"If my children and grandchildren are like me, what will they do with the money?"
My children and grandchildren are not as good as me, what do I do with the money?
”
It was the national hero Lin Zexu who said this, and the meaning of his words could not be clearer, that is, to say: Do not leave property to future generations.
01
Sheng Xuanhuai: My son lost 100 buildings in Shanghai in one night
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were two rich people in China:
One is Hu Xueyan, and the other is Sheng Xuanhuai.
Hu Xueyan went bankrupt in his later years, and since then, Sheng Xuanhuai has become the well-deserved richest man in China.
If his wealth is converted into current assets, neither Li Ka-shing nor Ma Yun can be compared with Sheng Xuanhuai.
Sheng Xuanhuai died in 1916, leaving his children with assets of at least tens of millions of taels of silver (at that time, the living expenses of an ordinary citizen a year were more than a dozen taels).
Because Sheng Xuanhuai's first 3 sons all died prematurely, Sheng Xuanhuai loved the old fourth Sheng Enyi very much throughout his life.
After Sheng Xuanhuai's death, Sheng Enyi successfully inherited most of his father's family property and became the general manager of the family company.
After the death of his father, Sheng Enyi began to let himself go.
Sheng Enyi slept during the day and began to linger in the casino at night, known as the first playboy of the Republic of China.
Sheng Enyi was so fond of gambling money that he once lost a hundred buildings in Shanghai one night to Lu Xiaojia, the son of Lu Yongxiang, the governor of Zhejiang at the time.
These hundred buildings would be worth at least tens of billions today.
When Sheng Enyi had no money to use, he asked the servant to send the antiques from the house to the pawnshop. In the end, in the next few decades, the huge family property that Sheng Xuanhuai had saved was ruined.
In his later years, Sheng Enyi was already poor and became a beggar, and the last person died in the concierge of the family.
"There is not much hatred for wealth, but wealth hurts the Son of Man."
Sure enough, this large amount of money did indeed hurt Sheng Enyi in the end.
Li Bangxian of the Song Dynasty said: "Those who are rich and noble for their children and grandchildren will lose nine times out of ten;
Those who do good and facilitate it for others will then benefit.
"It means that it is better to stay rich than to stay in Germany."
02
Li:
The grandson lost the ancestral family business for several years
In the late Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang left an astonishing amount of property to his descendants, with fields, real estate and pawnshops throughout Hefei, Wuhu, Shanghai, Nanjing, Yangzhou and other places.
Li Hongzhang's grandson, Li Zijia, was born in 1910, and after his father's death, he and his brother Li Houfu divided his father's family property equally.
Li Zijia usually ignores nothing except smoking opium and playing with women. His 13,000 acres of fertile land were also given full authority to Zhuangtou.
Li Zijia, who lingers in fireworks Willow Lane, is contaminated with syphilis in a brothel. With this disease, it was not possible to go to the brothel again, so Li Zijia put all her energy into gambling.
Li Zijia basically does not gamble on cash, but directly bets on field deeds and house deeds. By the time of the victory of the War of Resistance, Li Zijia's property had been squandered by him: real estate and land were all in casinos and brothels.
At this time, Li Zijia knew what it meant to be poor, had no place to live, had nothing to eat, and the owner ate a meal in the west until 1953, when Li Zijia finally thought of a person who could be trusted.
This person is Zuo Zongtang's grandson Zuo Jusheng, in the past, both of their grandfathers were officials in the same dynasty, how to say that both of them are also a bit "old".
More importantly, Li Zijia once borrowed ten stones of rice for this brother.
These ten stones of rice are Li Zijia's last family property, and after collecting debts to Zuo Jusheng's family, Zuo Jusheng said with an embarrassed face:
"I can't afford it yet, or you'll live with me!"
Li Zijia nodded as he looked at Zuo Jusheng, who was also already destitute and had only one house left.
After that, the two lived in the broken house of Zuo Jusheng's family, drinking thin porridge every day.
Such poverty fell, and Li Zijia, who was accustomed to pleasure, finally could not bear it.
One day, "Ah" jumped into the pond with a thud.
After the death of 43-year-old Li Zijia, Zuo Jusheng had no money to be buried, so he informed his brother Li Houfu to come and collect the body.
At this time, Li Houfu was also poor and destitute, and he often hung out with Sheng Enyi, the loser of the Sheng Xuanhuai family, the richest man in the late Qing Dynasty.
"The tragic life of Li Hongzhang's grandson confirms that "accumulating wealth for children and grandchildren is a disaster, and accumulating virtue for children and grandchildren is a blessing."
03
Zeng Guofan: Descendants had talents in the 200s
In addition to Li Hongzhang, Sheng Xuanhuai, and other celebrities who left huge assets to their descendants, there was a person who did not leave any property to his descendants in the same period, and this person was called
Zeng Guofan
。
As early as the twenty-ninth year of Daoguang, when Zeng Guofan was first a high official, he said to his family:
"Never leave silver money with future generations."
Later, as the commander of the Xiang Army, he once again affirmed his attitude:
"The eunuch's house does not accumulate silver money, so that the children feel that they have nothing to be ashamed of."
Nothing to be ashamed of is the true meaning of leaving no property. Let the child feel that there is no father who can shelter and rely on, and will really work his own.
This is the biggest and most reliable property left to the child.
Throughout history, whether it is for officials or business, "the rich are not more than three generations, and the prosperity is not more than three generations" is the curse that is difficult for most official eunuchs and rich families to break.
However, zeng guofan's family, for more than two hundred years, zeng descendants have achieved as many as 200 people, most of whom have become elites in the fields of academics, science and technology, and culture.
Prosperity has lasted for more than ten generations, and there has never been a loser so far.
Zeng Guofan said:
"If the son is virtuous, he will not rely on the eunuch's pocket, but will be able to find his own food and clothing;
If the son is not shawn, he will accumulate one more money, and the canal will create one more iniquity, and then he will commit adultery and evil, and he will make a great noise. ”
The Zeng family was strict in teaching and did not leave property to their descendants, so their families were full of talents and Yu Qingmian.
As a result, the descendants of Li Hongzhang and Sheng Xuanhuai smoked cigarettes, entered casinos, and visited kilns, and soon destroyed the family business of their fathers and grandfathers.
Since ancient times, he has struggled to be a hero, and he has never been a young man.
Poverty can often inspire people to pursue upwards;
Too much money, on the contrary, tempts people to fall.
This is almost an indisputable truth, but many obsessive parents in the world just can't see this layer.