Help, I m Rich!: Your Compass to a Value-Adding Private Banking Experience

Chapter 17 How Wealth Can Undermine Emotional Maturity

“Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations” is a proverb describing the common occurrence that the money that was made in the first generation is all spent by the time it is supposed to reach the fourth generation. In that sense, the next generations pose a serious, maybe the biggest, threat to the preservation of family wealth.

Also in other areas (e.g., lottery winners, rich sportspeople) we observe the phenomenon that wealth seems to come with some sort of self-destructive force.

“I have worked very hard my whole life and I have been rewarded for that. For a number of reasons I feel good about this. First, people look up to me and see me as a successful individual. This strokes my ego. I have achieved something. I am somebody. Second, my wealth gives me the opportunity to do exciting things: travel to exotic places, buy the private jet I always dreamed of. Third, my kids and their kids are well taken care of. My gift to them is that they don’t need to go through the hardship that I had to go through. Lastly, I am in a position to help people who are less privileged than I am. Giving to those who need it makes me feel really good and has a lasting impact—at least I won’t be forgotten so easily.”

Mary Sullivan seems happy and fulfilled. How about her kids? Apart from her money, will they also inherit her happiness and sense of fulfillment? Not necessarily; not all the reasons that explain Mary’s deep sense ...