You may have never heard of Cornelius Vanderbilt, but you probably know what he has done.

Cornelius Vanderbilt was a prominent business man in the 1800s who made his money from railroads & steamboats. A fortune worth $95,000,000 in 1877 (which is equivalent of $2.1 billion in today’s dollars!!!). In less than 100 years, most of that money was gone.

If we fast forward 96 years after his death in 1877, there was a family reunion at Vanderbilt University (which is the university Cornelius Vanderbilt provided the college the initial $1 million endowment). Of the 120 descendants that were there, none of them were a millionaire.

Think about that. In less than 100 years, the $95,000,000 fortune (worth $2.1 billion in today’s money) was wiped out.

How does something like this happen?

Due to bad financial literacy & outrageous spending.

1. There is a clear issue with financial literacy from the generations following Cornelius Vanderbilt. Minus 1 of his children, everyone else seemed to spend the money without any worry. There was a misalignment on the importance of preserving wealth. I personally believe because the descendants were not the ones to work for that fortune, they didn’t value the money that was there. Crazy stat: According to studies by GoBankingRates, 70% of wealthy families lose their wealth by the next generation & 90% of them lose it the generation after that. Sadly, according to this data, the Vanderbilt fortune is just another data point to prove it right.

2. Because there was no financial literacy with the descendants, the spending was outrageous. One of the wives of the grandchildren wanted to be accepted by the “elites” in New York. So she ended up building a house that cost $3,000,000 (which is $70,000,000 in today’s dollars). Then once it was finished, she threw a party costing $250,000 (which is $5,800,000 in today’s dollars). So one grandchild, for one house + party, spent $75,800,000 in today’s dollars. That is outrageous spending.

Why do I share this story? Well, we are going through the largest wealth transfer in the world. Around $80,000,000,000,000 (that’s trillion) will be passed down to millennials & Gen Z for the next 20 years. You need to learn financial literacy NOW.

Don’t be another statistic. Don’t be a Vanderbilt family. Learn & understand money so you can continue to pass the wealth to future generations. I talk more about this in a podcast episode, which you can listen below:

Real quick, my podcast called The Decade Investor Podcast releases new episodes every week. This week I dropped three new episodes:

1. Should You Pay Off Debt or Invest?

2. From $80,000 in Student Loans to a Divorce and Now on Track to Becoming Financially Free | Conversation with Brett Holzhauer

3. How One Family Lost $2.1 Billion in Just 2 Generations

You can listen to them on any podcast playing app here: https://thedecadeinvestorpodcast.buzzsprout.com/share

The goal of my newsletter, my podcast, my social media is to help educate you on money & make sure you set yourself + your future generations up for success with money!

I want to help you too. I will be able to help you… soon. Stay tuned, I have something coming VERY SOON that will revolutionize the game for Decade Investors.

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Thank you so much for reading & I will see you next week! Until then, keep buying assets.🙂 

- Decade Investor