Pierre Trudeau Quotes

Our society has a mentality that elderly people pass on their wealth to their son or immediate relatives, and I think we all do it. It's a part of nature and is an exaggerated topic.

7 percent of inheritors get two-thirds of all the wealth transfers..

When vastly wealthy people say, 'I'm not leaving my kids any money,' it's typically not true.

A first-generation fortune is the most likely to be given away, but once a fortune is inherited it's less likely that a very high percentage will go back to society.

I want to see wealth cascading down the generations.

As a first-generation inheritor, the first mandate is to preserve our family wealth and hopefully increase it.

Why should men leave great fortunes to their children? If this is done from affection, is it not misguided affection? Observation teaches that, generally speaking, it is not well for the children that they should be so burdened.

The power of perpetuating our property in our families is one of the most valuable and interesting circumstances belonging to it, and that which tends the most to the perpetuation of society itself.

I have amply provided for my son during my lifetime.

There is no law saying you have to die before your assets can be passed to loved ones. In fact, gifting earlier can be a lovely way to witness how your money helps your family thrive.

Some people want to amass a great amount of wealth and make a great looking obituary. I'm going to die with more money than is good to leave my son.

My instruction to my parents is that I would rather they enjoy their retirement than leave me anything when they go. I am much happier watching them enjoying life.

I have issues with inheritance tax, particularly coming from a migrant family. My dad has worked incredibly hard all his life, so it seems odd to me that someone who has gone through that experience and has managed to save then gets taxed for dying.

The death tax robs parents of the opportunity to pass something along to their children, and it is responsible for destroying a lot of family-owned businesses.

And those are the Rich, who transmit what they have to their Posterity; whereby particular Families become rich; and of such are compounded Cities, Countries, Nations, etc.

I have no family to take care of and no children to pass wealth to.

Finally, I do not believe that we should punish American families who have worked diligently to provide for themselves and want to pass along their success to their children and grandchildren.

…primogeniture was founded upon the most absurd of all suppositions, the supposition that every successive generation of men have not an equal right to the earth, and to all that it possesses; but that the property of the present generation should be restrained and regulated according to the fancy of those who died perhaps five hundred years ago.

The entire American concept of the 'family business' is put at risk by the death tax.

I personally think that people who are inheriting the wealth must have an agreement on how that wealth will flow from generation to generation, how they would like to spend it, and have similar philosophies around philanthropy to ensure continuity and scaling up.

I did not inherit a single dime from my father.

For an inheritance to be really great, the hand of the defunct must not be seen.

I sometimes think that the American story is the one about the reading of the will.

Parents do not owe their progeny an inheritance no matter how much money they have. One of the surest ways to produce loafers and freeloaders is to let children know that their future is assured.

The power of perpetuating our property in our families is one of the most valuable and interesting circumstances belonging to it, and that which tends most to the perpetuation of society itself. It makes our weakness subservient to our virtue; it grafts benevolence even upon avarice. The possession of family wealth and of the distinction which attends hereditary possessions (as most concerned in it,) are the natural securities for this transmission.