The ultimate cure for affluenza entitlement

[Nords]

Timber baron Wellington Burt didn't exactly disinherit his family when he died in 1919... he just decided to pass his fortune on to whoever was still alive 21 years after his last grandchild passed on.

Only 92 years later, it's time!

Shutting Out the Kids From the Family Fortune - The Wealth Report - WSJ

 

[REWahoo]

As usual, the comments are as interesting as the article:

How does a fortune estimated to be $90 million (see link below) appreciate by only $10 million dollars over a 102 year time span. Who are the trustees?

 

[Sarah in SC]

I, too, enjoyed that article. I think it odd that he chose to do that instead of setting out a charitable giving plan of some kind. But what a nice windfall for the great grands!

Did you also see the interview with Dan Ariely they featured yesterday? Mind Games: Lessons for the Irrational Investor - SmartMoney.com

 

[Nords]

As usual, the comments are as interesting as the article:
How does a fortune estimated to be $90 million (see link below) appreciate by only $10 million dollars over a 102 year time span. Who are the trustees?

The authors of "Bonds for the Long Run"...

 

[Major Tom]

As usual, the comments are as interesting as the article:

Probably worth a lot more than it would have been had he left it to his kids.

 

[Running_Man]

Quote:
Originally Posted by REWahoo
As usual, the comments are as interesting as the article:
How does a fortune estimated to be $90 million (see link below) appreciate by only $10 million dollars over a 102 year time span. Who are the trustees?

The authors of "Bonds for the Long Run"...
__________________
*
Curious as to if this was true, found the link in the Wikipedia article claiming this is not valid, so the source could not be counted. However I then researched a little more and found a source:

http://blog.mlive.com/saginawnews_i...=/2011/05/wellingtons_millions_great-gre.html

This article claims the value was 40 to 90 million, as much of the value was actually in land and mine holdings. But this appears to be solely just someones guess and not a matter of historical record.

However there were multiple and ongoing for years lawsuits against the estate and that the heirs were able to extract title to mine leases estimated to be 5 million of that value and nearly a million dollars from the will on 2 occasions. Also the state of Michigan greatly increased property taxes on the land he owned.

Interestingly enough during his lifetime in the process of becoming and maintaining a wealthy lifestyle he bought and sold land and invested in many foreign bonds (Germany, Russia, Japan, South America) but fortunately for his family at his death all the money was put into a local bank in Michigan and not left in foreign bonds as those indebted countries were taken over by crazed leaders, remember that in 1919 the USA was doing quite well and US government bonds did not exist as the US government had no debt.

Mid-Michigan Remembers

 

[Independent]

I'm sure that if I were one of his grandchildren, I wouldn't have worried about leaving an inheritance for my kids.

 

[Nords]

I'm sure that if I were one of his grandchildren, I wouldn't have worried about leaving an inheritance for my kids.

I wasn't planning to worry about that anyway...

 

[Gumby]

As a side note, the Rule Against Perpetuities, which was applicable in most if not all states at the time of Mr. Burt's death, did not allow a person to prevent the distribution of their estate any longer than 21 years after the death of some person then alive. He might have wanted to prevent a distribution even longer, but was legally unable to do so.