Talking About Money

Wealth - any income that is at least one hundred dollars more a year than the income of one's wife's sister's husband.
- H. L. Mencken

Some folks rail against other folks, because other folks have what some folks would be glad of.
- Henry Fielding

Money is power, freedom, a cushion, the root of all evil, the sum of blessings.
- Carl Sandburg

I was taught it’s impolite to talk about money.  The goal of that social norm is probably less about preserving social harmony than about avoiding the discord of social hierarchy.  When how much money you have and how much money I have are secret, we can co-exist as equals.  But when I learn you have more than I do, or vice versa, an overt hierarchy is born.  Comparatively, perhaps becoming competitively, one of is one-up.  The other is one-down.

I have written and spoken openly of my desire for my company to be a contributor to regional economic development and was even called out to specify my vision.  Part of that vision includes fostering an entrepreneurial culture. 

With the growth of an entrepreneurial culture rich with ideas and companies comes the need for investors to grow start-ups into enterprises.  While secrecy is often the norm in networks of investors, someone knows who’s in, and some declare themselves openly.

Annie Johnson, writing for the Blue Ridge Business Journal in On a Quest for Capital, details the context of the state of angel investment and venture capital investment in central and southwest Virginia.  Several investors she interviews share the terms of the deals they've done. 

To that we add this data on Handshake 2.0: To be an accredited angel investor, one requirement can be that an individual has a net worth of one million dollars.

As of the last census, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 43% of household incomes in Blacksburg, Virginia were below the poverty line.

A few up.  A lot down.

It’s time to talk about money.

May the risk to our social harmony from outing our social hierarchy be worth the reward.