budget Archives - Vivian Lawry

*I have to work very hard not to spend all my money (and time) one books.*

Money, money, money! It touches nearly every aspect of a person’s/character’s life—and deserves conscious decision making.

*Does owning an entire city count as filthy rich?*

How much money? These are not scientific or economic terms, rather, the sorts of terms people use to describe themselves and/or others. The actual dollar amounts associated with the descriptors may vary. What would you/your character say? Point of information: people tend to make finer distinctions closest to where they peg themselves, lumping the extremes into bigger chunks.

*Being penniless isn’t so bad when there are open barrels of food everywhere.*

Penniless
Poverty stricken
Poor
Lower middle class
Middle class
Upper middle class
Well off
Rich
Filthy rich

*I’ve also seen income level defined by preferred fast food options. The scale ranges from Going to AA Meetings for Coffee, through Taco Bell and Chipotle, all the way up to Whatever the Private Chef Makes.

*Social attitudes toward shopkeepers often depends on the quality of merchandise.*

Source(s) of income: Note that respect for various sources of income varies widely. This often translates into treating people differently.

*Musicians playing in a bar are often treated differently from musicians playing in a symphony hall, though their incomes are often almost identical.*

Begging or panhandling
Gambling
Theft of various sorts, with or without another source
Illegal activities
SSI disability
Medicare/Medicaid
Hourly wage
Entertainment, anything from a classical pianist to an exotic dancer
By the job/ piecework
Having multiple jobs
Salary
Salary plus bonuses
Stocks/bonds, dividends/interest
Trust funds
Family loans/gifts

Stability/predictability/security of income: Obviously, stability has implications for mental health and life stress. Money can’t buy happiness, but it certainly makes achieving stability somewhat easier.

*Some people value experience and travel more than money, making a living on the road, feeling the wind in their fur… er… hair.*

*Assassins are generally exempt from income and property taxes, though sales tax may still apply.*

Thoughts on taxes: This could be the modern IRS, but the same questions could just as easily be applied to citizens providing magic spells or Zygloxans giving helium globules to the Grand Tyrant on Planet YT-3H81.

Taking fewer payroll deductions than allowed in order to assure a tax refund vs. planning to owe and have the use of the money in the meantime
Being willing to pay taxes or looking for ways to avoid paying them
Finding quasi-legal or outright illegal methods to get out of paying taxes
Carefully accounting for every expenditure or estimating
Moral objections to the use of taxes (such as Thoreau)

Attitude toward money: Not necessarily related to amount of income.