On 13/02/12 13:23, Cynic wrote:

Probably the biggest difference wrt quality of life is the ability of
the wealthy to employ servants to carry out the boring chores that
most people have to put up with - though again, having been in such a
position myself, there are plenty of downsides to having servants that
are not necessarily compensated for by losing the need to clean the
floors or do the washing-up. And these days many onerous tasks are
made a lot easier with affordable machines - heck, choose your clothes
wisely and you don't even have to use an iron all that often.

I think the biggest difference is the freedom from stress that comes
when not everything is a necessity. ie not being desperate to find a job
or worrying how to pay an unexpectedly high bill. But even those things
are relative: become accustomed to a certain standard of living and rate
of spending and adjustment to unexpected reduced circumstances can be
difficult whatever your position on an absolute scale of wealth. Living
up to your income is always unwise, but for the really poor they is no
margin to do otherwise..


--
djc