Harry’s finances going forward
I made a post a few days ago talking about what sort of things Harry might be doing for the new organisation he hinted at forming at the end of Battle Ground, in it I addressed some ways that he could fund such a group but I didn’t really look at his personal money situation though unless he draws a salary from the group.
Anyway I thought it would be interesting to consider what expenses Harry has just now and what he has available. I believe Jim put the diamonds Harry had at a value of around 2-3 million dollars( I’m pretty certain this isn’t accurate to market price but just the amount of money Jim wanted him to have).
Looking at his current required expenses, he has; refurbishing and furnishing the castle and his new/old lab, the property tax that will be required for that property, the regular pizza he pays the zalords guard ( and the presumably massive amount of Pizza he owes after battle ground from recruiting that many little folk), clothing for Maggie (kids grow so need to change their wardrobe every year or 2 so their clothes actually fit them, Food for himself, Maggie, Mouse and I think mister is still around, I’m unsure if it is stated or a rumour but I heard something about Maggie going to saint marcs being a possibility(the school that Irwin went to I believe, which would cost quite a bit), a not so clear final expense I can think of would be materials for redoing his gear/equipment shield bracelet, blasting rod, possibly a new staff along with any new items he may want to add such as more defensive gear to go with the duster and potentially a return of force rings.
Assuming no income source or return to regular PI income he had before I would guess he had anywhere from 1-2 years before he runs out of money maybe a little longer.
So lets assume he doesn’t draw a salary from his new organisation which doesn’t have any established means of being able to provide such a thing anyway, and assume he isn’t going to massively raise the rate he charges for doing PI work nor obtain or work the hours required otherwise that would be prohibitive to doing anything else. Let us also assume he either won’t or can’t get money from Lara/Mab(his deal to become knight was for power not money, if he started working for winter he could probably get money but that would also likely take more time that he wants to or likely can give with everything else he wants to do).
What options does Harry have to make enough money to feed and cloth himself, Maggie, Mouse and Mister while paying the property tax on a castle. My guesses would be something like buying a few locations and either making his own pizza place or taking part in a franchise but his own seems more interesting. This would have a few benefits; Secures a means to get large quantities of pizza for the guard along with a source of income long term, and short term he will be able to use the ways to get ingredients at a regular price and sell pizza to residents at an affordable price to help with any food shortage(I would also love a scene if this happened of the military government officials in charge of supplies coming to the city showing up at one of these places and demanding to know where all of the damn ingredients that shouldn’t be in the city keep coming from at this new pizza place, if the military ‘support’ from the end of the book is still ongoing).
A more long term possibility would be Harry finding a way to secure a loan and competing with Marcone a bit to buy plots and build new properties in Chicago or just buying up houses/apartments to rent, this one is unlikely due to how much capital it would take. The only other notable sources of income would require Harry to do something he seems to have been against from the start of the novels which is selling potions specifically things like the super coffee if he can make it in bulk and refine it a little to be tastier for regular customers, then if they exist potions for hair growth and weight loss targeted at wealthy people that want an easy solution but whether this is even possible and if Harry would be willing to do it are both unknown with the second being unlikely.
What do you think of the expenses I have outlined for Harry and can you think of any I missed and do you agree with how long I think Harry can go without addressing his finances. Then what do you think of my proposed solutions that Harry could use to make money and do you have any suggestions for other methods he could use?