Social scientists generally agree that wealth must be sustained through more than three generations before being considered “old money”.
What is Generational Wealth? Generational wealth includes financial assets — such as property, investments, money, or anything with a monetary value — that you pass down from one generation to the next. Intangibles like financial education, values, and habits are an equally important part of the equation.
According to the “third-generation rule,” 70% of affluent families will have lost their wealth by the third generation. This economic adage addressing the longevity of multigenerational wealth has been well studied across cultures and professions.
Myth #1: Wealth Lasts Many Generations
But the truth is, around 70 percent of wealthy families lose their wealth by the second generation. Moreso, around 90 percent of families lose wealth by the third generation. There are many reasons why wealthy families are likely to lose their wealth over time.
The Chinese proverb “rags to rags in three generations” says that family wealth does not last for three generations. The first generation makes the money, the second spends it and the third sees none of the wealth.
Generational wealth refers to any kind of asset that families pass down to their children or grandchildren, whether in the form of cash, investment funds, stocks and bonds, properties or even entire companies.
One major reason family businesses fail is due to poor succession planning. Founders often leave the company or die without having left a proper succession plan in place. ... A proper succession plan entails naming the person to take over once the current head steps down or passes away.
Lots of rich people lose a lot of money simply by giving it away. They may lavish it upon friends and family, for example, perhaps flying around in private jets or floating on yachts. Or they may help out loved ones by paying their bills, buying them homes, and so on.
Generational wealth comes in two forms. The first is literal assets, be that inherited or gifted money, or bonds and stocks, or real estate, and/or family businesses. Gifting an adult child money for a down payment on a home is one of the most common ways of passing along generational wealth.
As noted above, generational curses are passed down through the actions of our parents and our own experiences. They're also passed down through story. We can all remember the stories we were told growing up and the explanations we were given. Some will remember the way they were treated.
The Vanderbilt Family
The Vanderbilts are one of America's oldest old money families. The family is of Dutch descent, and rose to prominence during the Gilded Age in the final decades of the 19th century.
Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870. He ran it until 1897, and remained its largest shareholder. Rockefeller's wealth soared as kerosene and gasoline grew in importance, and he became the richest person in the country, controlling 90% of all oil in the United States at his peak.
Was Jeff Bezos born rich? Jeff Bezos was not born into a wealthy family. His parents were 17 and 18 years old when he was born, and he worked on his maternal grandparents' ranch in Cotulla, Texas, early in his life.
The average life span of a family-owned business is 24 years (familybusinesscenter.com, 2010). About 40% of U.S. family-owned businesses turn into second-generation businesses, approximately 13% are passed down successfully to a third generation, and 3% to a fourth or beyond (Businessweek.com, 2010).
Their efforts on behalf of the family go well beyond simple caretaking of the founder's legacy. ... The second generation is therefore crucial to pivoting the family away from a single-minded focus on business development to a broader set of initiatives where family communication, governance, and cohesion are fostered.
One of the biggest dilemmas that affluent families face is the so-called third generation curse, which states that the majority of families will lose both their wealth and their business by the time it reaches the third generation.
They Lost Their Primary Stream of Income
If millionaires are relying on one primary stream of income, and that stream fails them, then they are in a position to go broke. ... And if their financial planner didn't anticipate the loss of income, they may not have enough money to pay off debts or maintain their lifestyle.
At $215 billion, the Waltons are the richest family in the world thanks to their massive stake in Walmart, the world's largest company by revenue. The fourth generation of the Mars family, the second-richest clan after the Waltons, currently runs the eponymously named Mars candy company.
Most social scientists estimate that it takes about three to five generations for a family's wealth or poverty to dissipate, but Clark says it takes a staggering ten to fifteen generations—300 to 450 years—and there's not much the government can do about it.
Fugger died in December 1525, at age 66. An accounting of his business released several years later placed his final wealth at 2.02 million florins. Seventeen generations later, during World War II, his descendants were still living off income derived from the business he built.