Generational wealth. What's behind the obsession?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you really that jealous of Phoebe Gates? She worked hard at building an app, building a business, and raising funding while attending college full-time.

Acknowledging the unearned benefits she has is not the same as jealousy.

She cannot help who her family is. But she's working hard and achieving.z. Yes, it would be more difficult without financial support but she's not a lazy ass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you really that jealous of Phoebe Gates? She worked hard at building an app, building a business, and raising funding while attending college full-time.

Acknowledging the unearned benefits she has is not the same as jealousy.

She cannot help who her family is. But she's working hard and achieving.z. Yes, it would be more difficult without financial support but she's not a lazy ass.

No one said she was.

[Anonymous]

Here is the thing about generational wealth. It’s deeply connected to trusts which are designed to be passed from generation to generation. In order to do that, they generally limit income to two percent or less.

Let’s say you inherit a trust worth $15 million. You aren’t living on income of $15 million. You living on $300,000. That’s a great annual income. But you will have trouble keeping with the Jones in Chevy Chase or McLean if you don’t have an actual job.i

That’s why you see these multi-generational beneficiaries with do-gooder jobs. They emphasize education while flying economy and driving beat up Volvos to the family compound in Maine. Their kids go to private schools and then to decent colleges without carrying any debt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because working sucks for the vast majority of people so why would anyone want to force their family into working if they don't have to?


Is this a serious question? Is there really anyone out there so stupid they can't figure out this incredibly obvious answer?

Working a 9-5 job where you have little agency sucks...but the vast majority of even very wealthy children work. Very few just spend their lives as Philanthropists or Social Media Influencers or other "fake" jobs that they tell people at cocktail parties.

Now, they may run the family business or have some other job where they basically have complete agency over their lives.

Bill Gates' daughter is a physician working in a hospital. Supposedly, Gates will only leave his kids $10MM each (not sure if he is still abiding by that).

Well, idk what is in her inheritance but the daughter who is a doctor spends multiple millions a year on horses. And has for a long time. Maybe it's her mom, I don't know and I don't care, but I can't imagine it's "spend millions on horses every year until I die" and then what, it all gets auctioned?

[Anonymous]

I don’t believe people here who say they know of trusts that got blown up in a single generation. That’s not how trusts work

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is the thing about generational wealth. It’s deeply connected to trusts which are designed to be passed from generation to generation. In order to do that, they generally limit income to two percent or less.

Let’s say you inherit a trust worth $15 million. You aren’t living on income of $15 million. You living on $300,000. That’s a great annual income. But you will have trouble keeping with the Jones in Chevy Chase or McLean if you don’t have an actual job.i

That’s why you see these multi-generational beneficiaries with do-gooder jobs. They emphasize education while flying economy and driving beat up Volvos to the family compound in Maine. Their kids go to private schools and then to decent colleges without carrying any debt.

I have a multigenerational trust and it doesn't work like that at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t believe people here who say they know of trusts that got blown up in a single generation. That’s not how trusts work

no, it definitely happens. If the trust agreement lets the primary beneficiary have control, they can of course blow it all in many different ways.

But the main thing that happens is people have kids and grandkids and so each piece gets smaller and smaller and less consequential.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you really that jealous of Phoebe Gates? She worked hard at building an app, building a business, and raising funding while attending college full-time.

Acknowledging the unearned benefits she has is not the same as jealousy.

She cannot help who her family is. But she's working hard and achieving.z. Yes, it would be more difficult without financial support but she's not a lazy ass.

No one said she was.

Stating she needs to "acknowledge the unearned benefits" is implying that

Why does she need to acknowledge that? Anyone. With an ounce of a brain is aware of that. This is just her life

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because working sucks for the vast majority of people so why would anyone want to force their family into working if they don't have to?


Is this a serious question? Is there really anyone out there so stupid they can't figure out this incredibly obvious answer?

Working a 9-5 job where you have little agency sucks...but the vast majority of even very wealthy children work. Very few just spend their lives as Philanthropists or Social Media Influencers or other "fake" jobs that they tell people at cocktail parties.

Now, they may run the family business or have some other job where they basically have complete agency over their lives.

Bill Gates' daughter is a physician working in a hospital. Supposedly, Gates will only leave his kids $10MM each (not sure if he is still abiding by that).

Well, idk what is in her inheritance but the daughter who is a doctor spends multiple millions a year on horses. And has for a long time. Maybe it's her mom, I don't know and I don't care, but I can't imagine it's "spend millions on horses every year until I die" and then what, it all gets auctioned?

She's married to someone in the same stratosphere as her financially--he's also into horses.

But fact is she's accomplished a lot being a doctor, and you don't get there without being smart and qualified

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because working sucks for the vast majority of people so why would anyone want to force their family into working if they don't have to?


Is this a serious question? Is there really anyone out there so stupid they can't figure out this incredibly obvious answer?

Working a 9-5 job where you have little agency sucks...but the vast majority of even very wealthy children work. Very few just spend their lives as Philanthropists or Social Media Influencers or other "fake" jobs that they tell people at cocktail parties.

Now, they may run the family business or have some other job where they basically have complete agency over their lives.

Bill Gates' daughter is a physician working in a hospital. Supposedly, Gates will only leave his kids $10MM each (not sure if he is still abiding by that).

Well, idk what is in her inheritance but the daughter who is a doctor spends multiple millions a year on horses. And has for a long time. Maybe it's her mom, I don't know and I don't care, but I can't imagine it's "spend millions on horses every year until I die" and then what, it all gets auctioned?

She's married to someone in the same stratosphere as her financially--he's also into horses.

But fact is she's accomplished a lot being a doctor, and you don't get there without being smart and qualified

I mean duh she’s smart. Look at her parent. IQ is primarily genetic / inherited based on the science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because working sucks for the vast majority of people so why would anyone want to force their family into working if they don't have to?


Is this a serious question? Is there really anyone out there so stupid they can't figure out this incredibly obvious answer?

Working a 9-5 job where you have little agency sucks...but the vast majority of even very wealthy children work. Very few just spend their lives as Philanthropists or Social Media Influencers or other "fake" jobs that they tell people at cocktail parties.

Now, they may run the family business or have some other job where they basically have complete agency over their lives.

Bill Gates' daughter is a physician working in a hospital. Supposedly, Gates will only leave his kids $10MM each (not sure if he is still abiding by that).

Well, idk what is in her inheritance but the daughter who is a doctor spends multiple millions a year on horses. And has for a long time. Maybe it's her mom, I don't know and I don't care, but I can't imagine it's "spend millions on horses every year until I die" and then what, it all gets auctioned?

She's married to someone in the same stratosphere as her financially--he's also into horses.

But fact is she's accomplished a lot being a doctor, and you don't get there without being smart and qualified

I mean duh she’s smart. Look at her parent. IQ is primarily genetic / inherited based on the science.

Parents** - Melinda is a genius too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t believe people here who say they know of trusts that got blown up in a single generation. That’s not how trusts work

no, it definitely happens. If the trust agreement lets the primary beneficiary have control, they can of course blow it all in many different ways.

But the main thing that happens is people have kids and grandkids and so each piece gets smaller and smaller and less consequential.

Or, the work ethic gets passed on through the generations and the kids and grandkids keep the whole thing going. That's what's happening over here. It keeps flowing down, as intended.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is the thing about generational wealth. It’s deeply connected to trusts which are designed to be passed from generation to generation. In order to do that, they generally limit income to two percent or less.

Let’s say you inherit a trust worth $15 million. You aren’t living on income of $15 million. You living on $300,000. That’s a great annual income. But you will have trouble keeping with the Jones in Chevy Chase or McLean if you don’t have an actual job.i

That’s why you see these multi-generational beneficiaries with do-gooder jobs. They emphasize education while flying economy and driving beat up Volvos to the family compound in Maine. Their kids go to private schools and then to decent colleges without carrying any debt.

I have a multigenerational trust and it doesn't work like that at all.

How does it work? Genuinely curious

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t believe people here who say they know of trusts that got blown up in a single generation. That’s not how trusts work

no, it definitely happens. If the trust agreement lets the primary beneficiary have control, they can of course blow it all in many different ways.

But the main thing that happens is people have kids and grandkids and so each piece gets smaller and smaller and less consequential.

trusts certainly get watered down by grandchildren and great grandchildren. However, if you have a trust that the first generation can outspend, that is not a trust. That's just a checking account.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is the thing about generational wealth. It’s deeply connected to trusts which are designed to be passed from generation to generation. In order to do that, they generally limit income to two percent or less.

Let’s say you inherit a trust worth $15 million. You aren’t living on income of $15 million. You living on $300,000. That’s a great annual income. But you will have trouble keeping with the Jones in Chevy Chase or McLean if you don’t have an actual job.i

That’s why you see these multi-generational beneficiaries with do-gooder jobs. They emphasize education while flying economy and driving beat up Volvos to the family compound in Maine. Their kids go to private schools and then to decent colleges without carrying any debt.

I have a multigenerational trust and it doesn't work like that at all.

How does it work? I'm the beneficiary of several -like more than five including both sides of my family and that's how they all work. They are generational skipping trusts. Certainly, I get access to the principle of some of those trusts, but only after the prior generation dies. But then I turn around an put it in another generation skipping trust. So you have multliple trusts covering overlapping generations. The big idea is that it is not your money. You just get to use some of it before passing it along to the next genreration, while doing your best to protect from IRS. Keeping each individial trust relatively small also helps preserve against the inheritance tax. It all gets dissapated over time when people have too many kids and too many marriages.