Money, Money, Money

Money comes easily to some people.

It may be from the inheritance of a fortune, the germ of an idea that becomes an indispensable part of modern life, a piece of writing that captures the imagination of a generation, a natural skill that can be put to good exploitative use by others, stumbling across something valuable, from the proceeds of despicable crime or it is won in a game of chance or on the scratching away of a small sliver of silver.

I like one of the sayings attributed to the American multi millionaire J Paul Getty which shows a good attitude to and a wicked acceptance of his fantastic wealth, "Rise early, work hard, strike oil". On that mantra I can be severely criticised as performing only at just over 66% of my potential.

Money has always burnt a hole in my pockets and I find it very difficult to hold onto it for very long if at all. Not that I am upset or feel at a disadvantage by this trait. Indeed I have casually observed people with plenty of money whose main pursuit in life is not to lose it and this sadly produces much anxiety and stress that must serve to completely hamstring them from ever really enjoying the rewards of their endeavours, however it has been got.

It is often the case that the wealthiest are also the most cost conscious or what the rest of us refer to as tight. In the current but prolonged recession it is clear that around 85% of the nation is skint and retracting in their spending and confidence whilst the remaining percentage are cleaning up nicely, thank you very much, by being able to access cash or other funds. In adversity comes a determination to survive and resourcefullness and innovation emerge as a strong motivation. This may explain the upsurge in such operations as hand car washes, wheelie bin swiller outers and the chronically accident prone as customers for the sudden proliferation of accident lawyers.

Money can empower and faciltate great things but any reference to it still attracts derogatory and quite obscene terms. This is by no means a modern phenomena as early literature and drama refers in ribald and bawdy language throughout many centuries. My favourite term of 'filthy lucre' is reputed to have been a broad interpretation of a passage from the book of Leviticus by William Tyndale in his translation of the Bible in 1525.

It is clear that money can also cause great misery. Perhaps one of the best documented cases is that of Viv Nicholson. In 1961 there were few opportunities to win a lot of money but the main competition of the time was the football pools. I remember a regular caller to our house being the 'pools man' who would drop off and collect the weekly coupon. Talk about confusing to a young child. The form was ultra complex in its multiple boxes, permutations , red and black inkiness and it took a keen mathematical brain to work out how much had to be handed over in payment before the duplicate slip could be detached and propped up behind the clock on the mantelpiece. We never to my recollection won anything. Hopes were readily dashed by the dour voice at the end of the saturday football results if the pools forecast was poor or even moderate. Viv Nicholson won over £152,000 which in current monies equates to around £3 million. An unimaginable sum in the early sixties and with enough spending power to buy 306 standard Mini's or 54 average priced houses depending on whether you had an indoor toilet or not. Sadly a combination of personal tragedy, poor investments and the much coined 'Spend, Spend, Spend' approach did little for the rainy day account.

The prospect of winning £3 million pounds today may be met with cries of 'is that all?' because of the cheapening of money as a prize. Its easy availability to win with almost every commercial break on TV, on alternate pages of newspapers and glossy magazines or on the purchase of a lottery ticket means a much reduced perception of what is a life changing amount. We should just stand back and do a quick piece of mental arithmetic on how many years it would take of our current working income to reach such a figure. Adopting an average annual wage from the combined male and female figures makes it around 109 years.

The sight of Lottery winners is now so commonplace as to be overlooked as an event or to be acknowleged as good fortune. Some of the back stories of winners do attest to justice and entitlement but the majority do not.

Hard earned money by conventional and lawful means does have a special pedigree of its own. I can appreciate the dewy eyed sentiment of many who have trod this path that accumulating that first fortune was the best time of their lives.

I was told a great story in recent days about what having a nice amount of money can mean. It centres around a family from what was a hardcore coal mining town in South Yorkshire. A life downt' pit was replaced by a thriving business in the community which grew to multiple shops and consequential wealth. The matriarch of the family expressed delight to a long time friend in the town in announcing that they had just purchased a plane. As an indicator of sustainable wealth an aircraft is right up there with a yacht or overseas homes. It meant, above all, to the family that it now only took 20 minutes to get to Skegness. True class always shines through.