Don’t kid yourself.  They think differently from you or me.

Sure, there’s a few out there who actually remember what a dime looks like or have a few one dollar bills in their pocket.  But the obscenely wealthy, the upper one and two percentile?  Nah.  Someone takes care of that little stuff.

Money has an entirely different life about which we who don’t have it are unaware.  Doubt me?  Check Paul Ford’s last post at Ftrain.com.  He’s noticed, too.

There’s a kind of entre, invisible to us, that comes with real money; a secret cachet that allows access to places and things we know little about. 

Like lockers rooms with wool carpeting and marble tiling and custom carved walnut wood cabinetry with brass fittings, where men agree to launch new enterprises with a nod of the head and a handshake after a round of golf. 

Lunches of lobster salad garnished with sevruga chased by Plymouth martinis, written off because of a whispered exchange about strategic planning.

The help, known only by first name, hover quietly like hummingbirds, darting off with soiled napkins and decanting from nectar-filled crystal to crystal.

Money?  Hah.  They don’t exchange it.  They only exchange promises of capital: plastic-cards, business cards, sheafs of white paper backed in blue for execution in triplicate.

The large dark car pulls away quietly from the curb and it’s as if nothing happened; the conversation curbside continues unabated in the rear as the first-name only driver pilots their discourse to the next destination.

There are gestures that require practice for most of us to acquire, like actors: the ever-so-slight nod of the head at Christie’s, the non-look that says this drink needs refilling, the upward lift of the hand to dismiss anyone, anything…one’s palm is never up.

These people did not feel any differently four years ago than they do today.  They’ve only shifted asset allocations from illiquid to liquid to illiquid positions, onshore or offshore or back again.

Or at least one of the help saw to that.

8:29:36 PM    comment []

We have so much be thankful for this year, it's beyond recounting or measure.

No full time job here -- but time to think, unfettered by the politics of work.

No lack of fear -- but opportunity to meditate on that which we hold dear.

Challenges are plentiful; we're never afflicted with genuine ennui.

I hope your year has been as blessed; I hope that next year will be more so for all of us.

1:28:14 PM    comment []