Speaking in an interview with the business magazine Fast Company about his role as chief impact officer with the tech startup BetterUp, which offers coaching and mental health services to businesses and individuals, Great Britain’s Prince Harry, who with his wife Meghan Markle reportedly has a net worth of $10 million said of people who had resigned from their jobs, “Many people around the world have been stuck in jobs that didn’t bring them joy, and now they’re putting their mental health and happiness first. This is something to be celebrated.”
According to Forbes, Harry and his wife “have relied largely on the estimated $10 million inheritance Harry received from his late mother’s estate. … Meghan Markle contributed an estimated $2 million in aftertax earnings from her work in films and television shows, most notably the long-running legal drama Suits. They bought a $14.7 million estate in Montecito” … and have “a surprisingly modest nest egg of roughly $5 million—at least for now. Their estimated net worth, including the equity from their Montecito home, is roughly $10 million.”
Page Six reported last June of the deal Harry and Meghan had made with Spotify: “Through their Archewell Audio imprint, the couple signed a reported $25M deal with the platform to produce podcasts and other programming ‘that uplifts and entertains audiences around the world.’”
Various British financial experts spoke to The Daily Mail, blasting Harry for what they saw as his foolish advice:
Kieran Boyle, managing director of CKB Recruitment in Gloucester: “This fella really does live in cloud cuckoo land, doesn’t he? Sure, most people would love to chuck in a job they hate, but the reality is a different thing entirely. A massive chunk of working people are only two or three pay packets away from losing everything. Perhaps our young prince should start to engage his brain more before his lips move.”
Rob Peters, mortgage expert at Simple Fast Mortgage: “If you quit your job without the means to support yourself, I am pretty sure that the stress of ‘where the next meal will come from’ might be equally bad for your mental health.”
Scott Gallacher, director at chartered financial planners Rowley Turton: “Whilst I agree that none of us should be stuck in a job we hate, quitting without either a ‘stuff it’ emergency fund or a replacement job lined up would be foolhardy. “Not all of us have a trust fund to fall back on. In addition to the immediate concerns of how would you pay your bills, there is the risk that if you get into financial difficulties you could damage your credit rating and therefore your longer-term financial future.”
Royal biographer Angela Levin also minced no words, snapping, “Harry is utterly out of touch with people telling them to quit their jobs if they have mental health issues. Not everyone has £30million tucked away in the bank. I wonder if he’d give the same advice to people whose mental health is made worse by their marriage. Be quiet H, please.”