A recent SMA Institute blog about leaving inheritances to charities that teach financial literacy, received shocking debate. Responses ranged from the brutish, by those feeling entitled to family money because they were at the very least, born. To those who believed giving children anything unearned was damaging.
The article, “Entire Estates to Charity,” simply provided options for high net worth families to leave their money to charity—because, knowledge capital and relationship capital that children acquire in such families is sufficient enough to create healthy financial lives without inheritance.
Less fortunate children not routinely reared with financial awareness, need to learn those lessons on their own later in life. Ergo donating family wealth to institutions that educate children of lesser means, with the same training as rich kids. Thus, balancing social and economic responsibility for all.
This also sends every child the message that people will not bail you out of poor decisions or laziness. The hardest job for any parent is letting children fail but failure is the natural path to achievement. Thomas Edison made over 1000 attempts at inventing the light bulb. Saints and scholars, ain’t we all!
Not only will gifting help less fortunate children, it will help everyone from entitlement blowback that deteriorates the fabric of capitalism. Showering kids with niceties is fine but as adults, they must know it’s up to them to earn their own way. Anything less, keeps them from reaching full potential.
However, those who have not learned lessons by provenance, because of exclusionary demographics, need to get a leg up on adulthood competition. Therefore, estates left to appropriate organizations can teach financial literacy and fund college educations, to even out social equations.
Nobody would give an adult money without something in return. Giving children inheritances is not much different. Independence, rooted in individual, must be developed. Otherwise we increase societal entitlements. So lesson one for children—own all your choices once you are an adult.
One woman’s daughter asked to be bailed out of debt after four years of marriage. She told her. “Rescuing you would be a blow to your husbands’ masculinity and you would lose respect for him and your marriage could fail.” We say, touché. Forcing them to work through crisis brings them closer.
Resistance to this came from materialized children angry the spicket would be shut off. Not to be sardonic but increased pathocracy, sociopathology, and borderline personality disorders in modern society, has given way to a substantial and chronic need to blame others.
Allowing adult children to solve their own issues hurts but it’s the best option. Otherwise dependency is never-ending and eventually divides families. Teaching children to make their own money motivates—while inheritance shouts out, ‘no need to work too hard’.
In a rapidly changing world, fueled by uncertainties and fierce competition, SMA Institute research is clear. Millionaires are made not born. However, any level of achievement or economic stability comes first from complete adult responsibility before financial literacy can take hold.
Kevin Palmer Arizona
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