I'm slowly getting back the use of my arm, but dreading those emergency room bills I'm about to get hit with during the holidays.
But enough about real life.
I hate dealing with money. In my opinion, the pursuit of treasure is what makes the Murder Hobo meme. I admit I've killed kobolds for their shoes at 1st level. I've stripped enemy bodies clean all to maximize my profits. After all, treasure made you more powerful. The more gold you had, the more healing potions and armor you can acquire.
That was all well and good in a game like AD&D where death and theft was all of the plot you needed, but collecting enemy footwear would look a little awkward in a game like Shadowrun. And what happens when you have all the equipment you need? What do you do with all of that extra money you acquire? For my characters that had no interest in cyberware or fortress management, the result was wealth without purpose. I didn't need to adventure. The only reason I kept that character going was because I wanted to play, but any economic challenges my gm through my way (like everyone has to pay 20 credits if they want into the club where the adventure is happening) was a non-issue. I was so rich that it didn't contribute to the story. In time we just stopped worrying about tracking money.
For those of you who don't know, the Optional Wealth rules for Nemezis has been made into a free pdf download from DrivethruRPG. It handles wealth in a very abstract way and for games where the heroes are can come from very disparate incomes. It creates a Wealth trait rated as a die type and you roll for whether you can purchase an item. My only issue with the system came up in play when a player failed his roll to buy a gun earlier in the game but succeeded with a raise in his attempt to buy a car later. But it didn't occur to me until much later that I could have explained this away with "the gun required cash, but you were able to get a loan for the car." It can get a little twisted when purchasing multiple items of the same cost. Still, if you have players who are willing to go along with the idea that this is a game, it's a cool resource.
If I were to work it into my Cargo Run rules from "Adventure...or Deliver Cargo", I would award a +1 to wealth Purchase rolls when the crew gets their payday. And a -2 if the screw up the delivery (as well as owing a favor to the client).
