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Wealth

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Wealth

Grow It, Protect It, Spend It, and Share It

Wharton School Publishing,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

The rich aren't like you and me: they have more to lose. How to manage your money as if you have a family fortune.

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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

This is one of the best books yet written on the subject of personal financial management. The author, Stuart E. Lucas, is heir to one of the biggest family fortunes in America. When he and his family took a close look at their finances, they discovered that mediocre management was eroding their wealth. They decided to take a new, very disciplined approach to money management. This book recounts their experiences and summarizes their guiding principles. Although few readers will have wealth on the scale of the author's family fortune, getAbstract believes that even those in modest circumstances, and certainly the well-to-do or up-and-coming, will benefit from Lucas' advice about spending, saving, investing, taxes and family values.

Summary

Being Rich Isn't Easy

E.A. Stuart established the Pacific Coast Condensed Milk Company in 1899, paying $25,000 for the technology to make evaporated milk. He had his share of business misfortunes, but lucked out when the Alaskan Gold Rush began and prospectors stocked up on evaporated milk. The Pacific Coast Condensed Milk Company became the Carnation Company, one of the world's leading food makers.

In 1985, Nestlé acquired Carnation for approximately $3 billion. The family of author Stuart E. Lucas owned almost 30% of Carnation, and suddenly had $1 billion cash collectively. The family had not prepared for the company's sale and was not ready to handle such wealth. The family's portfolio, better managed, might have grown by more than 100% from 1987 to 1994, yet it hardly grew at all. In fact, various costs and fees were seriously eroding the family fortune.

The family members met to decide what to do. Their discussions defined a strategy for wealth management founded in the conviction that they were stewards of this fortune, that its management had to be rooted in values, and that family peace, communication and harmony had to set the context for wealth management...

About the Author

Stuart E. Lucas is a fourth-generation heir to the Carnation fortune, chairman of a wealth management company, former senior managing director of private client services at a major bank and Vice Chairman of the National Public Radio Foundation.

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