The best example of family wealth being passed on and grown is probably the Rothschilds. Interesting bunch...
Ran across a cool story about the Baron de Rothschild and a young man. This was in the 1800s when the Baron was considered one of the wealthiest men in the world.
People would wait in the lobby of his office in hopes of getting a meeting with him. Such a meeting was pretty much always "Baron, I want your money for my project." Different details, same request, day in, day out.
This young man came every day for months and every day he would politely ask the baron's secretary for an appointment with the baron. But the young man was a nobody, so the answer was always "No."
But he was so polite and so persistent that one day the secretary went into the Baron's office and said, "Sir, would you be kind to me and meet with this young man so I won't have to deal with him every day?"
The Baron agreed and the young man was sent into the Baron's office. The Baron had his head down looking at documents. He never looked up, just said, "How much do you want and what do you want it for?"
"Oh, sir, I don't want any of your money at all!"
Now, that got the Baron's full attention, if only for the novelty of it.
"What I would like is for you to walk with your arm around my shoulder and talk quietly to me in a friendly manner, through your lobby and out to your front door. If you do that, my fortune is assured!"
The Baron laughed and complied.
People in Paris lined up to loan money to this young man who was so favored by the Baron.
That's called thinking outside the box!