SMART MOVE
Money doesn’t affect choices
I disagree that children who have access to large inheritance won’t make smart choices or live a productive life because making smart choices are not related only to wealth or the lack of it nor does it affect the ability to live a productive life.
A host of factors contribute to making smart choices, such as education, life experiences, the ability to think rationally, confidence and the courage to stand up for what you believe in and the resources that you are given. Therefore, all these are not necessarily affected by the presence or absence of wealth.
By disinheriting your children, parents are not really promoting productivity and a healthy lifestyle because by removing the wealth factor, you cannot ensure a productive and healthy lifestyle. Instead, it is something that can be instilled in children depending on how they are brought up. Right from the beginning, consistent parenting with a judicious mix of love and discipline will go a long way. However, what the parents decide to do with their wealth is entirely their choice, whether to leave it to their own children or to donate it to a philanthropic cause. After all, it is the result of their toil and sweat.
It is definitely every parent’s responsibility to ensure that they give their children the best life possible, not just financially, but in terms of values and life skills. It is their duty to be good stewards of this priceless gift they are entrusted with.
From Ms Elizabeth Eapen
Teacher based in Sharjah
TEACHING WELL
Not everyone is a Nehru or Lincoln!
The pros and cons of leaving a large inheritance to children who have never shared the responsibility and hardship of raising it, has always been a debatable issue. Would it help to raise equally hardworking heirs who would gratefully protect the gift received from their caring parents? Or would it only help in raising irresponsible prodigals and spendthrifts who would dip themselves in luxuries and vices and drain the hard earned wealth of their loving parents?
We can quote enough instances to illustrate both sides.
Pandit Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India was an heir to the vast wealth of his multimillionaire father. The caring father used his wealth to educate his son in one of the most covetable universities in the UK and instead of pampering him with money and comforts alone, equally devoted much of his time and efforts to teach him the importance of love and care for his fellow beings and the reciprocity expected of him. The exemplary guidance and discipline that he thus received from his father enabled him to use his inheritance as a launch pad to raise himself as the most outstanding Prime Minister of India.
Therefore, rich parents who are prudent enough to discipline and guide their children with the right morals and teachings, have not had to regret for transferring and endowing their children with their hard earned money. Neither does the child born in poverty or born to rich but uncaring parents always end up an Abraham Lincoln. These are gross errors in judgement. What matters most is effective parenting
It is not the inheritance that spoils the child, but the irresponsible and indisciplined raising and the lavish giving.
From Mr Thomas Varghese
Training manager based in Ras Al Khaimah
PARADOX OF MONEY
Create your own wealth
It’s a paradox faced by millionaire parents whereby they want their children to be raised with good middle class values, so if and when their children are left with a hefty inheritance they might ruin their chances of making children humble, hardworking and most importantly knowing the value of hard earned money. And it is these same middle class values that helped create the wealth for these parents in the first place, so wealthy parents know they can’t have it both ways and still they have to carve out a middle path which is commendable. An overwhelming 82 per cent of American millionaires say that their children should create their own wealth, which is refreshing.
Most millionaire parents want their offspring to learn about struggle and hard work and failure, and the joys of earned success and all the other lessons that helped the parents to become successful in the first place. Leaving a trust fund won’t help because the children could potentially lack the requisite capacity, skill, experience, judgment or responsible work ethic to manage the business or such a large inheritance.
Parents only want the best for their children irrespective of their financial standing. We can all agree that the lifestyles of rich children are anything but average in most cases. It’s definitely a puzzle and there seems to be a big gap, on one hand they want their children to be self sufficient and hard working at the same time they are dealing with the practicalities of their economic situation. They want their children to make it on their own but the children seem to be entitled to more support and material comforts. Growing up in an affluent environment definitely means expensive college education, flashy cars and other payments made by rich parents.
From Ms Jerin Jacob
Business development manager based in Ajman
VALUES PASSED ON
It is ‘super-inheritance’
I support the motion that children should inherit only as much wealth as they actually deserve from their parents and not more than their due. Just being born to a wealthy parent should not make them wealthy automatically, instead wealth should be earned. By not giving away their entire financial fortune to their children, these celebrities are setting an enviable trend of equal opportunity and justice. They are not simply advocating it, but living it! And these gestures are surely worth emulating.
Being a psychiatrist, I have seen countless individuals inheriting a fortune from their parents and recklessly spending their wealth without any clue of the principle of hard work and working to earn for yourself. Having witnessed this type of behaviour, I understand the reasoning for not wanting their children to become trust fund children. To be honest, the world would have been a better place without these misguided but financially well off children who fail to understand the basic principles of hard work.
Apart from the late Philip Seymour Hoffman who deliberately didn’t give his $35 million dollars to his children because he didn’t want them to be “trust-fund kids”, Bill and Melinda Gates also publicly announced that they would give $10 million dollars for each of their three children, which is considered to be pocket change compared to their $76 billion dollars. That is not to say that these celebrities are disinheriting their children but should be called ‘super-heritance’ as they are passing on their values and morality to their offspring and setting an example to future generations.
From Mr Subas Pradhan
Psychiatrist based in Dubai
CHALLENGES FUEL SUCCESS
Living life to the fullest
Consider the following situation, the parents who are privileged and blessed with massive wealth, in their quest to fulfil their parental duties have loaded their children with the best that they could offer, and ironically, is the best that is there.
This leaves their offspring with little or bare minimal choices left to be made as the best is already consumed or achieved. Given a time when the children of these parents are left or faced with roadblocks to make choices, they are at the crossroads of life. The simple reason being that they were probably not involved in the decision-making process or they have devoured practically everything available. Life does not pose monetary challenges for them, thus leading a productive life takes a backseat as this choice is now on the backburner.
Disinheriting does not literally mean that they disown their children, rather parents wanting their offspring to put on their thinking caps and get their grey cells ticking as this displays their concern. Life outside the comfortable walls of home is a competitive jungle and might is right. This concern makes them want their children to fall and rise, taste the pain and pleasure of success versus failure.
It is every parent’s responsibility to make sure that their child is living the best life that they deserve. This again, is a very subjective analogy as responsibility does not end with providing for food, clothing, shelter and a decent education. Children need to learn to live life by experiencing what life has to give. If it is lemons, make lemonade, and if it’s stones, build a wall, if there is nothing, build a bridge, the bottom line is that life needs to be felt to be lived and lived to the fullest.
From Ms Shalini Menezes
Accounts executive based in Dubai
Facebook comments:
It is not important that children who inherit huge fortunes lead an unproductive life. There are tens of thousands of people who hail from rich families and have a large inheritance but are still humble and work hard to make a mark of their own. Having a sound financial backing may be a security for some, but it should not be a deterrent in our path to personal success.
From Ms Fatima Suhail
Sharjah
I’m not sure it’s right to completely break them off. They have been brought up in a way dictated by parents. Up to 18 years the children have no say. But, they need to value money appropriately. Peter Jones, a UK millionaire matches what his children earn so that they can pursue their dreams. One child is a nurse. That’s not well paid in the UK. This way the children earn from real jobs but the mismatch in lifestyle isn’t a chasm. I think that’s fair.
From Ms Nicky Coulthard
Qatar
Not true in all the cases, but yes, those with good upbringing can be productive and may even increase their wealth multiple times. So the key factor lies with their education and upbringing.
From Yaasir Abbaass Khokhar
UAE
-Compiled by Donia Jenabzadeh/Community Web Editor
