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THE AMERICAN DREAM

By Eric Wilson

I used to watch a lot of movies growing up. Watching people do life on the big screen is something I still enjoy from time to time. One movie that taught me a lot about people and how different they

are is the infamous comedy, “Caddyshack”. Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, and Bill Murray headlined the cast of truly unique characters in this movie that talks about something I’ve been writing about recently. Namely the diffi-culty some people have integrating into the ranks of affluence, or even wealth.

Take, for instance, the feud that developed between Rodney Dangerfield’s character, “Al Czer-vik”, and Ted Knight’s charac-ter, “Judge Elihu Smails”. Judge Smails belonged to a country club, Bushwood, and did not receive well the newly appointed, extremely flamboyant, member Al Czervik. Like most newly affluent/wealthy persons, Al had not been raised to act certain ways at certain times at certain locations. He was who he was and was clearly enjoying his new wealth in over-the-top ways that began to alienate the ones in the club

that he clearly wanted to foster relationships with. That’s what newly affluent people do many times – attempt to por-

tray themselves as having been affluent all along. Unfortunately, gen-erationally affluent people can spot these “imposters” fairly easily, as the imposters tend to act much the way Al did in Caddyshack. If a big

boat is good, then the biggest must be better. If tipping a little is good, then hubristic tipping is better. If driving a luxury car is good, then driving one tricked out with loud horns is better. You get the point.

Another snapshot of reality occurs when we see the differences in how Chevy Chase’s character, Ty Webb, relates to both Judge Smails

and Al. Judge Smails is indignant towards, but tolerant of, Webb. He even goes so far as to swallow a bit of pride in asking him to be his part-ner in the big match. You see, Webb was a Nobleman, and thus a part of the old money club of Bushwood. And whether you are now, or aspire to be, a part of the “good ole boy network”, you can understand that you have a different set of rules for people already in the club.

Nobles and Knights

“ I T ’S A PATH,A JOURNEY, THAT EACH MUST RE-CREATE FOR

THEMSELVES. ”

I can recall reading several years ago about the newly minted hedge fund billionaires in New York donating tens of millions of dol-lars to various philanthropies in the city in an attempt to do the same thing…get into the “club” of “old money”. The problem was, though, that they failed to see one very important thing. Namely that people that have had wealth for generations, we’ll call them Nobles, often-times do not receive well people trying to buy their way into being a Nobleman. Sure, they will acknowledge them and even receive their monetary contributions to further a mutual cause. They may even give them a seat on the board. But new money buying its way into old money is a feat that is very rare…a black swan event you might say.

In the days of kings and queens, ordinary people could, in fact, become knights by completing various tasks of bravery. By putting themselves at risk and doing what few others could accomplish, they were able to be transformed, by the granting of the king or queen, into knights. To me, this is a good parallel to what business owners, entre-preneurs, and the like do in present day. They go from being ordinary citizens to being “knighted” through their tenacity, courage, and hard work, thus earning extraordinary rewards and prestige. But, they still are just knights…not nobles. And very few knights ever achieve noble status. Funny thing though, very few nobles ever aspire to be knights.

I’ve written about similar concepts in past articles. (You can access them on our website.) About how ordinary people create extraordinary success, but don’t know what to do, or how to act, upon reaching that pinnacle. And unfortunately, there’s not a lot in the self-help section at Barnes & Nobles or on Amazon to help deal with this. It’s a path, a journey, that each must re-create for themselves. There are profession-

als that can make the journey more abundant, more pleasurable, and more fulfilling to the newly Knighted. CPAs, attorneys, financial pro-fessionals, pastors and even licensed therapists are among the roles that are generally found to be high-value roles. But ultimately it will fall to each family to determine what their legacy is to be. Being Knighted is only the beginning.

Eric S. Wilson is a Senior Vice President, Family Wealth Director, and Founder of the Wilson Wealth Management Group at Morgan Stanley and for the past 20 years he has served the varied needs of individuals and families whose wealth has the potential to change the essential nature of their descendants’ lives. Mr. Wilson can be reached with questions by email at eric.s.wilson@ms.com, by phone at 877.442.5445, or via his website at www.morganstanleyfa.com/wilson-wealthmanagementgroup.

Eric S. Wilson is a Wealth Advisor with the Wealth Management divi-sion of Morgan Stanley at 5444 Riverside Drive in Macon, GA. The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management or its affiliates. All opinions are subject to change without notice. Neither the information provided nor any opinion expressed constitutes a solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

The case study presented is for illustrative purposes only. Past perfor-mance is no guarantee of future results. These strategies do not guarantee a profit or protect against loss and may not be suitable for all investors.

This material does not provide individually tailored investment advice. It has been prepared without regard to the individual financial circumstances and objectives of persons who receive it. The strategies and/or investments discussed in this material may not be suitable for all investors. Morgan Stanley Wealth Management recommends that investors independently evaluate par-ticular investments and strategies, and encourages investors to seek the advice of a Financial Advisor. The appropriateness of a particular investment or strat-egy will depend on an investor’s individual circumstances and objectives.

Morgan Stanley and its Financial Advisors do not provide tax or legal advice. Individuals should seek advice based on their particular circumstances from an independent tax advisor.

©2016 Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Member SIPC. CRC 1563964 and 08/2016