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: 18% [?]

Tonight, Wednesday evening,  25 March at 20:30 there will be a radio broadcast simultaneously from Johannesburg and Durban on regional radio. Topic: the Art of Public Speaking

• Ramon Thomas (Webmaster) will be interviewed in Johannesburg on Kaya FM (Masechaba Moshoeshoe)
  
• At the same time  Martyn Battrick will be interviewed in Durban  on Gagasi FM (interviewer Mzo)
  

Radio frequencies are as follows:

KayaFM  95.9 FM www.kayafm.co.za

GagasiFM 99.5 FM www.gagasi995.co.za

The web address is for online streaming on the respective websites – so you even if your are in Cape Town you can listen on the web. Nice, isn’t it?

Here’s some more background:

Johnnie Walker Black Label and Kaya FM and Gagasi FM will be introducing listeners to a discovery of the world around them, information that will add value to their lives in business, personal finance, investment and leisure. We seek to bring leading experts each month to help listeners discover more about the issues around them through the sharing of information, advice and useful tips.

The series began in the first week October where each week, a topic of interest to our listeners will be delved into. The show is a 30 minute Q & A session where listeners will also be invited to call in. We will prepare a guideline of questions that will pertain to the topic being discussed and we will then send it through to our guest for perusal and additions. We will also put our guest in contact with our presenters for any further queries they may have prior to the show itself. We will then ask our guest to come to the studio for the interview or have them do it telephonically.

Popularity: 50% [?]