Boys have swag, men have style but gentlemen have class.

A cousin of mine recently invited me to this fancy corporate affair that his company was hosting where I got to interact with some of the gurus in the banking sector. While networking, I noticed this beautiful lady seated alone, at the bar, having a drink. She looked all classy, and elegant and I guessed she was the Miss Independent type. I'm usually attracted to such qualities in a woman, so I made my way to her and after my one -liner ice breaker, we were soon conversing on various topics. Everything seemed to be going well, and we were comfortable with each other, so she asked me, “Matt, what do you do for a living?” as she looked at me with that confident look that had that aura of 'I'm in charge.' This is not the first time I have been asked such a question by a woman, but it somehow hit me at an all new level. I still can’t tell why, maybe it was due to the manner with which she had asked it, and it got me wondering, whether she was doing a mental calculation “thingi”, trying to determine how much I earn in relation to her, or what would her friends and family would think when she eventually introduced me to them and said I do this and that.

With the current trends, gone are the days when woman only wanted to know what you could offer financially. In fact, today’s women are not only providing for themselves, in most relationships they are the sole financial support, so they are in search of that ideal financially independent gentleman. So what are those financial aspects that define a gentleman?

1.       A Gentleman does not discuss money    

Making money is synonymous with being a gentleman, but outside those working hours, it’s a misplaced topic of conversation. If it is unavoidable then, he only discusses topics of money with business associates, and in private spaces or discreet spaces, never in front of unrelated company.

2.       A Gentleman keeps away from borrowing money

A Gentleman should be independent to the best of his ability, and pay his own way through. If he absolutely must, he borrows from those fortunate friends and family and, repays all their debts in a timely and promptly manner to maintain his standing.

3.       A Gentleman NEVER cries broke

No matter how tough his financial situation may be, he never goes around announcing how broke he is. He tries to live within what he can afford and always tries to uphold his smile at all times.

4.       A Gentleman Keeps Hustling

In line with the previous aspect, he always try to pick himself up and find alternative ways of making ends meet. He uses his financial technical know-how and networking advantage to hustle through those financial tough times.

5.       Is Discreet

A Gentleman upholds confidentiality; he never discloses what others have trusted him with in private. If he lends you money then that would be an affair between the two of you, he will not disclose it to other people.

6.A Gentleman is not a spend thrift

A gentleman lives on a budget, he does not go around haphazardly spending what he has rightfully sweated for. He does all he can to stick to his budget and does not allow anyone to mess up his budget .

As John Walter Wayland, author of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity creed, The True Gentlemen puts it, “The true gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute sense of proprierity, and whose self control is equal to all emergencies; who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of his obscurity, or any man of his inferiority or deformity; who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another; who does not flatter wealth, cringe before power, or boast of his own possessions or achievements; who speaks with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy; whose deed follows his word; who thinks of the rights and feels of others, rather than his own appears well in any company, a man with whom honor is sacred and virtue safe.”