American rich kids refuse to be rich

The fortune of the Clemmy Brown family started from the life of her great-grandfather – the founder of the home appliance company Whirlpool and accumulated, growing up in the generations to come, according to Mercury News.

But when it came to Brown’s turn, she decided to give away her inheritance worth 1.2 million USD. The 36-year-old psychotherapist moves to live with her parents in San Francisco (USA) to live on a salary of about 50,000 USD/five.

In the US, a group of “rich kids” with the right to inherit a total of billions of dollars from their parents are determined to give away most of that huge amount. Photo: BI.

People like Brown call themselves “class traitors”. Brown is part of a group of young people in America who reject the wealth inherited from their predecessors and pursue the redistribution of wealth.

The idea of ​​this group of people is to distribute the money they have over to low-income, poor people, especially local people or people of color.

Shame on the privileged life

In the San Francisco Bay Area, thousands are homeless while the tech industry lives on a mountain of money.

In Silicon Valley, the richest 25% of households control 92% of the region’s wealth, according to Joint Venture Silicon Valley Index. A quarter of households have less than 5,000 USD savings or in debt.

“I see how widespread injustice is. I see it as a mistake to keep large amounts of money even though you don’t really need it,” Brown said.

Rich kids like Brown regrouped and joined a group called Poor Magazine. This unit stood out to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations and distribute the money, helping to buy two homes for the homeless in the area.

After attending in 2019, Brown donated $265,000 for group.

Brown and Alexis donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to disadvantaged groups each year. Photo: Mercury News.

Lisa Gray-Garcia, founder of Poor Magazine, said: “There are people who are homeless, dying on the streets every day. For that to continue while the rich continue to accumulate wealth is violence. We have a responsibility to our fellow human beings, and to some extent, in many ways, everyone should redistribute wealth.”

This act of giving away property inevitably encounters opposition from people around, when the most basic thing rich kids learn about finance is to know how to accumulate and invest.

Giving away large sums of money in their 20s and 30s could have consequences for these heirs in the last five months of their lives, when drastically affecting their ability to buy a home or plan for retirement.

In addition, it increases the strain on relationships with parents and grandparents, who certainly do not approve of giving away the wealth they have worked so hard to obtain.

Ella Taylor, an Oakland-based financial planner, says 30-40% of her clients plan to give away their entire inheritance.

Taylor often works with clients from the Resource Generation, a group of about 200 wealthy members living in the San Francisco Bay Area committed to redistributing a total of 14 million USD last year. Members of the group should not be more than 36 years old because the group leader wants to remain young and progressive.

The rich kids who give away most of their inheritance face opposition from their relatives. Photo: Insiders.

“That’s what I have to do”

Jonah Kagan (30 years old) often feels embarrassed about her privileged life.

That feeling persisted until Kagan became a software engineer. When it comes to the growth of the tech industry in the region that has adversely affected low-income residents, Kagan wondered if he was part of the problem.

In 2019, Kagan found a community of like-minded people through Resource Generation. I donate 10,000 USD in that year. Two years later, he gave away most of his savings, about 210,000 USD.

“I get worried when I don’t have much money left, because no one knows what will happen in life. But overall, I feel better,” Kagan said.

In addition to Resource Generation, groups with older members also appeared more. The Solidaire network requires members to make a minimum contribution 20,000 USD/five. California Donor Table requires the least 10,000 USD/five. Blue Heart sets a monthly donation amount of at least 5 USD.

Kagan often feels guilty when his life is so privileged. Photo: Mercury News.

These organizations are responsible for transferring money to disadvantaged groups. Typically, donors are charitable and do not have direct control over how it is spent.

As a child, Alexis Meisel (37) realized it was unfair for her to grow up in a mansion in Short Hills (New Jersey) – one of the wealthiest areas of the country – in while others struggled to survive.

In 2018, when Alexis’ father passed away, he left his daughter a trust fund worth 5 million USD. She lives in San Francisco and receives an annual allowance of 36,000 USD.

When joining Resource Generation in 2019, Meisels said she had found what she had been looking for all her life. Meisels pledges to give at least 25,000 USD each year for at least the next 5 years.

No longer feeling guilty, Meisels still struggled with the fortune placed in her hands. She wants to give away all of her pension, but admits she has yet to do so.

The money donation also put her at odds with her mother, who worried her daughter would give too much to charity and end up not being able to take care of herself.

“Leaving the vast wealth inherited is not easy. But it was like what I had to do,” she said.

According to Zing