Turning my future generations into Trillionaires

barnstar2077

I too think the potential number of descendants would make the sum seem insignificant.

Linton

Which future generation are you planning for? Once the money starts to be spent, that is the end of your grand scheme. You would need to make each generation believe it is in their interest to carry on the project.



The easiest way is financial eg they get a % of the returns if they do so. But that reduces long term growth and would have problems as the number of family members increases each generation. Religion has worked well in the past and has the benefit of being taxed as a charity. Another approach with some past success is to ensure each family member is imbued with a strong commitment to the long term well being of the family name. It does have the advantage of constraining the number of descendents but it's a bit tough on the females who marry out. They may not share your lofty aims.

steampowered

I would think the best way of turning future generations into trillionaires would be to invest in their education. Not by giving them money.

This means spending time on education and prioritising it - even more than just spending money on things like private schools.

For example making it clear in the evenings that getting homework done to a high standard is an absolute priority, and investing the time reading to your kids every night rather than watching TV.

Kids of successful parents tend to end up successful decades before getting any sort of inheritance or big financial help, and that is a big reason why.

reeac

Education plus being brought up in a household with books, yes, that's how we brought up our children who are now (jointly with their spouses) millionaires. The next generation, however, such as our 5 grandchildren will or do face a big problem with the housing market. A lump sum to pay or help with a deposit can avoid years of paying high rents whilst trying to save and that's what we've contributed to them. They all 5 seem to be very sensible and there's plenty of financial advice available within the family. SWMBO and I both came from poor families but are pleased to see the next generations getting better off ....that's progress.

eskbanker

To paraphrase the famous Richard Branson quote, there's a two-step process to becoming a trillionaire:

1. Become a quadrillionaire
2. Entrust management of your wealth to SJP....

Malthusian

Alexland wrote: »

Only if you live on a planet where savings accounts pay a consistently above inflation return and don't round the interest down to the nearest penny.

Plus all your cash would be worthless once the end of the universe was imminent anyway.

Nobody will accept cash for goods today if the universe is going to end tomorrow. So on the day before the universe ends, cash wlll be worthless.

And nobody will accept cash for goods if cash will be worthless tomorrow. So this logic extends backwards day after day, until the end of the universe is so far in the future that it ceases to matter. As soon as the end of the universe is close enough that it becomes a factor in living sentients' financial planning, cash becomes worthless.

Milliways' own advertising acknowledged that the concept of depositing (or investing) a single penny in the present and using the resulting sum to pay for a meal billions of years in the future was impossible. Hence its slogan "If you've done six impossible things before breakfast, why not round it off with breakfast at Milliways".

The way it must actually work is if food and other supplies are transported to Milliways via time travel, same as the patrons. Milliways can then afford to hand out the food and drink for free because it's the end of the universe and completely worthless. How much it cost Milliways to transport food to the restaurant via time travel is irrelevant as it's a sunk cost.

gadgetmind

I think you should focus on saving for your needs in later life. The best think for kids is a good education and a strong work ethic, and with those in place they'll get on just fine.

Read "The Millionaire Next Door" to see how inheritance (or even just promise of it) can damage kids.

bostonerimus

Malthusian wrote: »

Plus all your cash would be worthless once the end of the universe was imminent anyway.

This assumes that time is linear and only goes in one direction. Of course for Milliways to work compound interest would have to break T-symmetry,

reeac

gadgetmind wrote: »

I think you should focus on saving for your needs in later life. The best think for kids is a good education and a strong work ethic, and with those in place they'll get on just fine.

Read "The Millionaire Next Door" to see how inheritance (or even just promise of it) can damage kids.

I'd never heard of that book but I had a quick skim via the Web. One message was the obvious one that the way to get wealthy was to spend less than your income. Well big deal",
Regarding children, it seems that, as in other areas of behaviour, children may copy their parents' behaviour or may react against it. Thus children whose parents have accumulated wealth may follow the same pattern of behaviour or may, cushioned by family wealth, take the easy way out. This latter is the syndrome that some parents fear but it's really up to them to assess and guide their children in the area of inherited wealth. What I don't like is the attitude that "I had to struggle to get anywhere and so should they whilst we enjoy ourselves going on lots of cruises etc".

LHW99

Plus all your cash would be worthless once the end of the universe was imminent anyway.

This assumes that time is linear and only goes in one direction. Of course for Milliways to work compound interest would have to break T-symmetry,

Alternatively that you could hop across to another "string" with your cash prior to the end of that universe and find an equivalent Milliways that would accept GBP / $ / euro / .....