William M. Batten

“ You can be disadvantaged in many ways, and one may be not having had to struggle. ”

James Patterson, Jr.

In a Wall Street Journal profile of his father (WSJ, March 5, 2001, p. 1, col. 6), James Patterson, Jr. was asked what “ breaks ” his father gave him to help him get into the business.  Jim, Jr. responded:  “ I was promised two things: No money, no job.”   His father said he hired his son only after he “ proved himself on his own.”

Warren Buffet

Warren Buffett has expressed clear views on the topic of inherited wealth, such as in a Fortune article in 1986 (September 29, 1986 at p. 18) that focused entirely on the question: “ Should I Leave it All to the Children? ”   The cover of the magazine gave Mr. Buffett’s emphatic “ no ” for an answer, and the article stated:

Buffett is not cutting his children out of his fortune because they are wastrels or wantons or refuse to go into the family business - the traditional reasons rich parents withhold money.  Says he: 

“ My kids are going to carve out their own place in this world, and they know I’m for them whatever they want to do.”   But he believes that setting up his heirs with “ a lifetime supply of food stamps just because they came out of the right womb ” can be “ harmful ” for them and is “an antisocial act.”   To him the perfect amount to leave children is “enough money so that they would feel they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing.”    For a college graduate, Buffett reckons “a few hundred thousand dollars ” sounds about right.

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