WEALTH

Two regency ladies o the point of kissing

There are two ways to look at how wealthy a person is - how much they inherit and how much ready money they have. Obviously, the wealthier a person is the better a marriage prospect, but at the same time inherited money passed down through families by owning estates is clearly superior to making a fast fortune in trade.

N.B. Character Wealth will be defined by the game runners- you will indicate the sort of person you want to be, and we will create a suitable level of wealth.

The estate which is split between the entail, which passes to your heir and the dower, which will be split between all other children. The capital of this money cannot be spent, but it will earn 6% interest a year which can be lived on.
- The entail must be passed on to their heir;
- The dower is split between all their other children.

Ready money split between fortune and debt.
- Fortune is money that you can spend freely in your lifetime. You could use it to purchase estates and livings for those around you, or you could fritter it away at the gambling table. All characters will be given a supply of money for the evening proportional to their fortune.
  When the head of the family can afford it, they often give allowances or gifts of money to younger family members.
- Debt is money you owe either to banks or to other people. All characters can easily borrow the entire value of their estate, or any estate they are likely to inherit. You may have both debts and fortune, indicating you are someone living beyond their means on borrowed wealth.
  At your death, all debts are paid off from your fortune, with any outstanding coming then your estate. Diminishing your estate in this way is a great scandal, as are large debts in general.

Heirs

Your heir does not have to be related to you, or even younger than you. There is even a current trend of the upper classes adopting in because they don’t want to undergo the risks of childbirth - although some of the older generations think this is shirking their duty and diluting the blood of the peerage. You might adopt a close relative as soon as they are born, bring them into your household and raise them as your own child. Or you might tour local schools looking for a bright and able teenager.

His mother explained to him her liberal designs, in case of his marrying Miss Morton;
told him that she would settle on him the Norfolk estate, which, clear of land-tax,
brings in a good thousand a-year; offered even, when matters grew desperate,
to make it twelve hundred.
Sense and Sensibility

Scale of Wealth (per couple)

It is assumed that inheritances make 5% a year in the Funds (Government Bonds).

NB: Wealth of below £2000 a year will not sustain a couple in the sufficient style to remain in high society.

For an appropriate sense of scale

1d will buy enough gin to get drunk for an evening (240d make £1)

1s will buy a yard of white cotton (24s make £1)

£1 will buy a yard of silk or a printed book.

£50 will hire a single servant for a year, rent a medium-sized house in Cheapside, or buy a year’s worth of coal.

£80 will buy a pair of coach horses or a painted portrait

£100 would cover the costs of a middle-class child for a year

£200 would buy a complete ball outfit

£400 an expensive marble fireplace

£700 would buy a commission in the army as an Ensign, for a salary of £300 a year

£2000 would buy a living in the church of £400 a year.

£6500 would buy a commission in the army as a Colonel, for a salary of £3000 a year.

£8000 would buy and furnish you a grand house in the fashionable Brunswick Square in London.

£50000 would buy you an estate worth £2000 a year in rent

"Elinor, for shame!" said Marianne; "money can only give happiness where there is nothing else to
give it. Beyond a competence, it can afford no real satisfaction, as far as mere self is concerned."

"Perhaps," said Elinor, smiling, "we may come to the same point. Your competence and

my wealth are very much alike, I dare say; and without them, as the world goes now,
we shall both agree that every kind of external comfort must be wanting.
Your ideas are only more noble than mine. Come, what is your competence?"

Pride without Prejudice

13th Nov 2021

Wealth

Heirs

His mother explained to him her liberal designs, in case of his marrying Miss Morton;
told him that she would settle on him the Norfolk estate, which, clear of land-tax,
brings in a good thousand a-year; offered even, when matters grew desperate,
to make it twelve hundred.
Sense and Sensibility

Scale of Wealth (per couple)

"Elinor, for shame!" said Marianne; "money can only give happiness where there is nothing else to
give it. Beyond a competence, it can afford no real satisfaction, as far as mere self is concerned."

"Perhaps," said Elinor, smiling, "we may come to the same point. Your competence and

my wealth are very much alike, I dare say; and without them, as the world goes now,
we shall both agree that every kind of external comfort must be wanting.
Your ideas are only more noble than mine. Come, what is your competence?"

"About eighteen hundred or two thousand a year; not more than that."

Elinor laughed. "Two thousand a year! One is my wealth! I guessed how it would end."

Sense and Sensibility

Wealth

Heirs

His mother explained to him her liberal designs, in case of his marrying Miss Morton; told him that she would settle on him the Norfolk estate, which, clear of land-tax, brings in a good thousand a-year; offered even, when matters grew desperate, to make it twelve hundred. Sense and Sensibility

Scale of Wealth (per couple)

"Elinor, for shame!" said Marianne; "money can only give happiness where there is nothing else to give it. Beyond a competence, it can afford no real satisfaction, as far as mere self is concerned."

"Perhaps," said Elinor, smiling, "we may come to the same point. Your competence and

my wealth are very much alike, I dare say; and without them, as the world goes now, we shall both agree that every kind of external comfort must be wanting. Your ideas are only more noble than mine. Come, what is your competence?"

"About eighteen hundred or two thousand a year; not more than that."

Elinor laughed. "Two thousand a year! One is my wealth! I guessed how it would end."

Sense and Sensibility

His mother explained to him her liberal designs, in case of his marrying Miss Morton;
told him that she would settle on him the Norfolk estate, which, clear of land-tax,
brings in a good thousand a-year; offered even, when matters grew desperate,
to make it twelve hundred.
Sense and Sensibility

"Elinor, for shame!" said Marianne; "money can only give happiness where there is nothing else to
give it. Beyond a competence, it can afford no real satisfaction, as far as mere self is concerned."

my wealth are very much alike, I dare say; and without them, as the world goes now,
we shall both agree that every kind of external comfort must be wanting.
Your ideas are only more noble than mine. Come, what is your competence?"