Actually, Forbes is as prejudiced as Occupy.  You can’t generalize about us one percenters.  Some have indeed provided excellent products and services, or done good philanthropic work.  Some have made money without doing much really productive for society, like hedgefunders.  And 10% of the 1% didn’t do anything at all, and are just trying to [...]

I recently saw a film called The Descendants, about a large family of landed aristocratic background in Hawaii.  Though the Hawaiian setting is interesting, it is a story that could happen in many cultures – California is not without a landed aristocracy of its own.  Matt King, the character played by George Clooney, is the [...]

The Wall Street Journal reports an a wealth camp for heirs. Something like that would be a great thing for trustfunders, especially the ‘true’ trustfunders who will probably not be going into ‘business.’  Heirs often have mental blocks about the complexities of trusts, estates, investments, and such things that they are often assumed to know [...]

In a recent newsletter of the evangelical The Gathering, Erik Johnson and Gabriel Schulze discuss the question of whether it is wise to leave money to your children.  I have some opinions about that.  Here are the options: As Ron Blue put it, “Do your givin’ while you’re livin’ so you’re knowin’ where its goin’.” [...]

I enjoyed Jonathan Chait’s review of two books about Ayn Rand’s world in a recent New Republic. I have not actually read the books reviewed, but I, and members of my family, have been at various times exposed to and fascinated by Ayn Rand, from her first novel, We the Living, which is possibly her [...]