Upper class habits to stay rich

[publicsectorlife]

What habits do the upper class have to stay wealthy? What would they never buy that they would consider a waste of money?

Our household income is very good. But yet we seem to be haemorrhaging money with high mortgage, commuting and childcare costs.

But yet our friends with generational wealth (ie small mortgage) seem to be living such a different lifestyle with about 6 holidays a year.

We can’t do much about having no inherited wealth but I think we must be missing a trick.

I think they do four things:
They preserve wealth for the next generation.

They build a portfolio of income-producing assets over time.
They financially educate their children.

Excess consumption is frowned upon.

The most important thing they drill into their DC is to marry the right person. Nothing is more debilitating financially long term, than marrying the wrong person.

Was told one yesterday, someone (a very long term friend with expertise) volunteered to check over something for friend, then sent them an invoice!!!!

I've been pointing out to my husband that the vintage furniture shop by us is selling furniture without chipboard, with proper fixings, and that will last another hundred years easily.

Not so our pine offerings at home.

I find a good tip with family silver and antiques is to use the stuff of your grandparents generation, and to box up your parents stuff and store it in a dry stable or something.

To you it will look old fashioned and dowdy. To your children it will look traditional and stylish.

I wonder what the etiquette is if you are UC and don't like the 500 year old bookcase you are going to inherit? What if you prefer an IKEA Billy instead?

Put it in the housekeepers sitting room.

I love this. What a lovely insight into different textiles & a window to what feels like another time. Just your descriptions of the monograms & quality & care taken over what is becoming so disposable & soul less.

I don’t think this post fits the thread at all, all the UC and UMC people I have met are very generous with their time.

When my daughter bought her first home she rummaged through the loft and took a couple of pairs of nice curtains, a cream Habitat dinner service for 8 plus a cutlery set and a sofa bed plus various bits that we had stored over the years including some Ercol chairs. That was 5 years ago and she is still using it all. She also avoided the car finance route.

She is canny with her money and through her line of work has come across both old money and new money so to speak. She recognises the difference in spending between the two sensing that in some cases new money will not last as long as old due to their spending habits. It only takes divorce or job loss to impact new money.

Unfortunately a friend’s sister who would be classified as new money has just divorced and though she left with £2 million which is still a huge amount of money for most, she knows she has to change her spending habits otherwise she will start to burn through that money quickly. My friend is sad for sister of course but also sad that the ‘treats’ she received will not be to the same quantity or value.

Having a passive income

When income rises don’t automatically spend it on the next best thing related to lifestyle- building saving and investments even from small lump sums

Quite a few of them lost all their money investing in the railways and farming land amongst other things - you only see the successful ones so you’re inclined to think they know something special - maybe they do and maybe they’ve just been building on good luck, investments went their way.

That’s interesting because n look at their houses as and the excessive way they were decorated and the excessive way they entertained would suggest they were quite happy with excessive consumption - it was only when they money started to run out across the board for the UC that excessive consumption became poor - which is perfectly reasonable - don’t spend more than you have.

At my school having an old faded uniform was cool, no one wanted a new - they were seen as hideous things that were too bright and stiff. A thread bare uniform was the object of desire! We didn’t have second hand sales so it was often quite tricky to get hold of a hand me down. Even the leather school had to be old and battered.

Conversely the only true upper class person I knew ( ancestor was one of Wellington’s generals, big country house in West Country, home in London ) was obsessed with money because he didn’t have much and feared not being able to keep the big house. Tattered clothes, cycled everywhere, very rarely went abroad.

@verybighouseinthecountry could you list some of the podcasts please?

The best one IMO is Morgan Housel, he is the author of Psychology of money. There are lots of videos that will come up on YouTube if you put in 'old money habits' that explain how the old money keeps it, because they don't spend for the sake of it.