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Except there’s a 40% estate tax still levied at each generation. Plus unlike European aristocracy, American plutocrats rarely intermarry. Even if you’re only re

Except there’s a 40% estate tax still levied at each generation. Plus unlike European aristocracy, American plutocrats rarely intermarry. Even if you’re only reproducing at replacement, your wealth gets diluted by 50% each generation. Stack the two and you’re getting slashed by 80% every generation. Don’t take my word for it. How many fourth generational heirs do we see among America’s wealthiest billionaires? Essentially zero.

deleted 5y ago
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movedx 5y ago
There are ways around this in the UK system, however. It's probably the same case in the US. The short of it is you transfer the wealth well before (15-20 years) the death occurs, thus there is no inheritance. This was used recently by an MP. That being said I agree with your thoughts, however: > How many fourth generational heirs do we see among America’s wealthiest billionaires? Essentially zero. This is probably true but I'd like to ask the question: how many of them simply inherit a lot of money without any of the fame associated with it, and just go unnoticed? I've met such a person, actually. EDIT: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-36009963 https://www.bbc.com/news/business-36009963 - this is what I was thinking about.
- dragonwriter 5y ago
  > There are ways around this in the UK system, however. It's probably the same case in the US. The short of it is you transfer the wealth well before (15-20 years) the death occurs, thus there is no inheritance. So, you pay gift taxes instead. Unless you use fake business transactions.
mywittyname 5y ago
> How many fourth generational heirs do we see among America’s wealthiest billionaires? Essentially zero. Quite a few. Not sure how long you would make four generations, but let's say 100 years. There are the obvious famous families; Ford, Rockafellers, Du Pont, Mellon, Mars, Hearst, SC Johnson ("a family company"), etc. But there are a number of billionaire families that aren't recognized much outside of their "home towns" because they started mundane things like retail stores or own mineral rights. That's not even getting into families whose wealth has diluted, but whose descendents are politicians, actors, or otherwise notable / influential people. Granted, most billion dollar businesses are <4 generations old, but more sophisticated investment vehicles exists for preserving wealth than existed even 50 years ago.
- megaman821 5y ago
  So at least on this list, https://www.forbes.com/forbes-400/ https://www.forbes.com/forbes-400/, the vast majority do not have families that been on the list (or would have potentially been on the list if it existed 100 years ago) for 4 generations.
  - bryanlarsen 5y ago
    The list of billionaire families would be very different than the list of billionaire individuals. For example, there are currently 86 Ford heirs.
opportune 5y ago
I went to a an expensive private school for college and there were a lot of old money students there. They didn’t all have the last name “Carnegie” or something else imminently recognizable, of course. Plus, that money may get divided and spent over time, but it’s usually invested. It’s not like after 100 years it’s the same amount of money adjusted for inflation, if the next generations didn’t mismanage it.

deleted 5y ago

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movedx 5y ago

There are ways around this in the UK system, however. It's probably the same case in the US. The short of it is you transfer the wealth well before (15-20 years) the death occurs, thus there is no inheritance. This was used recently by an MP. That being said I agree with your thoughts, however: > How many fourth generational heirs do we see among America’s wealthiest billionaires? Essentially zero. This is probably true but I'd like to ask the question: how many of them simply inherit a lot of money without any of the fame associated with it, and just go unnoticed? I've met such a person, actually. EDIT: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-36009963 https://www.bbc.com/news/business-36009963 - this is what I was thinking about.

dragonwriter 5y ago
> There are ways around this in the UK system, however. It's probably the same case in the US. The short of it is you transfer the wealth well before (15-20 years) the death occurs, thus there is no inheritance. So, you pay gift taxes instead. Unless you use fake business transactions.

mywittyname 5y ago

> How many fourth generational heirs do we see among America’s wealthiest billionaires? Essentially zero. Quite a few. Not sure how long you would make four generations, but let's say 100 years. There are the obvious famous families; Ford, Rockafellers, Du Pont, Mellon, Mars, Hearst, SC Johnson ("a family company"), etc. But there are a number of billionaire families that aren't recognized much outside of their "home towns" because they started mundane things like retail stores or own mineral rights. That's not even getting into families whose wealth has diluted, but whose descendents are politicians, actors, or otherwise notable / influential people. Granted, most billion dollar businesses are <4 generations old, but more sophisticated investment vehicles exists for preserving wealth than existed even 50 years ago.

megaman821 5y ago
So at least on this list, https://www.forbes.com/forbes-400/ https://www.forbes.com/forbes-400/, the vast majority do not have families that been on the list (or would have potentially been on the list if it existed 100 years ago) for 4 generations.
- bryanlarsen 5y ago
  The list of billionaire families would be very different than the list of billionaire individuals. For example, there are currently 86 Ford heirs.

opportune 5y ago

I went to a an expensive private school for college and there were a lot of old money students there. They didn’t all have the last name “Carnegie” or something else imminently recognizable, of course. Plus, that money may get divided and spent over time, but it’s usually invested. It’s not like after 100 years it’s the same amount of money adjusted for inflation, if the next generations didn’t mismanage it.