The very rich have their own family financial drama

I used to think that if my family had more money, many of our problems would go away.

Rich people can easily bail out family members who get into financial jams without worrying that they’ll run out of money in their own old age.

Wealth insulates you from a lot of things.

But money can’t protect you from insecure, narcissistic, petty, snobbish, materialistic or just plain meanspirited relatives. Being rich just means you have enough cash to spirit yourself away from them in first-class comfort.

For this month’s Color of Money Book Club, I’ve selected a novel that will take you into the inner sanctums of the super-rich. It’s fiction, but still very real.

When Kevin Kwan’s “Crazy Rich Asians” was released in 2013, much was made of its inside look at the opulent life of prosperous families from the Far East. The storyline is pretty simple. Two New York University professors are in love. Rachel Chu was raised by a single middle-income Chinese mother in California. Her boyfriend, Nick Young, comes from an elite, uber-rich Singaporean family. The Youngs are among the 10 wealthiest families in Asia, and Nick is an heir.

Rachel is unaware of Nick’s net worth. She discovers the truth when they travel to Singapore for the wedding of his best friend. Away from New York, we’re introduced to more of the family, who live like royalty. And they are suspicious of anyone who isn’t rich like them.

I only recently read “Crazy Rich Asians,” which was a bestseller. And if you still haven’t read it, now is a good time, because it’s being made into a major motion picture due out in August and starring Constance Wu from the ABC comedy “Fresh Off the Boat.” I generally like to read a book before I see it adapted for the big screen.

I had considered recommending the book for a few months, but I wasn’t sure that the opulence displayed by the fictional characters would resonate with Color of Money Book Club readers. There are private islands and personal jets with interiors the size of condos. I was certainly put off by purses that cost as much as a new car. When you know real people who can’t pay their rent, how do you enjoy a novel about families who have multiple houses they can live in — at any time?

Rachel: “You never told me you lived in a palace.”

Nick: “This isn’t a palace. It’s just a big house.”

It’s like this throughout the novel. These folks are filthy rich. Yet, their flaws — and there are many — can’t be erased by their affluence.

Kwan has said that when he moved to the U.S. from Singapore at age 11, he read a lot of works by F. Scott Fitzgerald. And you can see Fitzgerald’s view of the rich in Kwan’s work.

“They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves,” Fitzgerald writes in his short story, “The Rich Boy.” “Even when they enter deep into our world or sink below us, they still think that they are better than we are. They are different.”

Except Kwan shows us that the rich aren’t in reality different than you and me when it comes to dollars and sense. They battle over money, too, even when there’s more than enough to go around. Their vast fortunes don’t buy them a pass from the familial fights that can destroy relationships. It’s cliché to say, but nonetheless still true: Money can’t buy happiness.

Read this book for what it says between the lines.

“It’s such a fantastic world, but it still deals with very human problems and relationships that people from any financial bracket have,” Wu said during an Entertainment Weekly interview about the upcoming movie.

In this book club, I want to expose you to principles that can help you become financially secure. So, I recommend books on budgeting, getting out of debt or investing for retirement. But I also look for picks — fiction or nonfiction — that help you realize the limits of wealth. An accumulation of money can get you a chair in life’s luxury box, but it doesn’t mean your family won’t be spared a front-row seat to a lot of drama.

I’m hosting an online discussion about “Crazy Rich Asians” at noon Eastern time on May 31 at washingtonpost.com/discussions. Join me for a conversation about the financial issues in your family — rich or poor — that drive you crazy. Readers can write to Michelle Singletary c/o The Washington Post, 1301 K St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20071. Her email address is michelle. singletary@washpost.com. Follow her on Twitter (@ SingletaryM) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/MichelleSingletary).