$1m gone in one year: Widow of killed Changi Airport worker is now broke

[weijian]

Speaking of leaving wealth to descendants/beneficiaries who can't handle it...any VBs thought of leaving behind your assets in a trust? Just curious because it seems to be more common in the West but there is a probability that the generation(s) after the one that created the wealth might turn out to be incompetent at managing their finances.

Having said that, the structure and payout is important. I read the story of the Johnson & Johnson dynasty (the book's called "Crazy Rich") and most of the later generations had highly dysfunctional lives thanks to their incomes from their trust fund.

Regarding the inheritance, it is about incentives and motivations.

Trust funds babies simply don't have incentive and motivation to work hard.

Anything seen as 'ah kong' money will be squandered away.

An important lesson in financial education is resisting instant gratification. Anyone who cannot fight this urge, will find it hard to accumulate assets, even though they are very hardworking.

I guess the lesson here is, as much hard work and thought is put into their investing journey, VBs should not spare any less efforts towards making a similar impact for their dependents' financial discipline and temperament.