How do the Old Money actually live today?

I'm talking families with multiple consecutive generations of upper-class wealth.

In terms of what they wear, do they like wearing top designer brands like Chanel and Hermes, or do they wear boutique brands that most people don't know about, or do they just not care and actually wear very basic clothing?

How do they spend their money differently from the more recent generations of upper-class, if at all?

What kind of professions do they get into in general?

This is just out of curiosity; I'm not asking so I can emulate what they do

OP, do you live in a cave? What went through your mind before posting this thread?

"For I am a sinner in the hands of an angry God. Bloody Mary full of vodka, blessed are you among cocktails. Pray for me now and at the hour of my death, which I hope is soon. Amen."
 
Best Response

They are largely invisible. Putin is building palaces for himself in Russia that most people don't know about, and he's new money. Imagine for a second exactly how the families that have been around for a while have the system totally beat....Hermes and Stefano Ricco are their version of 'mainstream'.

The human race will look back on this period of history (and the next generation or so) as the period of time when plutocracy held its greatest grip in all of history. It will likely be pushed away from mainstream decision making at some point...you can't keep a one sided arrangement forever in life, NOTHING lasts forever. But for the time being, old money live like royalty.

Other thing is this: they're actually NOT that rich, at least liquid. People like Gates, Buffet, even Jay-Z often have more actual assets at their disposal than many monarchs. Within a generation or two, old money will basically fade into history as the NEW MONEY power past them.

If you don't believe me, consider that more billionaires have been created in the last two generations, more wealth has been created through new means in the last 50 years....than in all of history. Who cares about people who used to be rich? LOL Rothschild VS Goldman

Get busy living
 

What do you mean "LOL Rothschild"

Rothschild, Rockefeller, Ford, Carnegie, Morgan, Astor, Oppenheimer and Vanderbilt can be considered old money families of extreme net worth. Are they individual people who control the wealth? No... but that's why they can be truly considered old money families. They have generations of children that have followed so the wealth has been split so many times there is no extremely wealthy individual any longer but the families as a whole are definitely old money.

This probably didn't need a thread though OP considering there is so much discussion and information about these families on the good ole internet.

Frank Sinatra - "Alcohol may be man's worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy."
 

I was partly being FA-SEE-SHUS, but the point is that there are plenty of 'new money' individuals who have come to control more wealth then the entirety of some these old money families. I'd know, I have two such families as blocs within my larger family tree, and individual family members with substantially larger fortunes earned over the course of their life. Some "old money" folks are nothing more than the grandsons of rich dudes, some are the types that control BBH type banks.

There is a ton of variation at every point along the spectrum. However, in the interests of keeping things moving: at the top end of the spectrum, individuals creating their own wealth are far surpassing the entire net worth of familes from ages ago. Look at the Walton Family vs the Johnson family....at the current trajectory, their wealth and power will dwarf that of the J&J fortune. This is always the case, and almost no "old money" bloodlines las more than a few centuries before they are eclipsed by others. Thing is, at this point in history, it's possible for one individual to do it in one lifetime.

Love or hate facebook, how many families did Mark Zuckerberg blow past before 30? It's a rhetorical question, but I think you see my point.

.....and yeah, there's no shortage of information, just google "old money" and you get 2,570,000,000 hits

Get busy living
 

Things have really changed since the 60s or even 80s. I don't think there's as much consistency among people with that kind of money as there used to be - partly because a lot of those families have gotten to the point where they are comparatively poor. Some of them work hard, some of them don't. Some of them dress flashy or weird, some of them don't. They live in all kinds of areas - not necessarily the stereotypical New England enclaves you'd expect them to - and there's not much consistency in the types of jobs they pursue. Look at the Bancrofts, for example.

And I don't think they necessarily spend money all that differently from someone who made his own money. In fact, some of them are just as idiotic as (if not more than) the newly rich.

Bottom line: These types have been overshadowed by the Steve Schwarzmans of the world, who have more money and power and probably couldn't care less. You can buy your way into all kinds of places now. UFOinsider nailed it, especially the part about liquidity.

 
holla_back:

Paul Fussell's book Class is pretty much the authoritative text on America's class system. It's a very interesting read.

It is, but it's completely outdated. His rule was that WASPy upper-class people drive dusty, beat-up Fords. This might've been true in 1983, but billionaires just don't live like that anymore.
 

I don't know what the magic is that defines old money, but a friend of mine growing up belongs to a family that has had a long line of considerable wealth.

Most of what the others have said is true in regards to him. He works a "normal" job, lives in a "normal" house, and drives a "normal" car. I'm not sure how much $ he has in a fund somewhere, but I think it's considerably less than what his father had, and even less than what his grandfather had.

 
prospie:
holla_back:

Paul Fussell's book Class is pretty much the authoritative text on America's class system. It's a very interesting read.

It is, but it's completely outdated. His rule was that WASPy upper-class people drive dusty, beat-up Fords. This might've been true in 1983, but billionaires just don't live like that anymore.

Not all billionaires are flashy Russian oil magnates, and not all TOS people are billionaires. There are plenty of extremely wealthy people who do not flaunt said wealth. I think the biggest recent changes to our class system since his book was initially published deal affect the educated UMC, not the TOS upper class.

(Anecdotally, I know a billionaire hedge funder who drives a car like IlliniProgrammer is an extremely down-to-earth guy.)

 
holla_back:

Not all billionaires are flashy Russian oil magnates, and not all TOS people are billionaires. There are plenty of extremely wealthy people who do not flaunt said wealth. I think the biggest recent changes to our class system since his book was initially published deal affect the educated UMC, not the TOS upper class.

(Anecdotally, I know a billionaire hedge funder who drives a car like IlliniProgrammer is an extremely down-to-earth guy.)

The billionaire hedge funder, though, is definitely not a TOS guy. He earned his position in life. Not that he's not awesome ... he just didn't inherit that.

I don't mean that they flaunt it, but the OP asked about people who have inherited consecutive generations of significant money. They live everywhere: anywhere from Houston to San Diego to parts of Florida that Fussell would never set foot in. They are NOT all hanging out in Maine, driving Volvos, and buying renaissance artwork, the way he would like you to think.

I'll definitely admit that I'm in no way intimately familiar with the TOS. But Fussell describes them as having everything you could ever want. I don't know if that's true anymore of those families who, back in the early 80s, would have been described as TOS.

 

On another note, it would be interesting to find out how many big name firms are family controlled, "old money" firms and whether the Rockefellers and other families exercise any control at all over their respective firms anymore.

 

IMO, while it is less true with Americans, old money does not exclusively connotate with wealth. A lot of it is also about heritage (i.e. gentry and blue bloods). There are still a lot of American families which by our standards can be called old money, but I think that their names have been pretty diluted over the past century.

It is definitely a fading breed. Many people today don't even know what families would be old money except for famous industrialists such as Rockefellers, Carnegies, Morgans, Vanderbilts etc. When initially there were many families such as Astors (still recognized) and other less known such as Schulyers.

Also, whast is TOS?

People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for freedom of thought which they seldom use.
 

There's no conspiracy if you look at it for what it is. At the global level, we don't have an effective government, so these groups of people meet in a way not unlike the town fathers in the Old West would get together and decide how things would be before having the territorial government rubber stamp everything. My opinion is that the UN has the same status that the US gov't did circa 1799....it existed but really had no teeth until centuries later.

We will regard the Bilderbergs, CFRs, and Trilaterals the way we regard the Freemasons.

Get busy living
 

Normally I don't give a shit about these type of threads, but one thing has always intrigued me...

That is... the current wealth of the Rothschild family. I mean just from a simple mathematical perspective it is damn impressive....an estimated $6B compounding for over 160 years...

Please don't quote Patrick Bateman.
 

Why not just ask me?

Old money families generally just keep an even level of wealth when you look at it from a family to family level on the generational level.

What I mean by this is if

G1 has 100,000,000.00 G2 has 100,000,000.00 x number of kids. G3 has 100,000,000.00 x # of gkids. etc. adjusted down for inflation to G1 dollars.

The family appears to be on a flat trajectory however they are rapidly accumulating massive wealth on a generational basis. How does this happen? Compounding interest with a huge initial base will allow most generations to achieve the same level if not slightly more than the previous.

Follow the shit your fellow monkeys say @shitWSOsays Life is hard, it's even harder when you're stupid - John Wayne
 
prospie:
holla_back:

Paul Fussell's book Class is pretty much the authoritative text on America's class system. It's a very interesting read.

It is, but it's completely outdated. His rule was that WASPy upper-class people drive dusty, beat-up Fords. This might've been true in 1983, but billionaires just don't live like that anymore.

That was a good book. It's not outdated per se; the general idea that the true upper class isn't as flashy as the new rich still holds. However, it's a bit anglophilic for my liking, which probably isn't as true today.

 
heister:

Why not just ask me?

Old money families generally just keep an even level of wealth when you look at it from a family to family level on the generational level.

What I mean by this is if

G1 has 100,000,000.00
G2 has 100,000,000.00 x number of kids.
G3 has 100,000,000.00 x # of gkids.
etc. adjusted down for inflation to G1 dollars.

The family appears to be on a flat trajectory however they are rapidly accumulating massive wealth on a generational basis. How does this happen? Compounding interest with a huge initial base will allow most generations to achieve the same level if not slightly more than the previous.

Sometimes LOL. That wealth can be diluted many different ways, and it's somewhat rare for large families to have the same focus as funding is spread out amoung numerous beneficiaries. And there's always that crazy one who leaves it all to their cat.
Get busy living
 

It is actually much more common than one would think. The reasons being is that often families get more benefits than just straight cash and assets as a result from coming from old money families. Connections, a life long education in how to handle and grow true wealth, not to mention access to certain advantages well below market rates give the old money families even bigger legs up over just their asset base. I would have prob failed early on if I didn't have the family support, guidance and education background. People often easily overlook these things because they are not quantifiable. Not to mention old money is usually not on page 6 every week blowing their money on dumb shit.

Follow the shit your fellow monkeys say @shitWSOsays Life is hard, it's even harder when you're stupid - John Wayne
 

The term old money was originally used in the 19th century to contrast the industrialists (new money) with royalty (old money). The US is not a monarchy, thus we need a different definition of old money. The most apt would be a differentiation between the political elite (old money) and the entrepreneurial capitalists (new money). In modern times this usually plays out as DC politicians (old money) and California technologists (new money).

"He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man." ― William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing
 

I played football with one of the Ford children as a kid and he was a completely normal guy. His dad was still CEO of the company back then but you wouldn't know it from the way he behaved at the games, just another normal dad sitting in the stands with a video camera. Only real difference was the car his dad drove and the fact that he would get to toss the football with his buddies at Ford Field on weekends where normal kids where in some park somewhere.

 

I know personally the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Henry Ford and Franklin Mars (Mars Company) and they are down to earth people and really nice. They wear brand clothing but nothing extravagant. I really like them. They obviously go to Ivy League schools and go into finance but they are smart and capable of doing well. I really respect that coming from Europe where people really show off their wealth.

 
Beny23:

I know personally the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Henry Ford and Franklin Mars (Mars Company) and they are down to earth people and really nice. They wear brand clothing but nothing extravagant. I really like them. They obviously go to Ivy League schools and go into finance but they are smart and capable of doing well. I really respect that coming from Europe where people really show off their wealth.

I think it depends on where you are in Europe. In Eastern Europe/Russia (and their respective diasporas in the UK, Ibiza, etc), it's "cool" to show how much money you have via models and bottles and yachts (literally). Meanwhile, try driving anything other than an old beat up car in France...

 

I agree with most of the first few comments. Didn't read the rest. The nouveau riche of the 19th century is considered American old money. In Texas, the oil barons are also somewhat considered old money, but their wealth is less than ten generations old, while European old money is centuries old.

Hermés and other designer lines are for the newly rich. Brooks Brothers, J. Press, Chipp, Andover Shop, English cars, Cartier tanks, rugged cottages, Barbours that outlive their owners, Purdey, country club memberships, bridge, Simon and Garfunkel, G&Ts, alcoholism, WASPdom, the Ivy League, NESCAC, SMU, $300 thousand undergraduate diplomas, a résumé that fills itself, etc are what I would associate with old money. Most of the assets are illiquid and are usually in trusts with a value investing approach. There is no need to flaunt your wealth with flashy cars and clothes because the people that matter already know you have wealth. Family businesses, white shoe law firms, Jewish investment banks, real estate are typical "jobs."

Old money is a club that takes generations to join and entails a mutual recognition between members. To outsiders a frayed oxford shirt, cracked sole brogues, and a natural shouldered jacket might trigger the poor radar.

No, richkidsofinstagram are not old money.

 
flonkkertiin:

I played football with one of the Ford children as a kid and he was a completely normal guy. His dad was still CEO of the company back then but you wouldn't know it from the way he behaved at the games, just another normal dad sitting in the stands with a video camera. Only real difference was the car his dad drove and the fact that he would get to toss the football with his buddies at Ford Field on weekends where normal kids where in some park somewhere.

Did his dad drive a Ford or a Ferrari? Just curious

 

I was reading this thread. Then I realized I didn't want to read this thread. Why was this on the front page?

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mtnmaster1:

This question is really silly but I'll humor you. I grew up in greenwich ct, went to boarding school and am now at an ivy. I come from a semi-privileged family, no parents in finance, and am not old money. I know many insanely wealthy old+new money people though (one friend's dad was partner at Goldman, another was descendant of us steel, etc.). There really is no difference anymore. The only people who might still care about it are the great grand parents who live in belle haven and don't do shit anymore.

What I have noticed is that most semi-wealthy people are the ones who try to show off the most. I think they feel the need to keep up an appearance that illustrates they have a certain status over others, or to find a sense of belonging in the wealthy community. They need to put up this front out of insecurity. Unfortunately this is an endless cycle and you never really get there. They essentially incorporate "wealth" or "status" into their character, it helps to define them.

The truly wealthy people I know (families with +50mil up to some billionaires) are actually the most down to earth. They understand the true value of money- it belongs on the sidelines. Money cannot impress anything upon them, and as such they have stronger values because they understand the more important things that define character and the things that can bring them happiness. (obviously exceptions to this, but it is pretty accurate)

Kind of got off track here, but I want to make this one point. Money really has no place in defining who you are. Living life to reach a monetary goal is dangerous because you never get there, and will always have a sense of not achieving as much as others. Instead focus on other achievements- although money can help you with that and provide some freedom and security. Be careful because it is a fine line, and I know I am guilty of crossing it at times.

Let me know if you have any questions about this area of the world, I would be happy to share.

Kind of hard to call Belle Haven old money when PTJ lives next door to the club and a disgraced irish property tycoon is buying property. That being said Belle Haven and Round Hill are probably the two things closest to an old money place the town has left.

And I am not knocking on PTJ in any way, if there was one hedge fund guy I could grab a beer or go hunting with it would be him hands down. The guys has $4bn, a super model wife, and from everything I hear still totally down to earth.

 

They're on Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard driving Toyota Land Cruisers and Range Rovers. They all look the same. They all pretend to be low key. They only eat organic and whenever they go to the store they always look at each other to make sure everyone's "playing the role".

Hop over to San Fran and you'll find the new money. They pretend to get poor. They don't shave. They walk in to the Juice Bar and get an $8 dollar drink.

There's only one thing to do. May the Old money battle the New. May they meet in Central Park and battle to the death. Ready. Fight!

 
m56:
Beny23:

I know personally the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Henry Ford and Franklin Mars (Mars Company) and they are down to earth people and really nice. They wear brand clothing but nothing extravagant. I really like them. They obviously go to Ivy League schools and go into finance but they are smart and capable of doing well. I really respect that coming from Europe where people really show off their wealth.

I think it depends on where you are in Europe. In Eastern Europe/Russia (and their respective diasporas in the UK, Ibiza, etc), it's "cool" to show how much money you have via models and bottles and yachts (literally). Meanwhile, try driving anything other than an old beat up car in France...

Americans filming someone go about their day and making commentary. precious

"Mr. Perkins poses an extreme risk to the market when drunk."
 

They were PISSED about that. It's hard to sell people on the idea that taxes and wages should be low because times are hard, when some guy is going around showing that there's a staggering disconnect between the royalty and the rest. Act/look poor, be rich: it's not just a social way of "being down to earth", it's just smart....

Get busy living
 
Invilliers:

Brooks Brothers, J. Press, Chipp, Andover Shop, English cars, Cartier tanks, rugged cottages, Barbours that outlive their owners, Purdey, country club memberships, bridge, Simon and Garfunkel, G&Ts, alcoholism, WASPdom, the Ivy League, NESCAC, SMU, $300 thousand undergraduate diplomas, a résumé that fills itself, etc are what I would associate with old money. Most of the assets are illiquid and are usually in trusts with a value investing approach. There is no need to flaunt your wealth with flashy cars and clothes because the people that matter already know you have wealth. Family businesses, white shoe law firms, Jewish investment banks, real estate are typical "jobs."

Old money is a club that takes generations to join and entails a mutual recognition between members. To outsiders a frayed oxford shirt, cracked sole brogues, and a natural shouldered jacket might trigger the poor radar.

No, richkidsofinstagram are not old money.

This is exactly what I was talking about.
a) These are stereotypes from 20 years ago, and b) it does not take generations. You can buy your way into the most exclusive clubs in the country now.
 
prospie:
No, richkidsofinstagram are not old money.

I'm willing to bet that a number of them found a Bentley or something parked somewhere one day and took a photo with it.

 

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Et maiores tempora doloremque inventore minus et. Et consectetur dolores iusto pariatur. Aut sit adipisci tenetur. Non impedit magni error quam sit. Est similique ut tempore suscipit animi.

"Work ethic, work ethic" - Vince Vaughn
 

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