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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I come from an aristocratic family with a recorded history going back to the 900s. My great-grandfather was a genealogist who sifted through records to put together the family tree and any attached history, and turned the whole thing into a book.

It's been interesting to read how only some of my ancestors built fortunes, at first fortunes of feudal conquest, and then political and business wealth, upon which the rest were able to live. Some relatives conserved money, others squandered it, but what's noticeable is what PP said: that it's rare for one individual to make a lot of money.

So don't worry overmuch about your kids do and don't be so prepared to lay guilt and shame at their feet for not living up to the efforts of their immigrant forefathers. They're not living in the same socio-economic conditions.

[/quote]

Interesting to be able to go back so far.  My family has "fallen" from upper, upper middle class (maybe poorest rich) to lower, upper middle class in 125 years.  So a status drop.  However, in terms of life basics, I like to think about how we are much better off than medieval kings in terms of healthcare and longevity.

It's clear to me that choosing educated but lower-paying professions and marrying down for brains and love has diminished the family wealth.  Also our family is very small. We moved through the demographic transition where educated women had only a few children long ago.  And there were also a lot of female descendants and due to discrimination against women, that has meant a reduction in income potential.

I'm glad the world has modernized.  I'm also fine with people prioritizing their intellectual interests over making piles of money.  I'd say that although we are great savers, we are not good long-haul investors.  Low risk-tolerance and low trust in others have prevented wealth from multiplying.  I'm conscious of that and looking for ways to improve.  But I'm not going to spend time weeping and waiting about a declining generational standard of living that has still given women more autonomy and safer lives.  And I do expect the future to be an improvement regardless of an inflation-adjusted wealth stockpile. [/quote]

You’re ancestors had huge legal advantages.  The establishment of the federal personal income tax in 1913 made preservation general wealth more challenging.  There are also other factors.  [/quote]

I guess but the biggest issue in what happened to the money were:

1) Post-Civil War technological and industrial change

2) A late second marriage that flowed inheritance money out of the nuclear family

3) Great-grandpa decided to be a minister

All that happened before the income tax was established.  There are analogues to these situations today that also would tend to be wealth-depleting.

Also today we have more business transparency, financial regulation, class action lawsuits, etc. Those are positives for investors.[/quote]

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