A common dwarven custom, whenever several folk are gathered anywhere for a span of time, is Pooling. Generally speaking many dwarves outside of the highlands are there because they are contract workers for a local lord or organization, working for a fixed rate of income upon an agreed upon project like masonry work, mining, forging or other crafts that they excel at. What usually happens is that the concerned dwarves gather their income into what is known as a Pool. Each member of a pool agrees to be a member for a fixed time period (1-20 years) and pays a weekly, monthly, or sometimes yearly fee based upon their earnings into the pool. At some point in time each member will be given the contents of that week's/month's/year's Pool, with the amount based on their sworn input over time. Larger pools are generally run by a Pool Matron (or Matrons) as part of the contract, who in exchange for a service fee tracks the funds and contributions, vets potential members, resolves disputes and can also make investments that could increase the earning power of the Pool. There can be much power vested in a Pool Matron.
There are some Pools which are very old, with memberships handed down in succeeding generations -- even when a member or clan has received their lump sum benefit, they can often rehire into the pool again. This is especially common in some of the more profitable pools that actually pay more than the base contribution back to the members. Pools are at best a transient financial entity since large profitable pools eventually evolve into dwarven banks or trading concerns. However, in a society of long-lived folk, these niches open up very rarely, and so the Pools exist for those who can create them.
The following example shows how a modest pool of 20 laborers seeking a quarterly payout pool would work.
Each laborer earns 2 gold pence per week, for a total of 8 and change per month. Each member of the pool is pledged for 4 years at a rate of 4 gold pence per month, promising in that time to pay a total of 192 gold pence.
4 years = 48 months * 4 gold pence monthly = 192 Landsrue gold pence (or 48 gold thalers)
Every month, for four years, the 20 members will pay a total of 80 gold pence into the pool. Every three months, the Pool Matron will pay one member 192 gold pence, plus a substantial percentage of the Pool's profits, if there are any. It will be five years before the last member is paid out.
The members decide the order in which they will be paid: a random name out of a helmet, eldest first, or whatever. After selecting a Pool Matron, they begin paying into the pool. Three months later, the first pool member elected would receive 192 gold pence minus a service fee (in this case we'll say it is 5% of each payout which is 9.6 gold pence), and generally very little else, since three months is a very short time in which to turn a profit. He can use this money however he wishes, though of course he has to continue making his payments to the Pool. The last pool member would have to wait five years for his money, but is more likely to get back more than he put in, if the Pool Matron is worth her salt.
The Pool Matron (a traditional title even though the holder of the office can be male or female) can plow her service fee into something else in the Pool's interests, or spend it on her own ventures. She can also invest some of the Pool's working capital, though she must be more careful here -- she is obligated to pay each member whether her investments succeed or fail.
Good pools with good matrons will prosper and continue, less efficient ones will end when the last member gets paid out. Members can buy out of a pool any time at the agreed upon price. Pool conventions vary widely, but breaking a pool (i.e. scampering with the goods and wundting [welshing] on the rest) is likely to get someone hunted down and put into some very dire straits indeed.