Variations on the theme of wealth
“Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald
The rich are a class apart (and above the crowd). Envied and impervious to what the rest of the world has to say.
The famous banker JP Morgan, once said that you are rich when “…You can buy what you want, do what you want and not give a damn what it costs.”
“Rich” is a quality that describes a person, a lifestyle, elements that project an image of refinement, quality, and exclusivity. “Rich” is a state of mind, an attitude. In this context, one can be very wealthy in material, measurable terms, but be impoverished in the mind.
One can be financially challenged but be rich in spiritually.
It is necessary to qualify that, although the rich are insulated from problems of survival, they are not invulnerable. They have larger-than-life problems that ordinary mortals do not have — how to keep their money intact, how to increase and preserve their investments, how to avoid paying exorbitant taxes, how to “save face.” Image is important too.
Studies have shown how diminished wealth causes severe depression, desperation, and suicide among the über-rich.
Wealth is relative.
Writer Henry James said that one is rich if one can meet the demands of his imagination. In this mode of thought, rich individuals satisfy their whims by spending huge amounts of money. Their passion is to acquire expensive possessions such as luxurious properties, golf club shares, the latest toys, planes, helicopters, yachts, and people.
The problem with this attitude is not knowing when it is enough. The level of satisfaction or gratification seems to keep increasing.
Financial advisors and bankers discreetly classify wealthy clients according to a finely calibrated chart.
“High net worth” used to apply to clients with at least $5 million, depending on the markets. “Substantial wealth” applied to clients worth more than $100 million. These numbers have risen in the past 25 years due to the global financial tsunami and the unpredictable high tech digital money.
Individuals who have lost their fortunes are called “discontinuities.”
A member of old society’s powerful and wealthy oligarchy once deprecatingly called himself nouveau pauvre (new poor). He belonged to an aristocratic genteel set. Two decades later, fate smiled. The family fortune rose again, and they reacquired much more than what they had lost. They became more powerful. The estimated cost was very high. He wisely chose to remain low key and become socially responsible. He never forgot the humble and difficult circumstances that he and his family had endured during the years of exile. Lessons learned.
Financial institutions do not distinguish between nouveau riche (new money) and old rich. That distinction is reserved for the qualified social scientists and the few credible society arbiters to comment on, speculate, or classify.
In the Philippine context, old money is vintage money — wealth that has stayed in the family for at least four generations. This would be from the 1920s or earlier, or pre-World War II. Anything acquired from the 1950s to the present is considered new money. The origin and years are important. Provenance, as in art.
Like good fine wine, money must be aged property. People who have money are distinguished from one another by their manners, mannerisms, and pedigree. The old rich hide it. The new rich flaunt it. This is not PC (politically correct) during hard times.
More than a century ago, John Jacob Astor remarked that a rich man had assets worth a million dollars. That was when the purchasing power of the dollar was roughly equivalent to maybe $50 (a guesstimate).
More than 30 years ago, a millionaire was defined by bankers and brokers as someone with an annual income of more than one million plus dollars.
The Forbes List now classifies global wealth according to the billions of dollars that they have.
There is a fine but notable distinction.
Rich people are classified according to the age and source of their wealth. Here are some categories:
1. Heirs – rich inheritors of money made by their ancestors.
2. The Rich and Famous – individuals who are famous because they are rich.
3. The Rich and Powerful – individuals who are powerful because they are rich.
4. The Generous Rich – individuals with big hearts who give and help others though their foundations and CSR projects. Many prefer to remain private and anonymous.
The sub-categories consist of the following:
Old rich, working rich, idle rich, useless rich, new rich. The robber barons are those who acquired their wealth through dubious activities (i.e., the manufacture of liquor during the prohibition years, fuels and vehicles. And supplying arms, fuel and vehicles to the enemy during the war.)
Entrepreneurs – people who made their fortunes through honest hard work, and great timing.
Arrivistes – socially ambitious people and fortune hunters who married into money (heirs and heiresses).
Cronies – people who made money through political influence and connections. Some cronies are recycled holdovers or returnees from exile.
Lucky rich – people who struck gold, literally, in their mining activities; those who hit the lotto jackpot; the shrewd stock market investors (who’ve have good timing), and beneficiaries from wealthy, generous employers.
Filthy rich – swindlers with their pyramid schemes, smugglers, human traffickers, gambling and drug lords and dealers, gun runners, brothel owners, lotto lords, proprietors of illegal dens, money launderers.
Miserable rich – the Scrooges who penny-pinch, hoard, count, and worry about their millions and billions. They are the stingy people who do not help others.
These profiles illustrate the types of rich people we can recognize.
There is no accurate standard to quantify the heart’s intentions. (Numbers do not suffice.) True generosity grows and expands to make a difference in the lives of others.
“Rich is not what you have but who you have beside you.” — Anonymous
Maria Victoria Rufino is an artist, writer and businesswoman. She is president and executive producer of Maverick Productions.
