3 ms·

Ask HN: Why do some rich parents want their children to make it own their own?

6 points by amichail 4y ago

Don't they realize that having money early in life is important for starting a successful company?

novantadue 4y ago
People don't feel velocity, only acceleration, starting from a point of wealth the children might get bored or just party all the time (see "Born Rich" documentary). I think its a great question: how to raise children from money, but not spoil them?
PaulHoule 4y ago
There is what they say (help them be independent) and what they do (help them be successful), see https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/buffett-kingston-sean-cooper https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/buffett-kin...
- buescher 4y ago
  Some of the reason the very rich say that is to encourage others to invest less in their own kids.
throwawaysleep 4y ago
Most of the ones saying that hardly care about their families. Elon Musk clearly is more interested in breeding than being a father. Bill Gates clearly doesn't care much about his family.
t-3 4y ago
Why does anyone do anything? It's not like there's a playbook to life that you can study and use to guarantee the supremacy of your genes throughout the ages, everyone has to make their own decisions. Some of those decisions won't make sense to other people, but other people have their own decisions to make that won't make sense to their observers either.
jstx1 4y ago
> Don't they realize that having money early in life is important for starting a successful company? - this isn't necessarily something they want to optimize for - there's a lot more to growing up wealthy than just the balance of your bank account (opportunities, education, connections, name recognition, not having to work from very young age) - their children do have money early in life, lots of it too. People like Buffet or Gates have left their children multiple millions of dollars just not all the billions they have.
- AnimalMuppet 4y ago
  > this isn't necessarily something they want to optimize for Exactly. Maybe they want to optimize for character. Or happiness. "Starting a successful company" is not most parents' top priority for their children.
gcheong 4y ago
Depends on who and how rich: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0342143/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0342143/
is_true 4y ago
Your hypothesis is that they want to start a company, most kids I know from rich families just want to "enjoy life"
edmundsauto 4y ago
Those that genuinely want their kids to make it on their own probably believe that having things handed to them will limit character and resiliency.
rdtwo 4y ago
If you start at 100M do you really need to turn it into 1B?. Better to start at 1-10m and then lean how to use that. Then daddy can bail you out for another 10 if things go wrong

6 points by amichail 4y ago

Don't they realize that having money early in life is important for starting a successful company?

People don't feel velocity, only acceleration, starting from a point of wealth the children might get bored or just party all the time (see "Born Rich" documentary). I think its a great question: how to raise children from money, but not spoil them?

PaulHoule 4y ago

There is what they say (help them be independent) and what they do (help them be successful), see https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/buffett-kingston-sean-cooper https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/buffett-kin...

buescher 4y ago
Some of the reason the very rich say that is to encourage others to invest less in their own kids.

throwawaysleep 4y ago

Most of the ones saying that hardly care about their families. Elon Musk clearly is more interested in breeding than being a father. Bill Gates clearly doesn't care much about his family.

t-3 4y ago

Why does anyone do anything? It's not like there's a playbook to life that you can study and use to guarantee the supremacy of your genes throughout the ages, everyone has to make their own decisions. Some of those decisions won't make sense to other people, but other people have their own decisions to make that won't make sense to their observers either.

jstx1 4y ago

> Don't they realize that having money early in life is important for starting a successful company? - this isn't necessarily something they want to optimize for - there's a lot more to growing up wealthy than just the balance of your bank account (opportunities, education, connections, name recognition, not having to work from very young age) - their children do have money early in life, lots of it too. People like Buffet or Gates have left their children multiple millions of dollars just not all the billions they have.

AnimalMuppet 4y ago
> this isn't necessarily something they want to optimize for Exactly. Maybe they want to optimize for character. Or happiness. "Starting a successful company" is not most parents' top priority for their children.

gcheong 4y ago

Depends on who and how rich: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0342143/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0342143/

is_true 4y ago

Your hypothesis is that they want to start a company, most kids I know from rich families just want to "enjoy life"

edmundsauto 4y ago

Those that genuinely want their kids to make it on their own probably believe that having things handed to them will limit character and resiliency.

rdtwo 4y ago

If you start at 100M do you really need to turn it into 1B?. Better to start at 1-10m and then lean how to use that. Then daddy can bail you out for another 10 if things go wrong