Have you ever considered old money?

[youngnihilist]

Class mobility is tough these days, more so than ever. I think in the Baby Boomer generation you could hear the story of the poor Eastern European immigrants son in a crowded aparmtent becoming a CEO, or the Latino with $20 in his pocket running a successful chain of restaurants. Or the genius from the ghetto earning scholarships to become a lawyer/doctor. Now I get your point, wealth stays from generaiton to generation, via trust funds and inheritance. Investment risk and capitalism is no longer rewarded, doctor lawyer salaries are down, tuition is up, so it's hard for the poor hard worker to move up.

[GregKII]

My grandfather is currently the head of a fairly large sized company that his grandfather started in London, it's not bringing in billions of dollars or anything, but they are doing fairly well to the point where they have actual "jobs." My dad chose to become a surgeon because he had the resources (my grandfather's money). Although their money comes from the company, which is around 4 or 5 generations old, I don't know if I would classify it as old money, because while it brings in very sizable sums, they have large wealth, but we aren't SUPER-rich.

[jkom1f]

It's not the old money as much as the class level and connections. That is what is really important.

[SonOfSlobone]

I found a dollar bill I was using as a book mark in my copy of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, does that count?

[ibill1]

My grandfather came here from Italy and opened up Italian resturants in my home town. He built houses and paved all the roads in the village in Italy he and my grandmother grew up in. He paid cash to send my dad, his son, to Notre Dame. I guess you could call that old money, but little of it made it to me or my 4 brothers. Most of it went to the relatives in Italy.

[maxpowr9]

My mom's family sought exile from Poland during WWII in the US pretty much penniless. Her parents were factory workers and that didn't stop my mom and her sis going to reputable colleges and beyond.

If you have a strong work ethic, you can make a comfortable living for yourself regardless where you live. A good educational foundation helps too.

[Callum]

Personal Callum stuff in 3...2...1...

Money is awful. My extended family is largely composed of 'old Anglican money'. We have a few multi-millionaires, about a dozen lawyers/executives and Ivy-educated doctors. My family is of British banking origin, specifically London (we have a coat of arms somewhere)...so they didn't immigrate to Canada poor in the 1910s, but they're honestly all bat shit insane and I would trade them all in for fluffy puppies in a New York minute. Sharing the wealth is an alien concept to a majority of them.

My one aunt is a lesbian and poor, had breast cancer (due to her stain-glass work which is apparently toxic), required $3500 injections (twelve in total - OHIP didn't cover) and no one would help her because "she has to make her own money"/she's a lesbian.

Moreover, I'm the only child that doesn't receive large financial payouts (my brother's have cars, their rent paid, high school dropouts, one makes minimum wage, other is unemployed) because of my orientation, as my loving parents told me. I have to file for student loans despite having well-to-do parents, which makes my applications horribly awkward to file as they're usually denied to the humour of financial aid offices, no doubt...thank God I score scholarships.

I have one rich, famous cousin sitting on $42m (as of 2011) in Florida and he won't even communicate to anyone but his mother, acting as if everyone is after his money (we aren't).

I have no idea where it all went wrong. My family once owned endless hectares of land in Caledon, Ontario, which is very expensive real estate in Canada. They couldn't get along decades ago over taxes so the government came to collect. So now that wealthy half is in Alberta and I don't even know a single name. Family feuds are common, maybe, can't tell...no one talks to anyone.

Oh and I was institutionalized for attempted suicide in 2011 and my psychiatrist ended up being a great uncle, neither of us knew until afterward. God damn awkward to say the least and I think he ran his mouth after the fact. Isn't that illegal?! Geez!

So, yeah...I'll take a comfortable middle-income salary over the wealthy loose cannons, both old and new. The financial mind-fuck my family is is likely one of the reasons I'm so neurotic and clinically mentally ill. Sadly most of them are brilliant...so on the positive end I inherited brains.

[youngnihilist]

My mom's family sought exile from Poland during WWII in the US pretty much penniless. Her parents were factory workers and that didn't stop my mom and her sis going to reputable colleges and beyond.

If you have a strong work ethic, you can make a comfortable living for yourself regardless where you live. A good educational foundation helps too.

Don't think so. That was how things used to be. Now you can have a strong work ethic and education and be up to your ears in debt. Small business is now punished, education has gotten prohibitively expensive, and salaries are stagnant while cost of living goes up. People who are already from wealthy families will continue to be wealthy, but not at the level they used to be. The poor will have a nearly impossible time moving up to the rich - your best bet is middle class.

[yhtang]

So, yeah...I'll take a comfortable middle-income salary over the wealthy loose cannons, both old and new. The financial mind-fuck my family is is likely one of the reasons I'm so neurotic and clinically mentally ill. Sadly most of them are brilliant...so on the positive end I inherited brains.

Reading you post, I find you well adjusted and I think you will do well in any field you choose. Old money or gentrified background, I believe they are not necessary for you to succeed in your endeavours; I have no doubt you will do well under your own steam.

[SLOPPYSECONDS]

no think a miss it any a cm planet
above or unda ground

thankyou

[ShihTzuTylenol]

we are the wealthy poor...because we have one another...the pitiful poor lack that

I wonder if cavemen sat around talking about "old rocks?" or whatever it was they traded each other for stuff? Money is a made up thing. Old or new---it's ridiculous to play the "what if" game, you'll drive yourself mad. I've had a sugar daddy that came from old money and yes, it's fun to be showered with real jewelry and A-list clothes (I ♥ Armani [and that's a character flaw I assure you]), but at the end of the day one can only eat so much food and wear so many pairs of shoes and ride around in so many pewter gray Porsche 911's before one asks oneself "am I a whore?" ....and oneself goes, "fuck yeah bitch, don't blow this for me!"

In retrospect, moral standards are nothing but a burden



let me say this.....don't aspire to be superficial Jos, we adore you just the way you are precious...and honestly, the only true currency in this godless world is what we share with each other when we are poor and if you had old money, I submit--- you wouldn't be here...with us...the wealthy poor, and I, for one, would certainly miss you


GOD I've missed this place! wooohoooo! I'M BACK BITCHES!!! let the lectures begin hehe