What does it look like to be rich? My ideas of what being rich looks like have changed drastically within the last ten years. When I was in my mid-twenties earning twenty something a year I had a typical, two dimensional view of what money looked like. Fast cars, shopping trips, holidays to Saint Tropez, watches and jewellery. Basically living you’re out of a magazine. I took everything reality TV shows showed me at face value. If people have expensive things, it’s because they can afford expensive things and ergo must have money.

Now that I’ve seen a little more of the world and spent time with people who have the fast, shiny cars and international trips to 5* hotels specifically with the purpose of shopping in a new city, I’ve wised up a bit. The idea of what you can ‘afford’ is an interesting one which I’ve explored in another post.

I’m amazed at how many people would say they ‘afford’ a luxury item because they are able to put it on their credit card. If you have to pay with credit then you really can’t afford the Rolex, those Louboutins or that staycay. Just to be clear, I am definitely not talking about people who use credit cards but pay them off in full every month, I’m talking about people who rely on consumer debt to project a lifestyle which looks like wealth. It’s the kind of wealth which lacks depth. If you don’t look too closely it appears glamorous, frivolous and care-free. Rarely does it stand up to a closer examination. The people who make the biggest show of displaying wealth seem also to be the most affected by income changes. A missed bonus check, an unexpected redundancy, a big client moving to another city and suddenly they’re downsizing to a smaller apartment, selling the Jaguar and you hear on the grapevine that their cheques have been bouncing.

What does money look like? I don’t think anyone knows. But I am certainly far less inclined to think of those who like to flash their cash as wealthy. My first thought when I meet someone like that is to wonder how insecure their lifestyle is. People with those kind of spending impulses and who like to show off their riches 1) probably haven’t had money for very long and 2) probably don’t have the kind of spending and lifestyle habits to sustain the level of wealth that they’d like to project.