2. 职称英语
  3. Why the Super-Rich Aren’t Leaving Much of Their Fortunes to Their KidsA

Why the Super-Rich Aren’t Leaving Much of Their Fortunes to Their KidsA

游客2024-02-02  11
问题         Why the Super-Rich Aren’t Leaving Much of Their Fortunes to Their Kids
A)What do Sting, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have in common? All three have huge fortunes, and none of them are giving them to their kids. Sting just revealed that most of his $ 300 million would not end up with his six adult children. The musician said that he certainly didn’t want to leave them trust funds that are obstacles round their necks. " They have to work. All my kids know that and they rarely ask me for anything, which I really respect and appreciate. "
B)Bill and Melinda Gates are giving a reported $ 10 million for each of their three children: pocket change compared with their $ 76 billion. Buffett’s three kids each have a $ 2 billion foundation funded by Dear Old Dad. The rest of his money goes to charity, just like Gates and several other billionaires who have invested their vast fortunes in improving the world. As Buffett famously put it, the perfect amount to leave children is " enough money so that they would feel they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing. "
C)All those spoiled rich kids with more money than sense won’t make smart choices or live healthy, productive lives if they have unlimited access to the money they inherit. Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson has stated she has no intention of leaving a substantial inheritance: "I am determined that my children should have no financial security. It ruins people not having to earn money. "
D)Wealthy families have always struggled with this issue. But the same drama is now playing out on a smaller scale for millions of baby boomers(婴儿潮时期出生的人), who hesitate to give away $30 trillion over the next 30 years—the largest transfer of wealth in American history. What used to be a private family matter has become a public discussion about wealth, privilege and personal responsibility. Who gets the big money? Should it be the heirs? Or are they better off without it?
E)"We probably struggled over this more than any other issue," says a local self-made multimillionaire. The businessman and his wife, worth hundreds of millions, grew up modestly in middle-class families and wanted to create a financial plan that would take care of their children—but not spoil them—if the couple died suddenly. "We were fearful of what might happen if they had control of a large amount of money at a young age," he says. "The more we stared at that, the more we became uncomfortable. "
F)Inspired by Buffett’s example, they created trusts for each of their now college-age children. Each kid has $2. 5 million controlled by trustees, who can release money only for education, health care, a home purchase or a business start-up. Any unspent money in the trust will continue to be invested and grow. Those restrictions remain in place until each child reaches age 40: after that, the money is all theirs to do as they please. By 40, their parents assume they will be mature enough to use the money wisely or save it as a safety net. The rest of the multimillion-dollar family fortune is going to a foundation, which will eventually be managed by the children and can be used only for charity. The kids are aware of the trusts and the planning that went into them. " They really are thrilled with it," their father says. "They want to be their own persons. " A huge inheritance, he believes, can be a lifelong trap for children of rich parents. " I didn’t want them to look in the mirror and say, ’Who am I?’" G)Whether having so much money is good or bad for trust-fund babies depends on how the family has prepared the kids, their personal qualities and how well they handle the pressures of great wealth and the fear of not inheriting. For every party girl like Paris Hilton, there’s an Ivanka Trump, who got a business degree from Wharton and has made her family’s money and famous name valuable into a prosperous career. Johnson used his inheritance to launch a filmmaking career and to live, all things considered, a relatively normal life in New York. "In my case, it turned out to be a great benefit," he says.
H)Most parents want to protect their children from the dark excesses of money—drugs, legal troubles, and so on—and preserve the family fortune for future generations. That usually doesn’t work out: The first generation makes the money, the second spends the majority of it, and the third drains the rest. Hence the old saying goes like " Shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves in three generations. " Traditionally, the wealthy gave all their money to their children and grandchildren, and then hoped for the best. Baby boomers, says consulting firm Accenture managing director Bob Gach, are living longer and struggling to balance their own retirement needs and interests with their children’s welfare. Boomers are different from previous generations: more likely to give away money while they’re still alive, more concerned about their adult children finding and keeping jobs. Excess properties typically go into tax-protected trusts.
I)There are really good reasons to leave a legacy(遗产)in a thoughtful way—ways that promote the production and healthy lifestyles. Many trusts are structured to distribute inheritances at the specific ages determined in advance. A common practice is to give a third at 25, a third at 30 and the rest at 35. Some inheritances are set up to encourage the heirs to graduate from college, marry or hold a job for a specific amount of years before any money will be released.
J)A lot of people don’t like to talk about money because they don’t want the kids to know how much they’re actually worth or what they might inherit. Although adult children in the United States have no legal rights to their parents’ money, it’s rare for heirs to get cut off with nothing. But that doesn’t mean they get everything. Bill Gates, the world’s richest man, won’t disclose the exact amount each of his three kids will inherit, but he said they’ll get an "unbelievable" education and health care and the reported $ 10 million, which still puts them firmly in the One Percent—but not even close to their self-made father’s billions. For that, they’ll have to found their own empire. In terms of their income, they will have to pick a job they like and go to work. [br] How to deal with the big property has turned into a public concern instead of a private issue.
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答案 D
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