Anonymous wrote:Riches to rags is what I fear happening in retirement. Not that we have "riches" but fearing that our funds won't last. I guess this is common for regular people.

This terrifies me.

Anonymous wrote:It’s not that common

Yes it is. Most generational wealth dwindles.

My mother grew up with very wealthy parents who were at the top of society in our midwest town. Their name is on a building at a college in our state if that provides context. So my mother had everything growing up.

But she was a personality-disordered disaster who was divorced from my dad by the time I was five. She couldn't hold a job because she couldn't get along with people, so she sold used stuff she bought at garage sales and flea markets. She was always screaming at us about how poor we were. We truly were poor -- free school lunch and I don't think I had new clothes that didn't come from a garage sale or good will until I had a job and bought them myself in high school. My sister and I never saw a doctor because we had no health insurance. Etc, etc, etc. My mother spent her time in bars looking for men, and she left us alone to go out at night. We ate tv dinners on our own almost evry night. She married two more times after my dad, each of them abusive, but the second one had some money. UMC money. But she just got meaner, and her DH was even worse than she was.

My dad was MIA after she pushed him out when we were little. According to my mother he never paid child support, which could be true but my mother did not always tell the truth so who knows. His parents loved us, but were half the country away.

It was awful. But not so much because of the "rags" part. It was more awful because she was awful. Which was, I guess, a huge contributor to the "rags" part.

I do blame my mother's parents some. In retrospect it is hard to believe they didn't do anything. It's not like they didn't know -- we lived in a house they owned, and were walking distance from them. They knew how it was for us, and didn't do anything. Well, they did pay for college and prof school for both of us. But that was a little late.

So my mother is the "riches to rags." I am a professional with plenty of money. UMC, I suppose.

Anonymous wrote:Google Donald trump

Oh come on, surely people are buying the gold-plated watches, sneakers and bibles?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/09/27/donald-trump-watches/75410781007/

That's because "riches to rags" is much harder to achieve than the reverse. If you define "riches" as having $5M, any reasonably intelligent person can go from rags to riches (though, admittedly, over the course of many decades).

But going from $5M to $0 is much harder. That capital base can generate $150K forever. So as long as you don't draw more than that, you can't go broke. Only some extreme medical cases, including addiction, or a sociopathic personality could deplete that type of capital base.

My ex and his brother. Seem dead set on spending every penny they earn because they believe they will inherit millions from their mom. Of course mom is now healthy but with severe Parkinsons and will likely need full time care for a decade, spending most of her money. Then what is left over, they will no doubt blow through quickly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not that common

Neither are rags to riches stories, yet I read about those all the time. On average, when controlling for inflation, people achieve the same level of success as their parents. For every overachiever, there's an underachiever.

I doubt this for many people of incredibly successful parents. Bill Gates’ eldest is a Stanford graduate and a doctor. She’s very impressive (we have no idea if her parents’ wealth opened any doors) but she didn’t start a billion dollar company like her father. My husband’s parents are very successful and have worked in high profile cabinet-level roles in the government and similar type roles in the private sector. He has one sibling who is a lobbyist, one sibling who is a therapist, and he is a banker. When it comes to success they are not even close to their parents.

"We don't know if being Bill Gates' daughter opened any doors for her." Lol, GTFO.

Barbara Hutton, heiress to the Woolworth and EF Hutton fortunes. Was the richest little girl in the world in the 1920s. Died with $1,500 in her bank account in 1979.

Also, not riches to rags but good friend’s mom blew through her trust fund and then had her three children sign over their trusts (from grandparents) to her (claimed her parents intended the money for her and put it in their name for tax purposes). Blew through everything and now is still working in her 70s and needs to downsize considerably in order to retire at some point in the next decade or so. Just horrible with money. No restraint. It took my friend a long time to learn that “easy come easy go” was not the best motto to live by from a financial perspective.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not that common

Neither are rags to riches stories, yet I read about those all the time. On average, when controlling for inflation, people achieve the same level of success as their parents. For every overachiever, there's an underachiever.

I doubt this for many people of incredibly successful parents. Bill Gates’ eldest is a Stanford graduate and a doctor. She’s very impressive (we have no idea if her parents’ wealth opened any doors) but she didn’t start a billion dollar company like her father. My husband’s parents are very successful and have worked in high profile cabinet-level roles in the government and similar type roles in the private sector. He has one sibling who is a lobbyist, one sibling who is a therapist, and he is a banker. When it comes to success they are not even close to their parents.

Friend was an heiress but it was all tied up with Madoff. Never graduated college bc she didn’t need to do things like that. Madoff exposed, fortune evaporated, no degree no skills, no profession and had a nervous breakdown. She had married and divorced a man with no money. Died penniless at a young age. Her 3 kids are on welfare. I tell my kids this story as a cautionary tale. Always get an education and train for a profession.

Riches to rags is what I fear happening in retirement. Not that we have "riches" but fearing that our funds won't last. I guess this is common for regular people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not that common

Neither are rags to riches stories, yet I read about those all the time. On average, when controlling for inflation, people achieve the same level of success as their parents. For every overachiever, there's an underachiever.

That’s not entirely true, there is regression to the mean. The intergenerational correlation for parent and child income is around .5 in the US. The average kid with parents in the 99th percentile of the income distribution will only be at the 75th percentile when they are an adult.
https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/stories/2024/07/race-and-class-gap/figure-1.jpg

Anonymous wrote:I’ve read more stories about successful people who grew up poor than I can count. But I have yet to read about someone who grew up in the lap of luxury and managed to squander all their advantages and made nothing themselves as an adult. I’m so seasick of all these “rags to riches” stories that I feel it’s high time I read a “riches to rags” story.

According to sketchy websites, Hassan Nasralla had $250M.
According to sketchy scrolls, now he has 72 virgins in Heaven.

Anonymous wrote:I’ve read more stories about successful people who grew up poor than I can count. But I have yet to read about someone who grew up in the lap of luxury and managed to squander all their advantages and made nothing themselves as an adult. I’m so seasick of all these “rags to riches” stories that I feel it’s high time I read a “riches to rags” story.

Misery loves company