Is being born rich as glamorous as it seems?
My name is Cory, I am the President of Creative Return and the host of The Insider’s Guide To Finance. The following are my insights and learnings from the interviews and dealings I have with talented entrepreneurs, operators, and financiers. I hope you find them valuable in your endeavours.
Somehow I fell into reading Vanderbilt, The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by Anderson Cooper.
The book profiles the Vanderbilt family from their earliest days in America, the growth of their mega fortunes from shipping and railways, and ultimately the failure that followed as successive generations inherited unimaginable wealth.
Wealth is an interesting thing. We pursue it with the goal of ensuring stability and happiness for ourselves and our heirs. Some of us even dream of and build fortunes so large that they can be categorized as 'generational wealth'.
Noble as this may be on a primary level, it opens a door to the poverty of purpose. For me, the following quote sums this up:
"My life was never destined to be quite happy. . . . Inherited wealth is a real handicap to happiness. It is as certain death to ambition as cocaine is to morality."
After reading that and thinking hard, would you still wish to be born rich?
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