Tuesday 26 June 2012

Maybe I'm a Rich Man?*

“Go on, you can afford it.  You’re a rich man.”

That was the second part of Rachel’s answer to my question, the first part being “Four cases of champagne.” 

She’s right, of course, I can afford it.  After all, it’s not that often you clock up a decade, is it?  And there was that unexpected tax rebate last year, when a party seemed to be the consensus.  But rich man?  Am I?  I’ve never really thought about it.

Okay, I own this house.  But I can’t spend that.  I have a few shares of various sorts; again, hardly worth cashing in for maybe 80% of what I paid for them.  And there’s some money in the bank (I think – you can’t be sure these days, can you, especially when it’s that particular bank.)   I couldn’t go down the shops and buy an executive jet or a small island (though those are going quite cheap at the moment I’m told) or a flat in the Shard.  To be truly rich, you need to be able to buy an Aston Martin, without thinking too hard about it; and then another one; and, crucially, still have more money afterwards than you had before.  If I tried a fraction of any of those things I’d be instantly poor.

I’m going off the idea anyway.  To be properly rich, you have to feel rich, look rich, behave rich.  And there’s the defences, the staff, the advisors …  It all sounds like a lot of effort.

But I can definitely run to a few bottles of fizz.  So don’t panic, I’ll get the bubbly, Rach.  And a new pair of shoes.  And maybe some diamonds to stick on the soles, just for the hell of it.

*Of course, as soon as I'd posted this I thought of a much better title, so I've changed it.  God knows what confusion this will cause. 

9 comments:

  1. We had a discussion yesterday with our accountant about minimising estate duty. And do you know, I thought, what the hell - I'm not ready to hand over to our children what we went without to save all those years. Children/exchequer - we're stuck right in the middle. Maybe I'll just spend it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. How does it feel to be one of the beautiful people?

    I'm sure you could afford a clavioline.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I suppose it depends how you define wealth really.

    I consider myself to be incredibly wealthy...even though my bank account continues to run...well, in the red.

    I've got awesome friends, live in a home I adore with my Boy and the Cat. Yes, I'm a wealthy woman indeed.

    The great thing about money, is you can spend it on the people you adore. And the occasional blogging friend too! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Z - my point precisely! Easier for me, having no children. I intend to spend the last 10p 10 seconds before I depart. Hard to plan for that though.

    Richard - Normal, obviously! (No room here for a clavioline - have you seen one? They're huge! Please don't give me one for my birthday.)

    Roses - I was deliberately focussing on the monetary measure of wealth, and how worthless it really is. So I agree completely. Your last point is well taken though ...!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Diamond's on the soles of your shoes? Highly appropriate place, but needs removing to get rid of the stink.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is a good title.
    Eldest pointed out some years ago that we were SKI-ers (spending the Kid's Inheritance). We've quite enjoyed it and by the time they came to inherit anything it wouldn't amount to much would it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I like it. I think I'd define as 'rich' someone whose money works for him/her as opposed to his/her working for it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Richard - yours was a candidate for comment of the year, but sadly has been overtaken by events, the shoe-scraping having now taken place (though not the fumigation, yet).
    Wendy - erm, whatever you meant, I agree!
    Mig - yes, is this the real world, is this just fantasy?
    Scribe Doll - welcome! Neat definition; though now I'm wondering how to tell which side of the boundary I am ...

    ReplyDelete