Trust fund children, known as “trustafarians,” often lead extravagant lifestyles without the need for higher education or employment. They adopt a free-spirited, Rasta-inspired lifestyle, often wearing thrift store clothes and avoiding fashion trends. Trustafarians rebel against materialism and pursue hedonistic or bohemian lifestyles, using their wealth to pursue businesses and events that others cannot afford. The term is often applied to privileged white people who influence the lifestyle of actual hippies or Rastafarians. However, living such a lifestyle can be dangerous and ultimately costly.
A number of children born into extremely wealthy families have access to special accounts known as trust funds. These so-called “trust fund children” often lead a privileged and extravagant lifestyle, with or without the benefits of higher education or gainful employment. Some even abandon normal society to pursue a more bohemian or counterculture lifestyle, drifting from house to house, following cult rock bands, and indulging in recreational drugs like marijuana. This casual use of marijuana and adoption of a free-spirited, Rasta-inspired lifestyle has inspired a new description, trustafarian.
A trustafarian often wears his hair in dreadlocks or other natural styles. While able to buy trendy designer clothes, a trustafarian prefers to wear thrift store clothes, cheap T-shirts, distressed jeans, and other hippie or bohemian accessories. Many trustafarians diligently avoid fashion trends or expensive jewelry to keep their low-maintenance hippie or slacker image.
While many young people would envy a lifestyle without the pressures of work or financial support, a trustafarian might become bored with their role as the son or daughter of a wealthy industrialist or celebrity. This is why a number of trust fund beneficiaries decide to rebel against the trappings of materialism and instead become slackers or social outcasts. A trustafarian knows he will never actually run out of money, so adopting a more hedonistic or bohemian lifestyle for a short period of time would be relatively risk-free.
A trustafarian has the means to pursue businesses that many of his or her peers could not afford to do with their limited budgets and time constraints. Following a popular band around the country for an entire summer tour wouldn’t be a problem for a trustafarian. Attending counterculture events like Burning Man would just be a matter of purchasing tickets or arranging transportation. A trustafarian may offer to pay the expenses of her friends to join him or her on the road.
Perhaps the most famous prototype for the modern trustafarian would be the late country-rock singer/songwriter Gram Parsons. Parsons was one of the heirs to a large citrus plantation in Florida and had access to a generous trust fund. Instead of living the pampered life of a rich kid from a white trust fund, however, Parsons chose to pursue a music career while living in Los Angeles. He preferred to live as a struggling musician, and very few of his friends knew he came from a wealthy family.
The term trustafarian is often applied to a trust fund child or other privileged white person who deliberately influences the lifestyle of an actual hippie or rastafarian. A trustafarian who uses his wealth to finance a drug-fueled, self-indulgent slacker lifestyle is often dismissed by others as an imposter or a spoiled rich kid. A trustafarian may be in a position to experiment with a slacker or bohemian lifestyle for a short while, but ultimately the price of living such a dangerous lifestyle can be very high indeed.
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