“ The almighty dollar bequeathed to a child is an almighty curse. No man has the right to handicap his son with such a burden as great wealth” Andrew Carnegie.
There are many rich people who are very successful and amassed large amount of wealth during their lifetimes. I am glad that some of them like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, the two world richest men, have decided to set foundations to help the poor and to donate to medical research funds and universities.
These rich and wise men know that they cannot bring their money along when they die. They also know that they should not leave all their money to their children. They have decided to leave just enough for their children to have a head start and donated the rest to the foundations and NGO/charities they support.
Andrew Carnegie is right. If you leave great wealth to your children you are actually cursing them. The next generation will take many things for granted and lose the fighting and survival instinct.
I am a father with two children. I told both my children that the best thing I can give them is to make sure they have a good education. Like the great philanthropists, we can leave something for them to give them a head start. The future is theirs and they have to earn it themselves.
They are many poor Asian children out there who have nothing. Some of them don’t even have parents or a roof over their head. Many of them don’t even know how to read A, B, C.
I think it is only fair for us who can afford a little more in life to give what we could to help these poor Asian children to have a head start. These poor children did not choose to be born into poverty. It is the right thing and the humane thing to do our part to give these poor children a fighting chance in life. At the very least they should be given an opportunity to have a basic education.
(I took a photo of this sweet little girl who lives in a poor kampong in Cambodia. She deserves a good education. Who is going to give her an opportunity to have a head start in life?)
I really don’t understand why some rich people insist on leaving large sums of inheritance to their children. Can anyone tell me why? Perhaps it is a cultural or a religious philosophy which I don’t understand. Perhaps they have never thought about the matter. Perhaps they have gone through difficult childhood because their own parents were not rich and they felt they should make a difference by making sure that their own children have an easier life and a better future.
I may be wrong in my view. Can anyone enlighten me on why some super rich people don’t give to charity but decide to leave everything to their children to squander away? Hey, they are in fact cursing their own children like what Andrew Carnegie said in the quote above.
Well, sometimes the rich don’t know what else to do with the money.
I would add that they hadn’t experienced the satisfaction in seeing their dollar giving the poor opportunities, in a sustainable way, for a better life.
As you know, not many are like Bill & Melinda Gates – who once said their children will not get much of their wealth.
I believe people leave money behind to their kids bec they are guilty that they’ve not left more precious things (eg. happiness, love, time) to their kids.
It’s much easier to leave money behind (since you cant take it with you when you die) than to give your kids your time when you are alive.
This is all that selfish parents can leave to their kids!
this is so true. i’ve seen so many children squander wealth. there’s a chinese saying, 家富不过三代. in some cases this is so true cos many of these rich kids are just spoilt and dunno the value of $$
Fully agree with you. In fact when you leave behind too much money without a proper will you can end up causing fights and feud in the the family. There are so many of such stories in the news. Give all your money to your children when you die and you will drive him/her to embrace materialism.
Giving breaks the chains of mammon that would enslave us and our children.
This is very true, no child or human knows how to handle wealth place on a platter. Many end up poorer in health, mentality, character and are a wasted life.