The challenge of super-rich parents
Cyril Chessex delivered this very entertaining speech on 4 August for his ACB8 and was awarded the trophy for best prepared speaker.
Children and problems come as a package deal.
Each package deal may have a slightly different wrapping.
However, ALL parents – irrespective of the size of their wallets – have parental problems to solve.
Some people believe that super-rich parents have no or fewer problems.
Wrong! Wrong!
Super-rich parents simply have DIFFERENT parental problems.
For example, super-rich parents face one PARTICULARLY delicate issue.
It is managing their children’s expectations in respect of money and inheritance.
It is delicate because money is to people what water is to plants.
Too little of it leads to slow growth.
Too much of it leads to rot.
Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have done a good job at dealing with the issue of money and their children.
Let us look at HOW both billionaires handled the matter.
First Bill Gates.
Well, he chose to be explicit on the subject of inheritance at an early stage.
He openly announced that, upon his death, most of his wealth would be donated…..
…. and that his children would inherit USD 10 mio each.
USD 10 mio is an amount he considers large enough for anyone to start up a business…..
……but too small for his children to already now rest on their laurels
and wait for him to kick the bucket.
Now, what about: Warren Buffet?
Well, Buffet is a reluctant spender by nature.
In addition, Buffet has always been inflexible about requests for money from his children.
Consequently, the children grew up without expecting money from their father.
Back then…., they knew that their ONLY chance of getting serious money from their father was by way of a financial deal.
One story goes that Buffet made a deal with his already married daughter Susy.
He felt that Susy could lose a few kilos.
So, he proposed the following deal.
Against losing a certain amount of weight, Susy could shop for clothes for one month….. with NO limit on spending.
There was a catch, however.
The catch was that Susy would have to pay him back if she regained the weight within ONE year.
Susy agreed to the deal and went on diet.
When Susy got down to the agreed weight, her mother sent Suzy credit cards with a note saying “Have fun”.
At first Susy did not dare spend a dime.
She was frightened by the thought of asking her father to pay the bills.
However, Susy, being after all a woman, eventually worked herself up and started shopping.
After thirty days she had spent a total of USD 47’000.—, which is about R 350’000.–
Susy thought her father was going to die over the amount.
But, since a deal is a deal Buffet paid the full amount without saying a word.
Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Children are not easy.
When it comes to money and finance, children are guaranteed problems…
EVEN for the super-rich as you heard.
So, to those of you who don’t have children YET,
I suggest you bear in mind the following words of Clarence Darrow:
“The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents, and the second half by our children.”
Popularity: 17% [?]
