Posted on 03/13/2012 8:12:05 PM PDT by jakerobins
If you ask the rich about the biggest problem created from their wealth, they will usually say their kids.
Most of today’s self-made rich didn’t grow up with money (surveys show 75% of millionaires didn’t inherit their wealth). And today’s rich parents expect their kids to grow up with middle-class values– just as they did.
[More from WSJ.com: When Mom Goes Viral]
It’s a noble goal. But when those parents are flying the kids around on a private jet or giving them a Mercedes for their Sweet 16, it should come as no surprise that their kids lack the same work ethic and hustle as a middle-class kid.
And so wealthy parents today face an inevitable choice: leaving boatloads of money to kids who aren’t good with money.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
THe kids at the high school where mine go, drive BMWs Lexus, RangeRovers etc. truly disgusting in my opinion. Why on earth would you give a 16 year old a car like that. Many times it’s the parents so wanting their kid to be cool. I see so many of my daughters friends that are going to make terrible wives because they have never been told no. Poor future husbands.
As soon as I knew there was plenty of $$, I promptly disinherited the brat. He needed it to keep from corroding his character.
What? They expect me to drive them there?
Think about this a little bit. ( ^8 }
If the children of a billionaire grew up unfit for the inheritance, those children had unfit parents that created the situation.
“On the other hand, wealthy parents who force their children to make it on their own are perceived as being selfish and cruel.”
Baloney
this is a huge problem.
How do you help people, including those you love, without actually hurting them?
It’s not as easy as it seems.
This is something I struggle with all the time.
If I got filthy rich, I’d have a trust for my kids that matched or multiplied every dollar they earned honestly by the sweat of their own brows. Earn $0 - get $0 from the trust. Earn $20,000 - get $200,000. Earn $2,000,000 - get $200,000,000. Etc.
Now that's success!
I think it is hardwired in. I have a 9 year-old who as part of a school fundraiser had to sell a box of candy. He was done in half an hour. The kid could sell iceboxes to Innuit...
Wise in any circumstances. Teach them not to waste things, but don't stress them when things are tight, and don't spoil them when they are good (well, not too much, instead, reward them for being particularly helpful, doing outstanding work in school, etc.)
I know they bought their "starter" house on acerage ...big house with a pool.....so I know they got help....
and I know they have taken nice vacations...they seem to not want for much....
but they both work....they live respectfully and frugally....the are watching their dimes even though her family is also in on the natural gas drilling......
but they are good regular people who don't flaunt....and their kids are not brats either...
so it can be done...
Me too. After the lettering is gone, I forget what it's for.
Ms. Rinehart may well be right. But it raises a natural question: who raised these kids? And if Ms. Rinehart played a role, isn’t she basically using her own parenting as the reason to cut them out?
She herself inherited the wealth from her father. Where the hell was she? The time to have been instilling respect for work was when the kids were young.
Because new luxury cars are heavier and have more safety features than bare-bones cars. Car accidents are the top cause of injury/death for teens.
If my kid could justify owning a car at 16, I'd want them to drive the heaviest, most advanced car I could afford. Not a light sports-car of course. My first car at 17 was a $700 rust bucket that disintegrated when someone hit it while parked. It's scary to think if I was still inside. I needed a car to work but my parents could not buy me one.
I wouldn't pay for frivolous expenses though. Things like designer clothes and vacations they should earn for themselves.
I think the nitwit just doesn’t want to give up any money. SHE raised these kids and imparted to them their sense of entitlement.
In the '70s I was making multiple six figure incomes, owned a bar and several other businesses and I told both of our kids that if they wanted a car, they were free to buy one, with their own money that they earned.
If they wanted to go to college, I'd help them get jobs or student loans but I wasn't paying for their cars or education after high school.
Both kids earned multiple Master degrees, and have had many cars and homes which they paid for from their own earnings.
Both are raising my grand children with the same philosophy and my oldest grandson is a straight A student as a freshman in college, and my younger ones are 3.5 + students in high school and grade school and all have jobs.
My oldest grandson started his own lawn care business when he was 14, including buying his own mowers, and equipment.
When he turned 16 and bought a truck, he was earning over $6K a month, had two legal immigrants working for him and paid off all of his equipment loans.
I wondered why he went to college, but it's his choice.
I gave my kids love and opportunity, and they had an allowance {which they earned} and I always stressed the importance of work and productivity.
In the book “The Millionaire Next Door”, the authors detailed how children of millionaires who made their kids work for their money and didn’t constantly shower them with expensive gifts, fared much better in life than children of rich parents who were showered them with expensive gifts and money and didn’t make them work for any of it. The children who were not trained to manage money carefully many times dissipated their inheritance over a short period of time.
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