I remember meeting a friend of a friend once, who I knew was seriously rich. We were invited to a party at his house and you could see from the minute you turned off the road how wealthy he was, before you even caught sight of the house. As a matter of fact, he was titled as well as rich – minor aristocracy. Very fancy. I’ll admit that the inverted snob in me had already decided I wouldn’t much like him. Out of touch, arrogant, privileged – oh yes, I’d pre-judged him utterly before we ever actually met.

Of course, when I was introduced to him (surprise, surprise) he turned out to be a lovely chap. Down-to-earth, empathetic, amusing, a great listener. I know it’s clichéd but it’s still so easy to walk into the trap of judging people by their money. I was the one being predictable, whereas he was just being himself.

That particular man was born into money and privilege. Most of us have a slightly different view of people who have come from a more ordinary background and acquired money later in life. There are lots of terms for them, all of which carry slightly pejorative overtones: self-made, nouveau riche, new money. Again, we make judgements about these people before we even know them. There are plenty of clichés here too: more money than sense, no taste, full of themselves. And again, the vast majority of these people don’t fit this description at all.

If we make assumptions about people because of the money they have – earned, inherited or otherwise acquired – it’s us who deserve to be harshly judged. We’re the ones behaving predictably. Lots of wealthy people give away stacks of money to good causes. Not all of them will shout about it though, so you might not even know. Many of them are completely grounded people who do understand what life is like for the rest of us. Most of them are as sensible with their wealth as you or I would like to be in their position.

I don’t assume that everyone I meet who has little or no money is automatically bound to be a good person, so why should I assume that someone with lots of money is a bad person? If (lack of) money has no influence on people’s basic nature, why should having money change them? Of course money changes a few people for the worse, but then fame or kids or promotion or alcohol can do that too. Most people are just themselves, whether they happen to have loads or nothing at all. So let’s just see them for who they are and not for what they have.