Chapter 260: Classes Of Elite (Post This Second) (2/2)
”How much did you bring?” asked Gair, looking at the five gold mountains that reached the ceiling, with a sixth one in progress.
”I'm pretty sure we sent the exact amount, didn't you get it?”
”I leave that sort of stuff to my people. I pay them for a reason.”
”This room's just big enough; when I'm done, there'll be barely enough to walk around.”
”How did you get this much money, kid? When I was your age, I would lose my mind if someone gave me a couple of galleons?”
”I took it from a man who didn't need it anymore.”
”Seriously?”
”Don't worry, he's dead.. . and short, he's short.”
”.. .”
.
- (Scene Break) -
.
Outside the vault, Helena and Alexia peered inside at the gold coins spraying out with a sculpture coming out once in a while.
”That's a lot of money,” Alexia said with fingers touching her parted lips, ”and all of that is Quinn's, and his alone?”
”That seems to be the case,” said Helena with surprise on her face. She knew about another account in Monolith that gained royalty amounts from various West products.
”Wow, that's a lot for someone Quinn's age,” said Alexia, wondering what it would be like to have that much money.
”Yet that's not even the tip of the iceberg that is West's wealth,” said Helena.
Alexia nodded. She usually worked in the finance department and knew the amount of money processed through the thousands of transactions every day.
Helena shook her head when she saw Alexia's nod. ”No, even the amount we handle here is the true extent of the West's wealth. It's just one part of it — a big part of their European business, but not the true view of wealth.
Do you know there exists a class even among the uber-rich?”
”Eh,” Alexia uttered in confusion, ”a class.. . in those people, I don't understand.”
”Even I didn't understand it before I reached a certain point in my career,” said Helena. ”But there are three classes of uber-rich — the lower class, the middle class, and the upper class.”
Alexia furrowed her brows. ”I.. . I don't understand. Aren't people or families with that much money.. . just rich?”
”They are rich, with more money they would need in their lifetimes, there isn't any doubt in that, but that doesn't mean that all of them are equal,” said Helena. ”The lower class are the people who have their wealth tied into one business; for example, if all of West wealth was tied into MagiFax, then they'd be of the lower class of uber-rich.”
”Why is that lower class? Isn't MagiFax huge? My mother said that it changed how things happened in her company.”
”Yes, MagiFax is revolutionary, but that makes West wealth limited to MagiFax. If, for some reason, MagiFax became obsolete because something better came along, or if the MagiFax services deteriorated, then the worth of the business would crash, and that would reduce the wealth of the company.”
While Alexia couldn't see MagiFax failing, she nodded at the hypothetical situation. ”Then how do you resolve that?” she asked.
”You become a middle class of uber-rich,” said Helena as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
”.. . Madam Berenberg.”
”Don't look at me like that; let me explain, and it will make sense,” said Helena chuckling. ”Middle class of uber-rich is when you don't put all your eggs in one basket. When a person's wealth doesn't come from one source, but from many different sources.”
”Oh! I understand!” said Alexia, her voice causing Helena to lean away a bit. ”West family is middle class, aren't they? They have so many businesses, so even if one of them fails, the rest of the business would still bring in the money, so they don't have to worry about losing all their wealth as it is distributed.”
Alexia recalled MagiFax, MLE, Lunar Developer, which were just the latest, and there were so many more industries that West had been operating in for decades.
”Right on the bell, you're correct,” said Helena. ”The middle-class uber-rich don't have to worry as their wealth is so widely distributed that even if they lose many of their business, they would be secured. The middle-class uber-rich have seemingly unlimited amounts of cash; they can have huge political influence if they choose to exercise their power, and their wealth continues to accumulate no matter how hard they try to give it away.”
Helena was sure that when it came to pure business, no one had a better positioning than Wests as they were not only diversified through industries, they were diversified through countries, which provided them a layer of diversification that was quite unparalleled in the magical communities.
”But you're wrong in one thing, Alexia,” said Helena. ”Wests aren't a middle class; they are of the upper class of uber-rich.”
By now, Ixquic had scooted near the two ladies to listen to the interesting talk.
”The upper class are the true old money elite that has been wealthy for generations. They are royals or nobility or from a lineage of wealth that extends back to recorded history. They don't own companies; they own countries. They are Saudi royals, or Russian oligarchs, or European nobility, or American old money. These people don't use banks like Monolith or hire people like us who manage their wealth for them. Why? Because their wealth is much harder to quantify. You can work out business value quite easily, and there you have it, the worth of a lower class or upper class.
”But upper class don't hold wealth like this,” Helena chuckled. ”Imagine having a nation's national treasury as their bank balance. They directly own state enterprises that aren't open for the general public to buy. They might own the very land the country was built on. Need some money to spend? Write a letter to the country's treasury department, and the nation will personally become your walking wallet.
”These families' wealth is also highly stable because they are so well-diversified, and the only way to make them broke is to bring down an entire country. As for political influence? They either pull the strings from the shadows or are directly head of the state.”
Alexia seemed blown away. ”But why haven't I heard of such people?”
”Because they try their hardest to stay hidden. People like these are backward or poor countries, and it wouldn't look good if you are spending money when your country is struggling with poverty,” explained Helena. ”But have you head of Abates of Italy?”
”Lia's mother's family?” said Alexia.
”Yes, they're a family that has been there before Italy was established. They might not have power in the muggle part of the country, but when it comes to the magical part, there's nothing bigger than Abate in the country. They, like the Wests, run a few businesses, and even these businesses might be on a decline; that's just a front that the family runs to do something. Even if all those businesses went down, it wouldn't affect Abates one it.”
”Then.. . the West?” asked Ixquic, speaking for the first time.
Helena looked at the silent girl, ”It was around the same time your boss started to work with the Wests when the then family's head started to invest in poorer countries. Under his rule, Wests essentially brought out magical parts of those countries and rose from your standard middle-class to upper-class.
”His next-generation solidified the position. George West, who came after the solidification, chose to focus on actual business as those countries could be left alone to grow and only required guidance once in a while. His son, Adam West, ventured into the muggle world, but that halted because of his untimely death. Lia West, the next in line, seems to focus on the magical world because of the recent influx of new innovative products.
”Though her younger brother,” Helena pointed to Quinn inside the vault, ”Quinn West seems to have asked for someone who'd help him invest his newly gained wealth into the muggle world. It seems that Wests are going to gain another layer of diversification with this new generation.”
The three, who all worked for Wests, looked at the West inside, still spewing gold, witnessing a part of the lineage bigger than they seemed and only truly known to those with elite status or those in the right places.
.
-*-*-*-*-*-
.
Quinn West - MC - You love gold? I have mountains of it.
Idris Gair - Part-owner of Monolith - Oh boy, that mountain looks like it's about to fall.. . on me.
Helena Berenberg - Search her surname - Phew, that was a lot speaking.
FictionOnlyReader - Author - So yeah, there are classes of billionaires (I couldn't use billionaires, so I used uber-rich.)
.
-*-*-*-*-*-
.
If you have any ideas regarding the magic you want to see in this fiction or want to offer some ideas regarding the progression. Move onto the DISCORD Server and blast those ideas.
The link is in the synopsis!