How to prepare the Next Generation “Papa, Mama, are we rich?”

That is often the most frightening question a parent can hear. It opens a door that cannot easily be closed again. Once the truth is shared, it becomes clear that the next step is not about wealth itself, but about education — about how to prepare the next generation to live with responsibility, self-awareness, and resilience.

When a family owns a company, a collection, or a significant fortune, the challenge is not only to manage the assets, but to prepare those who will one day carry the torch. How do you help them acquire not just technical skills, but the wisdom and intuition to recognize who can be trusted — and who only sees an opportunity?

In my experience, this learning process is often overlooked. Parents tend to assume that their children will “pick it up along the way.” But the truth is that being a good successor requires deliberate education. Young heirs and future leaders must learn to read a balance sheet, understand governance, and recognize how financial proposals may serve someone else’s interest rather than their own. They also need to understand people — to sense when advice is genuine and when it is self-serving.

Families that succeed in transmitting both assets and wisdom usually have a structure for this. Some establish a family academy or a mentoring program within the company. Others engage trusted outside experts who are not part of the family circle — professionals who can train, question, and coach without the emotional complications of parent-child expectations. The moderator or family adviser, if truly independent, can play an essential role in this phase too.

The goal is not to raise suspicious heirs, but confident ones. Children who can navigate the world of money and power without losing their sense of proportion or trust in others. Because wealth can protect, but it can also isolate — and education, empathy, and experience are the only real safeguards against that.

If you wonder how your own family could start preparing the next generation — how to design an approach that fits your values, your business, and your children — I would be glad to share my decades of experience gained in Europe, The Middle East and the Americas. This is not a theoretical exercise, but a process of growth, conversation, and trust that can begin not soon enough.