Man disheartened after his long-lost friends wanted to “catch up” with him just to ask for money since he started a business

SINGAPORE: A man felt a deep sense of disappointment and frustration when his old friends, whom he hadn’t heard from in years, suddenly reached out to him out of the blue, only to ask if they could borrow money.

In a post on the r/askSingapore forum, the man shared that, over the span of a few months, he received a lot of “random messages on Instagram and WhatsApp from long-lost friends trying to reconnect after years of no contact—some even after eight years of silence.”

He also mentioned that the conversations started normally, with his friends trying to meet up and catch up. However, along the way, they began asking if it was true that he now had a company and whether he was “actually rich.”

Reacting to this, he said, “I don’t know what kind of rubbish question that is to ask someone you haven’t contacted in so long. Apparently, people like to Google their long-lost friends nowadays.”

The man noted that a few days after reconnecting, his so-called friends took advantage of the situation to ask if they could borrow money, with some requests even reaching “thousands.”

Unfortunately, this pattern has also emerged among his immediate family since they found out he had his own business. He wrote, “They assume I have $1.75762 billion in the bank, and they always ask me to treat them and give them money because they keep repeating, ‘You have a business, what.'”

Reflecting on these events, the man asked the community whether it was really “normal for Singaporeans to act like leeches when they see their friends and family owning some sort of assets.”

“True friends will be in contact with you through those 8 years…”

In the discussion thread, many Singaporean Redditors advised the man not to let his friends and family take advantage of his generosity.

To help him understand the potential consequences of lending money, one Redditor shared his personal experience. He wrote, “As a guy who has loaned a couple of friends a total sum of more than $10,000, I’m telling you to NOT do it.

You would have to be on your knees to get your money back, and most of the time, they’d ask you for more if you are willing to lend the first time. I would ignore them completely in your shoes and move on with life.”

Another Redditor echoed this sentiment, saying, “Lending people money feels like shooting yourself in the foot due to people’s nature of just not wanting to pay back. It doesn’t matter if you’re doing them kindness. Once you lend people money, you somehow become at their mercy. A lose-lose situation for the lender, no merits at all.”

A few others also suggested that the man cut ties with his so-called friends. One said, “Why would you even entertain someone you have been out of touch with for over eight years? It’s a given they want something from you. Cut off completely unless they want you to come to their wedding to eat biryani.”

Another remarked, “Ignore. True friends will be in contact with you through those eight years.”

In other news, a 32-year-old Singaporean man took to social media to share the financial challenges he’s been facing, revealing how his monthly salary of S$3,000 feels barely enough to cover his daily expenses.

Speaking openly about his situation online, he explained that half of his salary goes to rent alone, leaving him with little to cover the rest of his expenses. “I earn about S$3K a month after deducting CPF (Central Provident Fund), and I rent a room by myself for S$1.4 to S$1.5K, with zero family support,” he said.

Read more: 32-year-old man earning $3k/month says he’s struggling to budget as rent alone costs S$1.5k

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