The Very Rich

Dear Steve,

Multi-millions these days is not remarkable in the way it once was. Many farmers own land that is already worth many millions. I am related to such people!

I suspect it is an issue of individual philosophy among those very rich people,who you are dealing with more than actually how much they are worth.

There are miserable agricultural workers and very nice multi-millionaire farmers, and the other way round.

My late Norwegian grandfather was not in anyway associated with farming and was the wealthiest man I have ever known well. He was an absolute gent. He treated his staff with utter kindness, and they were prone to working their whole lives in the business. He was well respected in business, and though he could be very hard in dealings, he said to me that hard is one thing, but being unfair or dishonest was altogether another.

There are alsorts out there, rich or poor.

ATB from George

Yes. There are 5 self-made millionaires who frequent my local. 3 are totally free from any affectation and you would not know they had any money. The other 2 are right pains in the arse and have a "I am considerably richer than you" attitude.

I needed to get an early item from the Harmony Kingdom, now, collectables range signed by the designer so that I could sell it for a ludicrous amount of money.

I was embarrassed to ask this but the owner arranged to meet me at his factory over a weekend. He'd started making little figurines when a bad back ended his work as a shepherd and the business had expanded greatly since then.

He remembered my friend, a Bath retailer who had bought some of his earliest designs, and we chatted for a while. He signed the Panda and then gave me am old, unreleased model which he was about to put on the market. I was charmed but explained that I was uncomfortable accepting it as my financial circumstances meant that I would end up selling it and that didn't seem right.

He had no problem with that and even told me how best to do this.

While this was generous in itself, the greater impression from our relaxed conversation was of a man who had worked hard, employed many local people, taken his money and 'looked after' the needs of his nearest and now looked to enjoy the fruits of his success - in ways which seemed at ease with his personality.

Sometimes Hemingway had it right:

"Fitzgerald: The rich are different than you and me.

Hemingway: Yes, they have more money."

That said, having more money can make the world a different place.

Dear Mr Purity,

I would say that generosity is quite surprisng in its distribution. Sometimes one is surprised by a mean streak in a person who one once thought a kindly sort, and other times one finds someone - though to be hard as nails - who is actually the heart of generosity.

It seems quite unrelated in my experience to the actual wealth of individuals.

ATB from George

The Kadoorie brothers in Hong Kong.

They were very decent people and great Philanthropists. Michael Kadoorie is carrying on where his parents and Uncle left off. He was a great guy when i knew him.

David

Dear Graeme,

I was only explaining to a friend in email a few minutes ago that I sometimes forget naimes on the Naim Forum these day! I am very sorry for that mistake, especially when it is written in black and grey right in front of my nose. Sorry. No offence intended.

ATB from George

I recently read the Steve Jobs' biography.

I thought Bill Gates came out of it well.

You cannot be upset by loosing something - if you have nothing to loose in the first place - but if as a very wealthy person you see massive losses on comodities or stcks [or whatever your money is tied up in], then yes I imagine it might get quite stressfull!

I remember a cousin of mine being somewhat upset by a drop in price of early potatoes from £110 per tonne to £80 in a day. Well if you had 100 acres with a reasonable crop of 10 tonnes per acre, then you might be forgiven for being slightly distracted. 100 x 10 x £30 = £30,000 change of fortune in a single day. Most working people cannot earn that sort of money in a couple of years let alone loose it in a day. Imagine this on a much more massive scale and one can see the stresses of the mega-rich!

I am not saying it excuses rudeness or whatever, but it might help explain the occasional example of it.

It is my experience that poor people can be just as effortlessly unpleasant on their day as well.

ATB from George

Dear Greame,

I think that your point has something in it as well. I don't suppose such people as the owner of Chelsea Football Club got to where he is today by being a meek and mild lamb!

I have never met the man, so I cannot possibly say if he is gentle in person, but there is often something very determined about those who amass very large fortunes in a half-lifetime let's say.

In reality there is often an arrogance that is prevalent not just in the immensely rich from time to time, but also in those who form parts of the political elite [as they see themselves], and can manifest itself in a disdain for those they see as being "less important" than themselves, and as such the laws and standards of behaviour that guide all our lives may be ignored in a way that can hardly be excused as being the result of a difficult situation financially. Celebrity culture seems to breed something similar in those famous for being nothing more than famous!

Most of us, who are more normally blessed with less income and capital perhaps [or celebritiy status], are like that because we are more meek, which might sustain your observation in part at least - IMO.

But there are nice and nasty at all economic, political and celebrity levels. The trouble with the rich and powerful is that the law does work differently for them compared to us normal Joes. I am sure that is true.

ATB from George 

As you get older, you suddenly realise that you have got meek even if it was never an ambition!

Just speaking for myself that is! But others may have found it as well. I have certainly observed it in some, if not all, my friends [most marked in my very best friends I suppose], even those quite a bit younger than myself! I don't just put that down to my personal magnetism [haha!], though I do hope that I have been a guide for my younger friends at least on times. Do you know this exchange is a bit like a real face to face conversation between friends actually!

This forum is very good sometimes! Thanks.

ATB from George

Dear John,

If only!

But the Kingdom of Heaven doth beckon ...

ATB from George