Inherited Wealth Squandered By Third Generation

Posted by Milton Recht:

From The Wall Street Journal, "Lost Inheritance" by Missy Sullivan:

But if the past is any prelude, inheritors, especially those who are new to the family-windfall phenomenon, face an unpleasant reality: They're likely to blow it. Although it's not widely discussed, financial advisers say that new riches prove particularly hard to hold onto—and even harder to patiently nurture and grow. Indeed, research shows that family money rarely survives the transfer for long, with 70 percent evaporated by the end of the second generation. By the end of the third? Ninety percent. Hence the old saw, "Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations."

Source: The Wall Street Journal