On a drizzly March morning, a dozen college students and 20-somethings convened at an Austin Airbnb to answer a question posed by Michael Cole, a wealth coach and R360 co-founder: “Why do you think it is your parents want you to work?”
The attendees came from families worth a collective $7 billion, and none of them needed to work. Still, they offered rapid-fire responses. “Their money isn’t my money,” one said. Another replied, “To learn the value of a dollar.” A third said, “It gives you purpose.”
Cole said employment signals purpose to the parents, but he then delivered a harder truth: it will be nearly impossible for the group to replicate the kind of fortune their parents built.
“So why not change the rules of the scorecard?” Cole asked, urging the group to consider becoming “wealth re-creators” who add value to their families or to society in nonfinancial ways. “They’ve created wealth. Now it’s a question of, What do you do to make wealth meaningful?”
The Austin retreat addresses an urgent demographic shift. According to an analysis of Realtime Inequality data cited by the Journal, the top 0.0001% of U.S. households created $2.7 trillion in new wealth between 2020 and 2025. That figure roughly matches the wealth generated for the same group in the preceding 39 years, adjusted for inflation. During the same period, the top 10% accumulated $34.3 trillion in new wealth, while the bottom 50% saw $1.9 trillion.
As wealth concentrates at the top, families grapple with ensuring inherited fortunes do not corrode their children’s motivation. The fear of “affluenza”—a loss of drive or excessive entitlement—has expanded a once-small training sector into a standard industry offering. R360 charges $150,000 for initial membership and roughly $36,000 in annual fees, drawing about 200 families who are largely first-generation wealth creators.
Other organizations have scaled similar programming in response to demand. BDT & MSD hosts a weeklong summer academy in Chicago for the children of founders and business owners. Bank of America’s Merrill Center for Family Wealth offers three-day boot camps at business schools like the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. Novus Global expanded its executive coaching to address next-generation inquiries from Fortune 500 CEOs and athletes. Stephan Roche of advisory firm BanyanGlobal told clients that failing to have conversations with the next generation poses a greater threat to family fortunes than a market crash.
“The wealth transfer is easy,” Roche said. “It’s much harder to teach: How do you sit at a board table? How do you manage conflict? How do you make great decisions with your cousins?”
At the Austin retreat, attendees navigated social and relational challenges alongside financial instruction. Terrell Gates, an Austin-based institutional real-estate fund manager, led a session on using property investments as a hedge against inflation. Cole also guided the group through pressures like “big shadow syndrome”—the overwhelming fear of failure that accompanies significant family wealth—and how to negotiate prenuptial agreements. Cole advises younger members to pin such requirements on their parents and refer to them as “property settlements” to reduce relationship friction.
Attendees shared personal strategies for maintaining perspective. Venture investor Chris Shonk recalled taking a 4:30 a.m. public bus from his Colorado town to the Denver airport, sitting alongside snowboarders and hourly laborers. “You can still ride on the bus,” Shonk said, noting that maintaining contact with the broader population is a strategic advantage. “That’s an advantage.”
Connor, 26, said his family’s wealth was not an important part of his daily life until he left his Bay Area community for college. He said he prioritizes relationships and has worked his way up at a small company, viewing his background as a safety net that allows him to take entrepreneurial risks. A 28-year-old attendee from an automotive family said he recently acquired a small business with family help and scaled its revenue by more than 400% in nearly three years.
Charles Garcia, R360’s co-founder, framed the coaching industry’s broader goal. “How do you make sure the wealth lasts for 100, 200 years and that your heirs live a happy, purposeful life and are using the wealth in a productive way?” Garcia said.