Understanding Differences between Wealth's Immigrants and Native-born Citizens
A surprising statistic is that typically 75% - 80% of wealthy households have come to wealth within their lifetime. Only about 20% of the wealthy have been raised with inherited wealth. First-generation wealthy families ("New Money") are much like immigrants, having traveled from the economic culture of their birth to a much higher economic level, what we might consider "the Land of Wealth." Lottery winners, recipients of sudden windfalls, and those marrying into wealthy families from modest backgrounds are immigrants of a different type who make the journey suddenly. The affluent who were born into wealthy families and raised in fortunate circumstances ("Old Money") are akin to "natives of the Land of Wealth" and have different perspectives on money, life, and identity.
Many of the stresses experienced by individuals and families of affluence are similar to other types of immigrant experience, including the strains between first-generation parents and their native-born children and grandchildren. This analogy is explored in a series of articles for families and wealth managers, with recommendations for how to approach these issues by the trusted and thoughtful advisor.
Immigration To The Land of Wealth - (with colleagues Dennis Jaffe and Keith Whitaker) Private Wealth Magazine, March/April 2009
Immigrants and Natives to Wealth: Understanding Clients Based on Their Wealth Origins - (with Dennis Jaffe) Journal of Financial Planning, July 2007
Acquirers' and Inheritors' Dilemma: Discovering Life Purpose and Building Personal Identity in the Presence of Wealth - (with Dennis Jaffe)The Journal of Wealth Management, Fall 2007
The broad population of affluent families contains many high-achieving individuals with ADHD and/or learning disorders (LD). In one of the few published articles on this important topic, Dr. Jim Grubman and colleague Dr. Jerry Schultz discuss one family's situation and how the strengths and stresses of ADHD/LD can be managed successfully in wealth management.
Whirlwinds and Wealth: Entrepreneurs, ADHD, and Wealth Management - Wealth Manager Magazine, July 2010
Many families tend to avoid talking about money, unfortunately with wide-ranging consequences. Children can be left in the dark about how to think about money or handle their finances, creating needless mystery and anxiety around money. This anxiety gets carried into adulthood and passed on in marriages and in parenting, thereby repeating the pattern.
Wealthy families are not necessarily more adept at talking about money than middle-class families. They may in fact communicate less, due to a culture of secrecy around wealth. Yet affluent parents possess much information which the children eventually need to know. All too often, this information doesn't come out until circumstances force the issue.
There are ways to understand the differences between healthy privacy and unhealthy secrecy. The following article can help clarify know how and when to face anxieties and break the silence around money.
Privacy versus Secrecy - The More than Money Journal, Winter 2001.
A great financial advisor is not unlike a great doctor. Like healthcare professionals, advisors must be skilled in technical knowledge while highly adept at empathy and support. Financial advising is, at its core, a helping profession.
Financial service clients can and should expect their advisors to be trustworthy, attentive, and compassionate. What should you do if these qualities are missing in the advising relationship? This article addresses the tricky but important steps to be taken to insure the relationship succeeds.
Creating Great Relationships with Advisors - The More than Money Journal, May 2005
