I made myself mac and cheese . Such an eventful Thanksgiving . <| sep |> Say a family has 4 children . Child 1 is a bit of a free spirit , parties a lot , and buys rounds for everyone . Child 2 becomes an educator . Child 3 becomes a banker . Child 4 becomes a consultant . 1 ' s kids won ' t have much from inheritance when their parent dies . 2 ' s kids may be taught well how to manage their resources wealth and education to improve upon what they have . They may or may not have a grand inheritance , but they will have the knowledge to manage what they have . 3 ' s kids may have a wealthy inheritance when their parent dies if their parent is smart and assesses the market well . 4 ' s kids may have been taught how to do well in the marketplace and asses business . The children 2 , 3 , and 4 may have a sizable inheritance if their parents do not overspend to keep up with the Jones ' s . After 4 generations of 4 kids each there will be 256 kids . If there is 1 wild child in each group in each generation , there will be 81 children who will have money passed to them by their parents 31 %. That is with 34 of the people who receive money spending it wisely and not overspending . The amount that would have money to pass on to their kids for each generation , including the 1 , 2 , 3 , and 4 we talked about would be 75 %, 56 %, 42 %, 31 %, 23 %, 18 %, 13 %, 10 % 8 %, 6 %. Assuming 30 year generations , Cromwell to Dyer would leave 1 . 7 % of Cromwell ' s descendant ' s with money a more reasonable 22 years per generation would leave . 3 %