Dear Eric: By choice, I’m a single middle-aged adult with no kids. I’m an only child as well so I don’t have a lot of close family. I’ve managed to create a small but strong circle of friends. Something that brings me great joy is extending hospitality and generosity to the people I care about.

I’ve recently inherited quite a bit of money and real estate. It’s enough assets for me to have the option to retire early and still live comfortably for the rest of my life. My money is well-managed and conservatively invested. I’m developing a revocable trust and a donor-advised fund for recurrent charitable contributions during my lifetime and beyond.

Not too many people know about this inheritance, and I intend to keep it that way.

I will return to work at some point but right now my primary goal is to spend quality time with my dear friends and their families, some of whom I see rather infrequently due to geographic distance.

No one in my circle is particularly well-off financially. The activities we enjoy can be somewhat expensive. We’ve always split costs but now I would very much like to not have my friends feel obligated to pay me back. I would like them to relax and enjoy their time with me and not worry about money.

How can I communicate this to my friends? How can I ease the awkwardness and alleviate any anxieties they feel without revealing too much about my change of fortune and sounding like a braggart?

— Gift Giver

Dear Gift Giver: What a great heart you have. The simplest way to achieve your goal may be a version of the truth that’s not the whole truth. When out with friends to dinner, for instance, and one friend insists on paying, sometimes the payer squashes any protests by saying “I’ve got this; it’s fine.” And most friends will gratefully accept this without asking “Just how can you afford this?”

So, you may want to tell your friends that you’ve set aside a budget for outings, and you’d like to pay for them because it’s something that will be comfortable for you and you appreciate spending time with them. Talking about the funds you have for activities as a kind of discreet “fun money” account, is less likely to raise suspicions.

And this isn’t bragging; it most likely will come across as prudent financial planning mixed with true generosity. They may not say yes to you paying every time, but hopefully they accept enough times to see that it truly isn’t an issue for you.

Send questions to R. Eric Thomas at eric@askingeric.com