Anonymous wrote:what exactly is old money?
i do not consider myself old money. my grandpa was middle management for a large company went to a state school, never earned much, will die with $4mm+, will pass on $1mm to 4 grandchildren. parents are from the south, went to state schools, sent me to private school then ivy, they're worth about $10mm, will pass on $5mm to two children. we are a two career family, make $500K in our 30's and live in one of the above cities, should eventually be quite wealthy
I've never belonged to a country club, my ancestors didn't come on the mayflower, and if you go back a generation beyond the grandparents, you'll get small time farmers and such. so yea, defintely not old money. I am a white anglo saxon protestant. i've enjoyed loads of privilege, but not old money.
assuming i don't screw things up or death duties don't become too severe, each generation should get wealthier over time. this should continue and eventually maybe some generation (my future grandkids???) will be considered old money? but is old money measured in generations (ie you're old money if your family has been wealthy for 5 generations) or is it measured by some absolute unmoving metric that is unattainable (ie you're old money if your family was wealthy in 1800/1900/1950). is it some absolute dollar number maintained over a number of generations (you're old money if you have $10mm for 10 generations?)
Old money is family wealth that goes back generations, but it is a lot more than just being wealthy and belonging to the right country club and sending kids to ivy schools. Usually old money has extensive holdings in multiple areas. All of the old money people I know have A LOT of land. Some have multiple homes, but they all have land. It is also, and probably more importantly, being
connected. It is having a building at a college named after you. Having a park in town with the family name on it because they donated the land. It is being able to call a banker friend or someone in government and have them take your call and getting the results you wanted.
I was in the office on a weekend one time, and one of the old money people I know was in there with his kids. I went to the copier and the kids were there making copies of their art work. I asked them if they needed help, and they said no, this is just like the one the governor has. This guy's brother was married to a prior VP candidate's daughter. Those are the kind of connections old money have.