Fables of Fortune by Richard Watts

Author:Richard Watts
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Emerald Book Company
Published: 2011-10-19T04:00:00+00:00

A WORD OF WARNING

Let me offer a hard and fast boundary to protect marriages involving wealth: Be very reticent to work for your in-laws. As I reminisce over the past thirty years, I can recall countless individuals who have run or managed the companies or businesses of their super-rich in-laws. They make up a veritable graveyard of adverse outcomes and strained marriages.

My wife and I ran into Bill at a breakfast diner. After fifteen years of marriage and a nasty divorce, he was unshaven, wearing a rumpled white T-shirt and tattered beach sandals. He looked like a bum. His spirits were dim. We talked for a few moments about his kids, who were away with “the family” on a cruise.

He lived in a small two-bedroom apartment in a very modest part of town just down the street from the diner. The second bedroom was for his kids; he saw them only every other weekend. Otherwise he lived alone. I think of Bill as a good guy who wandered into Willy Wonka’s candy factory and drank so much chocolate from the waterfall he drowned.

“Aren’t you going to ask me how I fared in the divorce?” Bill rolled his eyes with a gentle smirk on his face. He knew I didn’t have to ask. At Dad Campbell’s request, I had drafted Angela’s prenuptial agreement.

If you are a person of modest means who has wandered into a family of fortune, take this sage advice. Love your spouse, and let him or her be responsible for every interaction with his or her wealthy family regarding financial issues. Never presume your spouse’s wealth is your wealth. Try your best to live by your own means, and avoid employment in the in-law’s family enterprise. You will experience the joy of achieving your own goals, your spouse will respect you and your efforts, and your children will grow up in the presence of a model of solid character and integrity.

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