Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Ever known a lucky, rich, trust-fund person?

Not a trust fund baby, but I am friends with a guy whose is quite well off. Like closer to "B" money than mere 'M" money.

Works like a hebrew slave on his hunting property, rarely hires anyone to help, and still hunts with the rifle is parents bought him when he was 16.
Drives a F250 with 200K miles on it hasn't bought beef in 17 years. All venison, most of it processed by him and his family.

They literally give away millions a year and most people have no idea.

He has two sons, both have a full time 40Hr a week jobs. It slipped out one night while having cocktails, he had set up each of the boys a GRAT that moved "wealth". But these young guys still work and still raise their family in what would be "modest" means by any measure.

I knew a guy that owned a sizable section of land that he was sure his kids would sell off after his death.

He and I use to set and drink coffee and talk about it, It truly bothered him.

He finally devised a plan to keep that from happening.

Jay Starkey is gone now but we have this to remember him by.

I had an extended period at Oregon State U. and was constantly passing an individual in my wanderings. Finally had a sit down in the Union one day. He was well off and and simply a professional student with about 5 Masters degrees and 3 PhD's under his belt.

Dated a couple.

One young lady whose father was a doctor had set up funds for each of his kids. Investment accounts that provided her an income without ever getting out of bed. Good gal. Hard worker. All her expenses were covered. College and post grad expenses all paid for. No idea how much she had or got monthly. Don't think it was multiple 5-figures. Guessing 30 years ago it was $5k a month.

Another girl I dated in college was similar situation. Her father owned some manufacturing and then died fairly young. Between the holdings and the life insurance, she was set. Everything paid for and money every month. Essentially whenever she wanted it. Another really cute nice girl that really liked me a lot. I was too busy chasing one that wasn't attainable.

Dated another nice young lady in grad school. Father owned one of the large interior ranches in southern BC and was very wealthy. He was also involved in various industries and sat on boards in Vancouver. Wealthy family. All expenses, school etc paid for. Set for life now with a nice monthly stipend.

Ended up dating and marrying a young lady with a net negative worth in debt up to her bum. But it worked out alright in the end.

And couldn't change the oil in a lawn mower.

LOL

I had an Army buddy from a very wealthy family in DC. His father was a real-estate developer with a net worth in the hundreds of millions back in the 80s. Their house was on the National Register of Historic Places, and it was full of art work that you'd only expect to see in museums. It also had pictures of his parents with every president since Nixon.

I knew his parents to some extent. They were also kind and would help someone who truly needed it IF they didn't think their assistance would go to waste. They were a class act and were unreasonably kind to me when I was just a raw young buck sergeant. It was clear that they had gone out of their way to educate their son well without letting him turn into a jerk, and they succeeded.

He went to an exclusive private high school, and was the first student to join the Army after graduation instead of going to college since WWII. He made it through the Special Forces Qualification Course a few months before I did, and we served on the same A-Detachment for about a year. He went to work for his father after he got out of the Army, worked his ass off, and made even more money than his father had made, which is saying something. He could have moved in the highest circles of wealth and privilege in DC, but he married a waitress he met in a diner. They had a bunch of kids together and life for them was pretty good for a while.

Unfortunately, he used to commute by helicopter sometimes. One night, a junior pilot flew it into a hillside and killed everyone on board.


Okie John

A few here have mentioned rich folks being nice people, that has been my experience also. Most of them work hard for the finer things in life, they work hard and SMART and they sacrifice along the way.

Some of the most miserable people I've met are construction workers or construction small business owners, who get married constantly and spend every penny they make. Broke by Wednesday needing 'uh check'.

Hear, hear!

One of the executive secretaries at a former employer, who was a real knut, won the lottery for about five million. She bailed, but was back working for the company about three years later. It was poetic.

I work on houses for a lot if very wealthy people, including heirs to Fisher Autobody, Ross Pharmaceuticals and Amway. Another current customer is an older guy and a legit billionaire and is a former United States Ambassador to a country whose name I can't remember and is currently the Republican party chairman for the State of Michigan. Another is the owner of the VanWinkle distillery. All are all very wealthy folks with multiple homes, so I don't see any of them very often.

Another group of people I work around often are the members of a luxury motor coach resort near here. The lots in this place alone with their landscaping, waterfalls, fire features and small-medium structures are usually a million plus, each. Factor in their multi-million dollar coaches and tow vehicles, (Raptor pickups, large cargo trailers with corvettes, Harleys, etc.) And these folks are clearly millionaires, mostly self-made. These folks are mostly friendly and down to earth.

Don’t know that I’ve ever known a trust fund baby. Worked for and around plenty of what I’d consider pretty damn wealthy people. Self made and inherited. Some were pretty cool people that worked hard.

But damned, damned few that were cool by themselves were the same when in a group setting of other richy rich folk.

Known a lotta poor folk like me!!

Quite a difference between people with "old money" & those with "new money" !!!!

A guy I know won the Oregon lottery to the tune of 9 million. Managed his dollars well.

Never really liked the guy much, either before or after the money, despite several attempts on his part to involve me in his hunting and fishing trips. He was the kind of guy who would take a shot at elk way out of his ability to hit, then not go follow up.

Didn’t go down (at 500 yards), must have missed.

He wounded 2 bulls one year with his bow, recovered #3.

I have a new friend who was drinking $15,000 per month. One day when sober he realize that.

He left his friends and the area and started a little gun business.

Of course, it needs to be understood that being born into wealth (or even modest means) automatically makes a person incapable of being worthwhile. (One of many tenets of the 'fire.)

I know a bunch of them and most of them are very unhappy. Old money trust fund people are cheaper than hippies. New Money ones generally are pretty unhappy as well. One of my kungfu teachers at Harvard was a very wise man. He told me that you want to make enough money not to be limited in opportunity and experience but you don't want to become a slave to money either. Gene saw thousands of incredibly wealthy Harvard Alums and posited that those that live a balanced happy life with somebody who genuinely loves them and has a belief in Christ were the happiest in most of the years of their life.

In high school, trust fund kids were more common than those that weren't. I wasn't one of them but I was friends with many. I got to do some pretty amazing things for a kid of my status.

I dated a gal that ended up on Forbe's list of 100 wealthiest Americans but she fell off a handful of years back. Another girl I knew back then had a father that owned several medical patents. They lived in a house that the father bought in 1978 for nearly 3.5 million dollars. There was no mortgage.
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A buddy in those times, his father donated something over 1 million dollars of Pillsbury shares as the father was tired of being bothered by both sides in a hostel take over action.

Later on, another guy I ran around with, his father was an early parter with Bill Gates and did some work with Steve Jobes. He sold out both times when the companies became pretty stable. The father lived off the challenge of starting up, the every day drudge of running a business was something he hated.

A guy I ran around with when I was single married a trust fund kid. She had a condo win a very upscale neighborhood that ran nearly $300/month 30 years ago. On top of that her car, insurance, and every expense was paid for as well as getting another $3000/month spending allowance. She was a professional student that had multiple advanced degrees, all paid for by mom and dad. This prevented her from getting job as she was overqualified. So, she went back to school...

Don't know if he was a trust fund baby but I began rubbing elbows with Mike Lindell back when he ran a bar. Fun guy then, still a fun guy now after giving up the lifestyle he once had.

Know a few others that are wealthy but not sure if they were born into it or earned it. One finished building a multi tens of millions dollar house somewhat recently. Another end up in prison for a Ponzi scheme he ran. Glad I didn't take financial advice from him.

$500 a day huh? Whats his poison? Nose beers?

Another guy was born into money... However, he started his own business...as a teenager.... painting lines in parking lots. He would sub out all the work and didn't have his own employees. Then he did the same with asphalting parking lots. Then eventually, he bought his own asphalt and cement companies. He is one of the few that can work on places like the NSA parking areas. The people that do the work there are squeaky clean. Has a big farm down in the Baltimore horse country. Cuts his own fields with a huge tractor mower and still works like crazy doing highway jobs. Has his own clay range on the property and travels to shoots when the mood strikes. Goes on some great vacations with his GF. His only vehicle was a beat up Ford Explorer with over 200,000 miles before he got tired of fixing it....Went out and bought another.

If your are a friend there is little he wouldn't do for you.

Addition: He is worth more than he was born into.