Could Mr. Bennet Have Saved Money For His Daughters?

Could Mr. Bennet have saved money for his daughters?

I am the sort of person who hears that girls would have so many thousand in their fortunes (JA never uses the word “dowry”, fun fact) and I cannot understand how someone with £2000/year makes a £3000 pound lump sum for their daughter. Because my brain doesn’t math very well inside itself. So I made up some tables to see what Mr. Bennet could have done if he was prudent.

First, let’s be realistic, how much can they save? I am giving three different scenarios, £25, £50, and £100 per annum per daughter. £100 each I think might be a little high, since their income is £2000 a year, that would be 25% of their income! I think £50 is well within reason, that would be only £250 per annum and therefore 12% of their income.

I did both 4% and 5% interest. These are both government bonds. I know that both are mentioned in Jane Austen’s works. The 4% might be safer and a better investment for a dowry. But there isn’t a huge difference. Anyway, here is Jane’s dowry, over 21 years:

Even if they saved only £50/year, Jane now has almost £2000 as a dowry. It’s not the £10k worthy of a baronet, but that is certainly a good start! 

If the Bennets tried hard and save £100 per year, she has almost £4000, which is what her mother brought to the marriage. Even the modest £25 per year would give the girls £1000 each by their 21st birthday, which if their father died would be combined with the £1000 stipulated in the marriage articles and give them a comfortable income. Even John Dashwood acknowledges in Sense & Sensibility that increasing his half-sister’s fortunes from £1000 to £2000 would make a big difference in their comfort (and then he doesn’t do it because he and his wife are the worst).

An alternative plan would be to put aside the £4000 that Mrs. Bennet brought into the marriage and only reinvest that income. It does seem that the mother’s money was often locked up in a “life interest” and then given to the children, which is true for the Bennets as well. Just saving the initial £4000 and never adding to it except re-investing the income would have yielded around  £11,00, or £2200 for each daughter.

Also, I really want to know how the son plan would have worked in the first place. Like Mr. Bennet Jr. is going to agree to break the entail and sell off a bunch of his inheritance, when he could just keep the entail and then get the whole pie? Or was the plan just to burden his own son with the care of a mom and five sisters? Not clear. Probably also a bad plan.

If you are @ed, do you need to respond?

Not at all! To @ someone is simply to open the door to potential conversations, or to let someone know about a post you made, or saw. If you are @ -ed, you don't need to respond unless you want to. There is no more obligation in being @ -ed, than there is in responding to a topic of conversation in real life.

The primary difference is that in real life you might need to change the subject, whereas online you simply need not respond.

I personally don't expect responses to @ -s or asks, it's always nice, but there's a number of reasons why someone might not answer and I only ask if I think it was because tumblr dropped my ask. Which happens a decent amount, but otherwise I'm not concerned.

Obviously I can only speak for myself, but if someone does @ you, you are not obligated to respond.

do you take requests?

It depends on the request. 😀 Any ideas can be asked for. But it might take me a while to get to said requests.

And there are a few that I probably just won't want to do. But all requests are welcome. 🙂

(I am going on the assumption you're asking about xiaolin showdown since that's the only fandom I'm in at this time. 😆)

Omi, seeing a terrifying shadow pass over him in the middle of the night: AHHHH- Oh, it's just you, Chase Young... *rolls over and goes back to sleep*

Hey there. Sorry for bringing up an old post of yours since I was scrolling through tumblr on Chase & Omi mentor/protege relationship stuff. I saw your ask replies on favorite scene of Chase and Omi way back, and I could think for me at least why Chase has something personal against Raimundo. During Saving Omi, Raimundo's breakdown in his fight with Heylin!Omi, crying in both desperation and plea for the other to snap out. This short moment was that pivotal moment in making Heylin!Omi hesitating in dealing the finishing blow to Raimundo. And also, Raimundo rashly yet boldly charged towards Chase when the latter insisted Omi would remain here with him, declaring Omi would come home with them... Somehow seems to angered Chase enough to go into his draconic form to bite him off in half. So, there's still a bit of strong animosity hatred between them for what I've seen.

Hey there! My sincere apologies for taking so long! Life called and life takes priority.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Chase had animosity for Raimundo in particular.

In my own opinion, Raimundo isn't a particularly honorable person. That's not to say he has no honor, of course. I have no doubt he'd die to save his loved ones, and he'd die for what's right if that was the only option left.

But beyond that? I think Rai is a deeply flawed young man, just as all the other Xioalin Dragons are, it's part of what makes them interesting. But his flaws lean him more towards morally grey areas. I think it comes naturally for him to put his own interests first, then his loved ones and then what's right.

Him fighting against those instincts is an interesting character plot.

But I think his flaws are what make him both uninteresting and infuriating to Chase.

Raimundo has talent, he's willing to put in the work, he's underhanded and sneaky and a liar and a hypocrite. And he is consistently favored over Omi.

Omi has his own flaws which I won't get into for this post, but he's also a genuinely honorable person. He has a strong work ethic, he is talented and works hard to level his raw talent into unparalleled skill. His loyalty is unquestionable, unlike Raimundo.

And it extends to Raimundo. Even as Raimundo is favored over Omi, unfairly so. (I include the other monks in this as well, because they're all given more priority by Fung than Omi is.)

Omi is neglected and overlooked and passed over by the very people who raised him. Who should care for him more than anything. They put Rai in the spotlight, consistently downplaying Omi and lifting up Rai.

And yet, it's Rai who makes Omi hesitate. It's Rai Omi looks up to the most even as they're rivals. It's Rai that Omi gives his loyalty to, even when not following Rai might actually be better for Omi.

I think that there is a dynamic between Rai and Omi that Chase probably finds very bitter to witness.

So yeah no, I would agree. I think Chase would blatantly be pleased with Raimundo's death, and maybe he even hates Rai as well.

Imo this is one of his best quotes

"Isn't that what evil is all about? A lie here, a little bad there, suddenly it's so easy"