I was born into an family that is in the 1%. Mom doesn't work, dad retired (not quite yet 50). I have an unbelievably easy life, parents willingly provide for everything for me and my siblings.

Now while in college, I realize that the financial stress of college has literally been lifted off of my back. I'm super grateful for this and I realize that tons of other kids have to work part/full time through school and some even are struggling to pay living expenses let alone tuition.

I go to a large state university and have to be careful with how I spend. I don't like to flash money around and am truly a sweat pants, t shirt and flip flops kinda guy. A girl I was kinda dating at school was definitely out of her element when I took her to a really nice restaurant one time. I actually felt really bad because she just felt uncomfortable. We later talked about it and she was just uncomfortable with paying the same amount of money for a meal that others might spend on food for an entire week. Long term it didn't affect our relationship but I felt that it was really important for me to be extra conscious to make sure I wasn't making her uncomfortable with our socioeconomic gap.

The one thing I will say however, is there is a tremendous amount of pressure for the kids of wealthy individuals to be successful. I call it Michael Jordan syndrome. Even if I'm very very successful, chances are I will not surpass my parents in pure net worth.

I think the most important part of having a relationship where one partner is from a considerably different background than another is to be conscious and make an effort to not make anyone feel badly for any reason, whether its a different socioeconomic background or maybe a different religious/ethnic background.