‘I am poor’ or ‘I don’t have that kind of money’. That is relative because I am still better off than most of India. There is nothing to fear. There is absolutely no expectation from you that is built into this statement…no loan that will not be repaid, nor a freebie or a gimme that stems from an entitlement syndrome. My relative poverty is neither a badge to flaunt nor something to be ashamed of. It is a simple statement of fact or my perception. It is the result of choices I have made and maybe ‘luck’ or some such undefinable factors in equal measure. While I am well adjusted to my economic conditions, I find many of the rich (relatively!) narcissistic and finding difficulty in interpersonal relationships with poorer relatives and friends from a time when the economic difference was not so pronounced.
old money/ new money behaviour is real and it exists, however, I think it is more about culture or the lack of it than money itself.
While I am comfortable in my economic status, I am also a social being, which brings to the fore comparisons by me or those around me and that can trigger an Adam/Eve moment about money!
