Quote:
Originally Posted by MarchHare
There's something to be said for people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett who are donating almost all of their wealth to charity instead of giving it to their children. Buffett once said (paraphrasing), "I want my children to have enough money that they can afford to do anything; I don't want them to have so much money that they can afford to do nothing."
I also read a story about Yu Pengnian, a billionaire philanthropist in China, who is giving away his entire fortune. When asked why he wasn't leaving anything to his children, he replied, “If my children are competent, they don’t need my money. If they’re not, leaving them a lot of money is only doing them harm.”
My wife and I are never having children. Are you saying that we have no incentive to accumulate wealth since we'll have no offspring to leave it to?
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As someone who is also not having children, I understand where you are coming from. My girlfriend is Chinese and their family's philosophy is about passing down wealth to the next generation. We will likely be leaving our assets to her sister's children/grandchildren. There definitely is incentive to make their lives better and give them more opportunities than we had, so my original line doesn't hold up as strong as it did in my head.
My wording was not as clear as I wanted it to be. I was referring to the families that do want to leave it to their direct children. I was trying to infer that I can see some people not wanting to earn or accumulate as much if they aren't allowed to pass it down. Obviously, as you have pointed out, there are other things you can do with it.
I still stand by my main point that if a family wants to keep the wealth in the family and continue to grow that each generation, they have the right to do so. I encourage them to do so. I, nor any other person, should be able to tell them what to do with their wealth. No person is entitled to another family's wealth, just because the current generation didn't directly earn it.