Drew

“If your kids are consumers, which most of us raise our kids to be, because our culture raises us to be, then [passing inherited wealth] is a bad idea. We consume and eat and fill ourselves with every technological, sexual, cultural, societal, and emotional pleasure possible. That is the goal of life. And if that's our way of life, then yes, it's a horrible idea to give someone an asset, simply for them to consume and destroy it... In business, passing assets is seen in the opposite way. This is how you build really strong companies. Some of the strongest companies in the world have collected and built and expanded resources every generation. So why is it seen as a bad idea in families? Here's why: business still center themselves around mission, whereas modern families are built around consumption. When mission is the focus, then building to pass something on is the goal. And a great idea.... If you believe we are primarily meant to consume things, then resources become a burden - as they will only stuff that person with more and more. If you believe we are meant to produce things and steward things, then more resources should mean more mission and multiplication of what you're already doing.”
― Jefferson Bethke, Take Back Your Family: From the Tyrants of Burnout, Busyness, Individualism, and the Nuclear Ideal