History Main / OldMoney

They tend to display their wealth in SimpleYetOpulent ways, in contrast to the ConspicuousConsumption of the NouveauRiche. Given the opportunity, however, they might dust off some kind of heirloom that one of their ancestors acquired on or for an important occasion in their family's history. They are often IdleRich, but sometimes will get a job they don't really need to avoid RichBoredom. Of course, sometimes making sure their fortune isn't frittered away by incompetent underlings or their own {{Inadequate Inheritor}}s is a full-time job in and of itself.

* In ''Kiss the Boys Good-bye'' by Clare Boothe, Cindy Lou Bethany is proud of belonging to a "very old Southern family," and freely boasts of having such fine old families among her relatives as the Albemarles, Covingtons and Culpepers.

** Lady Sybil is ''very'' old money; she is in fact the richest woman in Ankh-Morpork. Through a combination of simple tastes and old stuff never wearing out, she also manages to never spend money on personal items. She is, however, very generous to various charities including a dragon sanctuary and a hospital.

They tend to display their wealth in SimpleYetOpulent ways, in contrast to the ConspicuousConsumption of the NouveauRiche. They are often IdleRich, but sometimes will get a job they don't really need to avoid RichBoredom. Of course, sometimes making sure their fortune isn't frittered away by incompetent underlings or their own {{Inadequate Inheritor}}s is a full-time job in and of itself.

* In the ColdWar thriller ''Literature/TheWidowOfDesire'', Natalie Stuart is a New York socialite who marries a [[PrettyInMink Russian furrier and helps him start a business selling coats to her peers]]. He even brags that a coat he gives her (although posthumously) would be too grand for one of her "junior league lunches". Also, when one of her friends asked if her family came in on the Mayflower, she said they were Scottish Presbyterians who had their own boat.

* ''VideoGame/StarCraft'', part of the backstory is that the Terran Conferacy's government was controlled by the Old Families, rich and powerful descendants from the original colonists that founded the Confederacy. When Arcturus Mengsk and the Sons of Korhal overthrow the Confederacy, the Old Families don't survive the power shift.

* On ''Series/{{Bones}}'' Hodgens is a ConspiracyTheorist who believes the Old Money families secretly control the world. And he should know - he's the scion of one of the most monied Old Money families in the world.

-->''"I made my money the old-fashioned way; I inherited it."''

They tend to display their wealth in SimpleYetOpulent ways, in contrast to the ConspicuousConsumption of the NouveauRiche. They are often IdleRich, but sometimes will get a job they don't really need to avoid RichBoredom. Of course, sometimes making sure their fortune isn't frittered away by incompetent underlings is a full-time job in and of itself.

* All of the Great Houses of ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' count, but the best example is the Lannisters, who control the richest gold mines in Westeros and have been known for their wealth since Lann the Clever [[NoodleIncident swindled their ancestral castle from House Casterly]].

* Discussed in ''Literature/MakingMoney'' with the Lavishes, who are this. Moist is pretty snarky about the fact that a long-distant plundering ancestor becomes a LovableRogue and a license to look down on the NouveauRiche, who probably got their money through some disgraceful method like honest work and inventiveness. He calls it out quite loudly near the end, naming their family founders as pirates and slavers.

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* Discussed in ''Literature/MakingMoney'' with the Lavishes, who are this. Moist is pretty snarky about the fact that a long-distant plundering ancestor becomes a LovableRogue and a license to look down on the NoveauRiche, who probably got their money through some disgraceful method like honest work and inventiveness. He calls it out quite loudly near the end, naming their family founders as pirates and slavers.

* ''Film/XMen'': Charles Xavier was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He lives in a very BigFancyHouse, there are servants (a maid is mentioned), and his mother is a snobby British {{Socialite}} who thinks so highly of herself that she never enters the kitchen of her own home.

* In the ColdWar thriller ''The Widow of Desire'', Natalie Stuart is a New York socialite who marries a [[PrettyInMink Russian furrier and helps him start a business selling coats to her peers]]. He even brags that a coat he gives her (although posthumously) would be too grand for one of her "junior league lunches". Also, when one of her friends asked if her family came in on the Mayflower, she said they were Scottish Presbyterians who had their own boat.

* All of the Great Houses of ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' count, but the best example is the Lannisters, who control the richest gold mines in Westeros and have been known for their wealth since Lann the Clever swindled their ancestral castle from House Casterly.

The thing about wealth is that it tends to have a sort of inertia to it. It's hard to gain, but once you have it, it takes some doing to lose it. Having the resources to invest, or what Marx called the "means of production," means that it's easier to keep what you have and even make more. And what do you do with all that when you're old and gray? Pass it on to your children, of course. "Old money" refers to families that have been wealthy for many generations and maintain their lifestyle through stewardship of an existing family fortune.

* Jay Sherman of ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic'' was adopted by an old money family. His mother, Elenor, after persuading her biological daughter Margo to attend the debutante ball, tried to hook Margo up on a date with a guy who was so old money that he had actual blue blood.

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