Thoughts on Money

I think I can honestly say that I have never been very interested in money. In writing these words, I am aware that it is far easier for a retired person to take a lofty attitude towards the material world than it is for a younger active person, striving to make his way in the world and to bring up his family. I am aware, too, that my lack of ambition has been a source of anguish and unhappiness to my wife and my children over the years. I am happy and proud that they have all in their different ways succeeded in life but this does not blind me to the fact that they would have liked me to "succeed" more!

I think that, deep down, you cannot change the way you are, or at least only partially, and I know that my (relative) lack of interest in money is merely a symptom of my chronic laziness. What I do dislike, hate even, is the contempt shown by some rich people for those less fortunate than themselves, just as I abhor the morbid jealousy expressed by so many towards the better-off among us. After all, we are most of us rich compared to many others and almost all of us are poor compared to some others. There are many reasons for liking or disliking someone but surely his or her material status should not be among them.

Are these self-righteous ramblings leading anywhere? Well, they were prompted by the publication of the assets of the newly elected French President, François Hollande. From this we learn that these assets are valued at almost £1 million.

"As well as the spacious Paris apartment he shares with his lover Valerie Trierweiler, Mr Hollande owns a palatial villa in Mougins, the hill-top Cannes suburb where artist Pablo Picasso used to live.

It is valued by the Official Journal at 800,000 euros (£642,000), and is just a short drive from Hollande’s two flats close to the promenade in Cannes. They are priced at 230,000 euros (£185,000) and 140,000 euros (£112,000). Mr Hollande has promised to cut his pay by 30 per cent after he is officially sworn in as president next week, but he will still be on 156,000 (£125,000) a year, plus fabulous expenses and other perks."  Evening Standard

This hardly qualifies as obscene wealth and I don't for a moment begrudge M. Hollande his properties. Good luck to him, I say. What I do find a bit hard to stomach is his insistence on the record that he dislikes the rich. Unless I am completely detached from reality, I should think that most people here in France would consider him to be a member of the rich classes. Why are so many Socialists ashamed of their affluence? Is it schizophrenia or hypocrisy?

In my opinion, the American attitude to money is far healthier, and in the spirit of full disclosure I shall now announce to a breathless world details of our net worth. We own our house and live exclusively on my pension of roughly £1,800 per month. We also have savings of about £30,000 and that's it. Quite enough for a decent life, though I do worry that my wife would not have the same means if I should die before her.