthy thing to mix money with friendship. Period.

Even if the jobs were totally legitimate, things could still get tricky in the context of employing a friend. It changes the dynamic and balance of power in the relationship. So even if the poster needed a new head of marketing to work a legitimate 40-hour-a-week job in an office, I’d still caution them against hiring a friend.

But getting back to the poster’s proposal, it may or may not be illegal. Without a law degree in that area, I couldn’t answer.

Technically, as business owner, the poster can hire people to assist them in different ways. If they want to hire someone to run their errands and pick up their dry cleaning, that’s generally permissible. In corporate offices, managers have their assistants do grunt work like that all the time.

But rather than hire their friends for fake jobs, a better bet may be to offer to take them on a nice trip and leave things at that. It doesn’t have to be a months-long journey if the friends can’t afford to ditch their jobs for weeks on end.

The poster can book a nice villa for a week somewhere, or pay for a stay at a resort with amenities. And then, if they want to do more extensive travel with company, they look at online forums to see about meeting up with fellow travelers.

It’s best to consult a professional

There’s a reason I keep reiterating that I’m not an employment attorney. This is a potentially tricky situation and I don’t want to see the poster get hurt in an attempt to be generous.

So I’d recommend that they talk to an employment lawyer if they’re inclined to move forward with their idea. They should also consult a financial advisor to make sure they’re not being too reckless with their money, even though they clearly have a lot of it.

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