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Comment by villasv | Hacker News Reader

Rich parents don’t want epoch changing discoveries, they want good wealth management.

The two of them are surprisingly related. What counts as "wealth" depends on what people value and how that is produced, and epoch-changing discoveries, by definition, change what people value and how that is produced. Ignore them and you're forever chasing the trend and making other people rich as you buy into the assets they created.

Sounds very cool and inspiring, but we’re talking about rich people.

Rich people historically have been able to just stay rich whatever happens. Sometimes a little less rich, sometimes much richer. A few notable exceptions, but then again… raising kids to aim for “epoch changing discoveries” is just a silly overblown expectation.

> Rich people historically have been able to just stay rich whatever happens.

That’s not true. 70% of rich people lose their wealth within two generations; 90% within three.

https://money.com/rich-families-lose-wealth/

If I had a dollar every time this Williams Group study is brought up... I'd have no trouble making my descendants permanently rich!

Funnily enough, that consultancy offers the service of fixing that problem, so I guess de authors of the study won't have any issues with that either.

If you have money it's easier to make many more meaningful bets. You don't need to aim for epoch changing discoveries, just use money to become a benefactor of them.

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