14 Lessons on building Generational Wealth for Millennials

This week is Talk Money Week which is an annual celebration of the work thousands of organisations are doing to improve money management across the UK. I thought I would do my bit by writing about building generational wealth.

Generational wealth is quite a hot topic at the moment. Everyone seems to be talking, rapping or singing about it.

It is quite shocking to read that on average ‘rich’ families tend to not be able to sustain their level of wealth beyond two generations.

On average ‘rich’ families tend to not be able to sustain their level of wealth beyond two generations — Photo by Matt Lamers on Unsplash

Let’s start with the definition:

‘Generational wealth is wealth that is passed down from one generation to another. This is through the accumulation of assets for the future to provide financial security.’

To frame the discussion about building wealth, I have used the album ‘Everything is Love’ by The Carters. Although the album is the third in their series about Jay-Z’s infidelity and their marital woes, The Carters do reveal lots of advice about building wealth. And as the billion-dollar couple they are we can learn a lot from them.

According to a report released by the Intergenerational Commission, earlier this year, generation-on-generation progress across both incomes and homeownership rates are falling in the UK. Meaning that millennials are only marginally better off than the generation before them.

So given much higher living standards and increased property prices, how can we as millennials start to think about building generational wealth now? In this post, I use the lyrics from the album on ‘Everything is Love’ to provide some guidance!

1. You must diversify your income

Stack my money fast and go

Fast like a Lambo

Here Beyoncé refers to acquiring money as fast as a Lamborghini, the luxury Italian sports car. I think at one level this implies acquiring money quickly but the ‘and go’ implies to not stay around for too long in one area. According to Forbes, Beyoncé’s Net Worth in 2018 is $355 Million! And she makes money from a variety of sources including Music Streaming and Album Sales, Clothing (her line Ivy Park), Endorsements, Real Estate and the occasional film.