Beating the Midas Curse

by Perry L. Cochell and Rodney C. Zeeb

Only one out of 10 families successfully pass their unity and prosperity from one generation to the next. Cochell and Zeeb, both estate planning attorneys, saw the same story repeat again and again. Careful legal plans still left families broken from the fallout of unprepared inheritance.

They coin the term “affluenza” for this destructive relationship with wealth. Their fix isn’t more paperwork, but a guided process they call the “Heritage Process.”

• Naming “affluenza” as the real root of estate planning failure
• Building a family’s values before its financial plan
• The stark odds – most wealth and family unity collapse by generation three
• Philanthropy as a tool against these generational patterns

Both authors devised this approach from painful personal experience with real client families. Their central belief is “family before fortune” – values transferred well outlast any amount of money transferred carelessly can create the “successful 10%.”