When thinking about achieving wealth there are two common ways to do so. There’s gradual increasing wealth and there’s sudden wealth.

Most of us are used to gradual increasing wealth – earning an income and building a nest egg over time. It’s a slow and steady process. As our net worth increases over the years, we adapt and slowly become more financially sophisticated. It’s like riding a smooth escalator – you’re going up, but you hardly feel it.

Then there’s sudden wealth.

It’s like being in a jet on the flight deck of an airplane carrier when it takes-off. Suddenly, within seconds, you are rocketed into the sky and feeling the G-forces against your body. Sudden wealth means getting more money than you’re used to being responsible for, getting it all at once, and often feeling pushed outside of your normal financial comfort zone. Although you’re the same person you were the day before you received it, you are quickly thrust into a new and often uncomfortable situation. While sudden wealth can be life changing in a positive way, it can also cause anxiety, indecision, and fear. The solution is to surround yourself with the right people, and develop a new financial strategy.

Sudden wealth brings all kinds of challenges, and none more frightening than the new fear of financial loss. Unlike gradual wealth when you are building on your investment experiences and learning from your mistakes, with sudden wealth there is the real possibility that one wrong decision can cause you to lose it all. Sudden wealth often means you have only one opportunity to acquire and manage your newfound wealth. This kind of windfall is not likely to happen again.