Quote: (01-07-2015 08:32 AM)NovaVirtu Wrote:
Everyone I've met with a trust fund seems a little fucked up in one way or another.
I have two friends in this situation. Both come from an Old Money blue blood WASP family and have never wanted for anything.
One used to be massively egocentric and entitled, until enough people called him out on it that it brought him down to earth and he's become a much more chill and likable guy. I enjoy hanging out with him. Still, he's almost 29 and has never had a real job.
...
Seems like taking away all the struggle of life can be one of the worst things you can do for your kids.
Yup - met quite a few of those mostly due to my private banking job in the past and later on through friends.
What I later on realized and recommended to others was this:
If you do not have the time or the patience to be a good parent to your child, it's better to send them off (best at an early age from 6 to 10) to an excellent boarding school in Germany or Switzerland - Salem etc. - a school where money is not an issue (since everyone has it) and the teachers are fantastic - in terms of academics as well as in raising the kids into moral, self-disciplined people.
I would not recommend boarding schools for teenagers on - most of the fucked up mentality has been embedded by then and they will likely rebel at such a school and be thrown out - I've seen that too often myself.
There are a multitude of ways in order for their kids to turn out more or less decent and balanced - you just have to study the long-term wealthy families and do it similarly. Obviously this Hedge Fund manager did nothing of that sort.
Also sometimes you have to realize is that not all your kids will be willing or able to be worthy heirs of the family fortune. You have to be willing to let one son go their own way and support him nonetheless. If his father were smart, he would have other kids and would know that it's sufficient if his son has a super-smart ambitious son - sometimes it just skips a generation - that's not a problem really, if you take a long-term approach.