"How to raise your kids to be billionaires" article: thoughts?

[DocCyane]

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-raise-your-kids-to-be-billionaires-2014-6?nr_email_referer=1&utm_source=Triggermail&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Business%20Insider%20Select&utm_campaign=BI%20Select%20%28Tuesday%20Thursday%29%202014-06-03&utm_content=emailshare

My assistant at work, mother of one, sent me this link. I found it over the top ridiculous. But at the same I agreed with being non-traditional in what you emphasize with children.

Does anyone have thoughts?

[MrsPete]

I agree.  Over the top.

[soccerluvof4]

I agree with alot of the lessons in there but as a whole I too think over the top.

[CarDude]

What struck me most was how, as several commenters pointed out, the opportunities his children had were, while atypical to the lower and middle classes, typical ones afforded to people from upper class backgrounds. Naturally, the author of the article continued to deny this throughout his responses in the comment section. This, in the end, was a great example of what some of us talk about in the luck vs. effort continuum, in terms of how some of the most privileged are the least willing to acknowledge said privilege.

[gimp]

Jesus Christ.

[The Hamster]

The author assumes everyone can be an entrepeneur.  I don't agree.  Entrepeneurs and businessmen/women are born, not made.  You can't "teach" someone, or bring a child up to be an entrepeneur.  They either are or aren't.  But you can of course teach children entrepeneurial principals around investing.

Thats my opinion anyway, from someone who wishes they were even a little bit entrepeneurial.

[Thegoblinchief]

Dumb.

[MrsPete]

The author assumes everyone can be an entrepeneur.  I don't agree.  Entrepeneurs and businessmen/women are born, not made.  You can't "teach" someone, or bring a child up to be an entrepeneur.  They either are or aren't.  But you can of course teach children entrepeneurial principals around investing.

Thats my opinion anyway, from someone who wishes they were even a little bit entrepeneurial.

Agreed.  Neither I, my husband, nor our oldest child has even one spark of entrepreneurial spirit . . . but our youngest has it.  It's nothing we did, nothing we taught her.  It's a trait with which she was born.

[Credaholic]

Totally agree with those who say you can't turn just anyone into an entrepreneur. He even seems to acknowledge that with his 1 in a 1000 vector energy statement. I do think that the safety net granted by built in privilege might allow some the freedom to be more entrepreneurial, but I think he would say (and I agree) that it can also do the opposite.

But I completely agree with his points on education - the traditional education system is not one that teaches creativity, free thinking, or even quick thinking. I had one gem of a physics teacher in high school who told us he'd rather see us do the math in our heads (rounding off numbers instead of going down to the 4th decimal point) than get the exact right answer. He'd do math on the fly on the board, approximating calculations as he went to arrive at a close approximation of the answer quickly. That stuck with me, and it's funny to see that skill mentioned in this article. That teacher was a real outlier though - he also spent an entire class period at the beginning of the quarter telling us to always max out our retirement accounts.

[greaper007]

I liked the article and agree with the tenets.    But, it's essentially the same arguments that Kiyosaki laid out in Rich Dad Poor Dad.    The author is absolutely right, the only way to get very wealthy (not FIRE, a few steps up) is to create something on your own.    To do that you have to get good at things like being a self starter and talking to lots of people.   The universe also seems to return what you give it, there's mechanical and spiritual reasons for that.     Schools don't teach us how to be people that are able to exist separately from things like market crashes and the whims of boards of directors.   They teach us how to be a cog, even at the top levels.

I don't necessarily think striving to be a billionaire is the best use of one's energy, but if you want to be one this is probably the best path to follow.

[warfreak2]

That teacher was a real outlier though - he also spent an entire class period at the beginning of the quarter telling us to always max out our retirement accounts.

Your physics teacher was MMM!

[wtjbatman]

I don't know what you're talking about, I teach people about the mental nexus all the time. Not in a traditional classroom setting, just the people who walk by my cardboard box.

[Thegoblinchief]

I don't know what you're talking about, I teach people about the mental nexus all the time. Not in a traditional classroom setting, just the people who walk by my cardboard box.

Lol, that brightened my morning.

[iamlindoro]

I have a couple problems with the article-- the first is that the whole tale sounds at least quasi-fictional.  Their eldest son started working professionally at *12*?  In *California*?  And he skipped high school too?  In California you must attend school at least until 16, and can stop then only if you have graduated from High School.  So let's say he was claimed to be "home schooled."  How did he get a permit to work at 12, when the minimum legal work age in the state is 14?  OK, let's say he worked under the table... but for a corporate branding company in SF?  It really smacks of BS.

Secondly, when talking about CEOs, he mentioned VCs being "disappointed" if they don't see an F or two on a CEO's college transcript.  Are you kidding me?  There's not a VC in the world who checks a CEO's college transcripts.

The notions of personal responsibility and generosity (the "be a good person parts") I agree with, but even then the examples are difficult to relate to as the context is an extremely affluent environment (big house, lots of travel, office at the Embarcadero, etc).  Don't "let" your kid get an average job?  I think this is terrible advice!  Working retail or service is a fantastic way to learn to deal with all sorts of people, and to get some perspective on how most people live their lives, and how hard they're forced to work just to make ends meet.

I also somewhat agree that success is correlated to not being satisfied with the status quo-- but my thoughts are more in the vein of The Millionaire Next Door-- the real wealthy in America are frugal and in fact, parental monetary support negatively correlates with success;  That is to say, those who aren't given financial life support by their parents are forced to go out and succeed for themselves.