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Dynastic wealth

As the lyrical poet Christopher Wallace once said, “Mo’ money, mo’ problems.”

I don’t know what it’s like to have dynastic wealth. We’ve done well financially and as the numbers get bigger, sometimes the stress of the markets can bleed over.

1% of $10,000 is a mere hundred bucks. It’s not chump change, per se, but it’s something I can accept and stomach without incident.

1% of $1,000,000 is $10,000 – which is more than twice what my starting salary was at my first job out of college with Northrop Grumman (and in fact is more than any monthly salary I’ve ever had).

I can only imagine what it’s like to have dynastic wealth, especially one you didn’t have a hand in building, and seeing similar activity.

I Was Taught From a Young Age to Protect My Dynastic Wealth [The Atlantic] – “When you come into money as I did—young, scared, and not very savvy about the world—you are taught certain precepts as though they are gospel: Never spend the “corpus” (also known as the capital) you were left. Steward your assets to leave even more to your children, and then teach them to do the same. And finally, use every tool at your disposal within the law, especially through estate planning, to keep as much of that money as possible out of the hands of government bureaucrats who will only misuse it.”

It is Better to Donate than Resell [Becoming Minimalist] – “We found more joy in delivering items to those local charities than we could have ever found in money earned from selling our clutter. This experience changed my view of minimizing and forever changed my advice to others embarking on the journey.” There are a lot of small local organizations that need donations. During the pandemic, we learned of several via Facebook and it’s been great knowing that we can help out someone nearby while also removing some of the stuff in our home.

An ode to slowness: the benefits of slowing down [Ness Labs] – “It may seem counterintuitive, but slowing down can be a faster way to achieve your goals. Fighting our urge to live and work faster can lead to clearer thinking, deeper connections, and better mental health.”