Graham Tuckwell is not well-know, mostly because of his own efforts to remain anonymous. The Australian entrepreneur is credited for constructing the ETF Securities, a multi-billion dollar financial empire. While he has avoided the publicity and fame that comes with amassing a great amount of wealth, he recently made news when he announced that he would be giving “$50 million to [the] Australian National University for scholarships.” While the news that he is making a gift seems bland, his reasoning is not. Tuckwell made the claim that money and wealth can ruin a person’s children. Tuckwell went on to say that children develop better if they are allowed to obtain a sense of achievement. He concluded that giving them wealth does so much to destroy their personal desire to accomplish anything. Tuckwell is not alone. The most famous supporter of this school of thought is Warren Buffett. Of course, there are children that inherited great amounts of wealth and are still successful people. For example, Donald Trump’s children were raised with large amounts of wealth and they are still successful and business savvy.
See Robert Frank, Wealth ‘Poisons’ Kids, Says Aussie Finance Tycoon, CNBC, Feb. 6, 2013.
Special thanks to David S. Luber (Attorney at law, Florida Probate Attorney Wills and Estates Law Firm) for bringing this article to my attention.
