The Breakfast Club for 40-Somethings

Chapter 8Memory lane

Ben Jamieson was looking forward to the school reunion — there would only be few friends there who he didn’t catch up with already. Staying in Sydney meant he’d kept many of the friends he had at school — none of the cool kids, like Brad or Jasper, but they were good guys who had always appreciated a laugh and some good old-fashioned male bonding.

Ben was going to the reunion out of pure curiosity. His interest was part of his profession really. He was a financial planner and had built a successful firm in eastern Sydney. His clients ranged from CEOs to trust fund kids, and he had pretty much seen everything in the past 20 years. Money did curious things to people, and Ben usually had a front row seat to see it all.

He had the (some might say annoying) habit of assessing everyone’s personality in relation to what they earned. It was like a hobby for him, and a way to keep his sense of intuition about people sharp. He always did the work with the client and made sure he designed financial strategies just for them. But he also knew his instinct around people made him extremely insightful about their true situation.

The reunion was going to be pure gold for seeing what had become of those he had gone to high school with. He had even heard that Brad Malone was coming — a bona fide billionaire now.

Ben whistled to himself as he thought about the night — it was going to be a good one. He was sure to be kept busy observing the behaviour of people he’d had nothing ...