Wealth is a result of one’s income from one’s estate or one’s relatives. It is improper for the gentry to work to earn a living and work will lower one’s status significantly. Wealth affects one’s status, but only as far as within one’s class (wealthy merchants cannot become gentry in a single generation, though they may come close if they purchase an estate). However, within the gentry, wealth directly affects status.
Wealth can be improved by improving one’s condition either through investments in the estate, marrying well, gaining the favor of wealthy relatives, or by entering a profession if one is male and the profession is appropriate such as the clergy, law, or military.[1]