My Tao - The Heir and His Inheritance

Erik was one of a dozen inheritors to a substantial fortune. The company that he and his family had owned for three generations was sold, and the money distributed among the owners. The family had managed to negotiate a good price, so each inheritor was practically rolling in the dough. However, none of them knew very well what to do with the money they now had deposited into their bank accounts.

Most of the inheritors promptly allocated most of the inherited money into stocks of various kinds. But Erik had other plans. All his life, he had been feeling let down by his family for being too stingy. Many of Erik's friends lived far more extravagant lives than him and his family despite being substantially less rich. Clearly, his family had been way too conservative. To prove this point, Erik bought a big house with a beautiful view of Oslo, an indoor swimming pool, and a tennis court in the garden. The rest of his money was invested into race horses and luxury cruise ships. He also poured some money into upstart technology companies. He was no expert in any of this, but that was not the point. All these things stroked his ego, and that was all that mattered. He could finally impress his friends with a grand house, race horses, and luxury suites on cruise ships. He could also talk casually about technology stocks.

Erik was at once the man about town. He was the guy with the fancy cars, the beautiful wife, and the edgy yet classy lifestyle. However, with not a single one of his investments making any money, he soon had to borrow money to keep up his lifestyle. But that was not a problem, because he had plenty of valuables he could post as security. Besides, with several technology companies in his portfolio, he was bound to strike gold with one of them pretty soon. The same with his race horses and his cruise ship investments. Sooner or later, there would be a winner.

But there were no winners. His horses never won a race. The cruise ship he had invested so heavily in went bankrupt, and the cost of keeping up his mansion remained a permanent drain. Three years after he received his inheritance in ready cash, Erik filed for bankruptcy.

The rest of Erik's family didn't fare quite as badly. But not a single one of them managed to do better than the company they sold. Despite having negotiated a good price, five years on, every one of the inheritors were worse off than if they had remained in control of the company.

The family as a whole were completely unprepared for the life that necessarily comes with moving one's fortune from a solid investment and into ready cash. They had no idea what they were doing. They never read any practical guide to investing. They simply assumed that success was in their blood. Bashing about in the great current of the Tao, they never caught a single wave. They simply moved hither and thither, without any great success anywhere.

By Doug Antczak Baker Institute for Animal Health College of Veterinary Medicine Cornell University - http://www.genome.gov/pressDisplay.cfm?photoID=20008, Public Domain, Link