In many cultures, there is an age-old saying that wealth is made and lost in three generations. In the U.S., they say shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves in three generations. And in Japan, it's rice patties to rice patties in three generations. In other words, wealth typically doesn't survive past the grandkids.
Family fortunes inevitably decline due to taxation, consumption, the diluting of wealth. through children and their children's children and the corrupting influence of such a large sum of money. The Rockefellers, however, have ignored the odds.
The Rockefeller family's wealth has been passed down through generations. In 2016, Forbes estimated that the family was worth $11 billion. John D. Rockefeller, who founded Standard Oil Company in the late 19th century, became the first American billionaire at this time. more than a century ago.
The fact that the family has managed to stay together despite the public scandals, feuds, litigation, and tragedies that are so common among other gilded dynasties is even more remarkable. Over 250 people in the family may trace their ancestry back to John D. Rockefeller and Laura Spellman Rockefeller. Without a doubt, the Rockefellers benefited greatly from their initial wealth.
But the Vanderbilts, Carnegie's, and Astor's did too, and you don't see them donating hundreds of millions of dollars today. The late David and Peggy Rockefeller's collection of art and jewels was auctioned off in May 2021, with all revenues going to charity. The estimate for the sale price is over 500 million dollars, with estimates going as high as 1 billion dollars.
David Rockefeller donated more than $1 billion in his lifetime. So, what is the Rockefeller family's hidden formula for success? David Rockefeller Jr., chairman of Rockefeller & Company, recently gave an interview in which he discussed the family's system of values, traditions, and institutions, and how these have contributed to the family's ability to maintain its unity and fortune. They may help Any family, poor or rich, teach their children to be responsible with money. There were four key elements that he highlighted.
One, holding regular get-togethers with family and loved ones. We meet as a family twice a year, more often than a hundred of us in the same room for Christmas lunch, for example. He said, we have something called the family forum. When you're 21, you get invited to those meetings. Meetings are used to discuss the family's future plans, any current or upcoming endeavors, the addition of any new members, and any other significant professional or life events.
Even if someone is married into the family, they should still feel like they belong there. Two, maintaining family history. The Rockefellers do this in part through their family homesteads where they get together and connect with their past it's places that were familiar and that were passed down over generations he said i can go back to the place where my great-grandfather lived over a hundred years ago and see how he lived and see how his son and their grandchildren lived three not having a family business the divisions that arise in wealthy families often revolve on the family business and the issues of who should run it, how it should be run, and who should benefit.
Since the federal government's breakup of Standard Oil into publicly listed corporations in 1911, when antitrust laws were first enacted, the Rockefellers have been without a family business to fight over. With that simple move, the Rockefeller fortune was split into several publicly traded entities. With a carefully drafted set of trusts, the family's stock and financial interests may be passed on to future generations with minimal hassle and legal conflict. According to Rockefeller, the family fortune was made in the oil industry through the establishment of Standard Oil. The business hasn't kept them together, and it's responsible for the breakup of many other families.
He says, by chance, I think. We were lucky that we didn't have a business that was pulling us apart. We had a business that supplied wealth, that went down through the generations and dispersed through more and more people, but still was retained.
but we didn't have a core business. Four, having strong family values, specifically philanthropy. Family values, especially charity, are the strongest glue holding the Rockefeller family together.
The Rockefeller family has a combined endowment of nearly $5 billion between the Rockefeller Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the David Rockefeller Fund. Family members are encouraged to be involved in the foundations and help choose the causes they support. By making giving the center of the family's identity, the Rockefellers have maintained the core values of John Rockefeller Jr., whose mantra is inscribed in stone at Rockefeller Center.
For every right implies a responsibility, every opportunity an obligation, every possession a duty. David Rockefeller Jr. remembers giving to charity with his very first allowance at the age of 10. He would get his allowance on Sunday and give a portion of that to church or other causes, just like John D. Rockefeller did with the initial 10% of his fortune. The Rockefeller fortune began with oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, America's first billionaire, who founded Standard Oil in 1870. He and his son, John Jr., dedicated themselves to philanthropy, giving away more than $1 billion and establishing the University of Chicago. John's grandson, David, was the oldest living billionaire at age 101 before his death in 2017. His will designated most of his wealth for charity. Today, the Rockefeller fortune is spread out among more than 70 heirs.
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