Why Even Ask Whether Wealth Has Adverse Affects on Children?

Why should people be concerned that children raised in a wealthy family are more “at risk” of failing to mature in some way?  Why should there be any connection at all -- or, on the other hand, is this risk clear enough to everyone just as a matter of common sense? 

Put another way, why is the question, “How much money should I leave to my children,” even asked?  Apart from the alternative goals, such as philanthropy, why shouldn't all wealth be passed to future generations of the family?

Possible answers come to us from many different directions.

First of all, it’s easy to see that many “wise men” in the business world in America have believed that inherited wealth retards ambition.

This view has been expressed in the past:

¨  William M. Batten, Founder of the New York Stock Exchange

And more recently, by famous and not quite so famous businessmen:

¨  James Patterson, Jr., eldest son of a successful magazine wholesaler

¨  Warren Buffet, renowned investor

Inheritors have voiced a similar view also:

¨  William K. Vanderbilt (1849-1920)

¨  Dexter D. Coffin III

The question of whether inherited wealth retards ambition is also raised by friends and associates of wealthy families, and by what they see in their own experience.  For example, the following are quotes from the September 29,1986 issue of Fortune magazine:

¨  Curtis L. Carlson

On the other hand, the concern is not universal: