The term ‘generational wealth’ isn’t something that often comes up in discussions of financial prudence, but it definitely should. The main problem when discussing generational wealth is that you don’t directly benefit from it in your lifetime, but your future generations do. And in today’s world of immediate gratification, most people don’t want to plan that far into the future.
Acquiring and retaining wealth over time is a difficult job as many economic factors can impact an individual’s income and expenses in any generation. But the benefit of generational wealth is that if done properly, your successors can find themselves in the top 5% of their generation’s most financially successful people.
If this concept interests you and you want to know more, here’s a basic rundown of the rules of acquiring and retaining wealth long-term.
The Rules of Real Wealth
No matter the generational differences, there are a couple of rules to building wealth that has been universally applicable since the dawn of civilization. The first rule is not spending more than necessary and avoiding as much luxury as possible. If you’re the first generation in your family’s generational wealth plan, your job is to accrue as much money and assets as possible.
This can be done in many ways including creating a fixed deposit account, using buy now pay later apps, saving money on shopping by using discount offers as much as possible, and sticking to more cost saving habits. So if possible, create another revenue stream aside from your main job. If you splurge and spend money on luxuries, it will be very difficult for the next generation to build wealth on what you accrued.
The second rule is to expand on the first generation’s accrued wealth. It’s then the responsibility of the following generations to use the wealth you’ve accrued and expand it by using it to set up multiple income streams and other financial investments that passively accrue value over time, such as bank accounts that provide high-interest rates on deposits.
Passing It On
Most financially successful people commonly agreed on stock markets and foreign exchanges as the most effective sources of passive income. Other options include investing in up-and-coming companies, technology, and businesses that allow for shareholders.
The third rule to building generational wealth is to retain what you’ve earned across multiple generations. Keeping the spirit of the first generation alive across multiple generations is undoubtedly the most difficult part of the plan. Usually, the second and third generations of wealthy families become too busy spending what the previous generation accrued.
This results in more expenses than income which can seriously drain a family’s finances. One needs to remember that money continuously loses value over generations, so without significant effort being put in to balance out the expenses, a generational wealth plan becomes a disaster.
Stand the Test of Time
For your family’s financial legacy to stand the test of time, wealth-building’s progression must be continuous and organic. Some of the richest families all across the globe are the results of generational wealth building. People like Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk, who achieved huge successes during their lifetime, are more the exception than examples, so you need to think realistically.
Building wealth takes time, and it takes insight and strategic planning to take advantage of investments that might not necessarily pay off immediately but will do so in the future, possibly decades down the road. Basically, you’re hedging all your bets and putting all your effort into a plan that might not succeed in your lifetime.
Creating a strong family bond and passing down your values to your children, who in turn will pass those values down to their children, is very important in all of this planning. This means you need to successfully raise your children properly to naturally and organically build on your family legacy. Each family member must not think individually but rather as a whole unit.
All of this might sound a bit intimidating at first, but over time with careful planning and strategy, you can gradually implement all of these tips and ensure your legacy stands tall a few generations down the line.
Leaving a Better Future
Building generational wealth might not seem appealing given the time and effort required, but it’s the most tried and tested wealth-building method in human history. If you’re willing to walk the extra mile, you yourself can live a successful and productive while leaving a better future for the next generation. So if you want to do just that, start working on your own generational wealth-building plan ASAP.
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