The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers

How do Wizards make a living?

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Mr. Death:
I'd say a lot of wizards don't really need to "make a living." Remember that Harry's situation is unusual, if not unique -- many wizards come from long bloodlines, with strong family ties that go from generation to generation, building upon the previous generations' assets.

A wizard doesn't have to worry about the day to day if the dividends from investments his grandfather made back in the 30s already pay for his house.

Bad Alias:
I don't think we have a large enough sample of wizards to know if they come from wealth. But we do have Harry's statements that older wizards have money.

noblehunter:
In the old days, being able to instantly communicate long-distance would easily let you make a killing. It'd be even better if you could guarantee your ships would always make port (or that other ships didn't), though I think the anti-tech field would make sailing a high-risk activity for a wizard. Divination would let you time the market exactly, cashing out the day before the crash and re-investing at the market's lowest ebb would make obscene amounts of money.

If nothing else, the discipline required to become a wizard is an excellent transferable skill if the wizard can find the time to devote to some other craft.

g33k:
Near the end of Ch.41 in Proven Guilty, as Harry is enumerating Molly's options going forward, he mentions offhand, "I've heard of a couple of wizards who have made stupid amounts of money with their skills."

No details as to which skills, or how the money was made.  I presume it wouldn't have been dangerous, illegal, or immoral -- otherwise, Harry wouldn't have suggested it to Molly!

Also, Harry is notoriously distant from the White Council, both formal operations and the social/gossip network.  If even a relative outsider like Harry knows of "a couple" of wizards, I'm sure there are others; and similarly, if there are a few making "stupid" amounts of money, I bet many more are satisfied making merely "silly" amounts.

I think we can take this as part of DF canon.

It doesn't really answer the OP on the point of "how" its done.  For that, I think it will probably come down to, "However Jim wants it to, if it ever becomes relevsnt to any of his stories," and/or "However YOU want it to, if you write DF fanfic -- or have a DFA/DFRPG game -- where it becomes relevant."

 ;D

Bad Alias:

--- Quote from: noblehunter on December 04, 2019, 08:58:46 PM ---In the old days, being able to instantly communicate long-distance would easily let you make a killing. It'd be even better if you could guarantee your ships would always make port (or that other ships didn't).

--- End quote ---
For basically the entire time your talking about, just knowing which ships are not going to make it into port would be extremely valuable. Also, the anti-tech field wasn't in play until after WWII.

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