How One Of America's Richest Families Lost Everything

Father starts company, son builds on it, grandson collapses it. The old trope.

I was born with nothing, I seem to have kept most of it.

This video is a powerful reminder of the impermanence of wealth and the importance of financial literacy across generations. The rise and fall of the Vanderbilt family is a cautionary tale of how even the greatest fortunes can dwindle if not managed with foresight and prudence. It's fascinating to see how the Gilded Age shaped America, but also sobering to witness the consequences of unchecked extravagance." Something useful to consider is the concept of "shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations," which is a proverb that suggests family wealth is often built, expanded, and then lost within three generations. This pattern is not unique to the Vanderbilts; it's a common phenomenon observed worldwide. It underscores the importance of educating future generations about the value of money, investment, and the hard work that goes into building and maintaining wealth. Financial planning, sustainable investing, and instilling a strong work ethic are crucial for ensuring that wealth can benefit multiple generations.💯💫

Imagine spending a lifetime amassing wealth only to have your grandkids ruin it. That must hurt

Wealth rarely survives three generations. The father passes his values to his son as best he can, but the son lacks the humble origin, and does try to maintain it, but the grandson is raised with no humility, and no values, and often no restraint on spending, and so the money goes down the drain.

My father was an estate attorney. When people would inherit large chunks of money, he would say: "Be careful. For at least one year, do not buy a car or a house. Do not quit your job. Do not marry or get divorced. Do not sell your parents' assets. Whatever asset class they had--stocks or real estate--continue to hold it. It made them rich. It will probably keep you rich." Very few of them took the advice. Almost all spent the money before they died, leaving nothing to their kids.

My grandfathers family was well off and owned numerous properties/land on Long Island, NY. Now we just have old stories.

It is always interesting how so many family businesses go out because of younger generations that never got their hands dirty doing the original work.

The vanderbilits owned the shipping and railroad industries. If they invested in the auto and trucking industry later they would still be the richest family in the world today

There's so many additional stories of the kids missed here, including the introduction of the vanderbilt racetrack, how they are the reason speed limits exist.. how long island had a racetrack.. how the canonball races were originated by a vanderbilt.

7:00 Must be the same film projector they were still using when I was in school in the 80s and 90s.

The Vanderbilts also played a major role in the early days of auto racing in this country as they were the ones behind the Vanderbilt Cup which was the first major trophy in American auto racing. The first Vanderbilt Cup took place in 1904 on Long Island on a 30 mile long course through Nassau County. The race was held on Long Island until 1911 when it got moved around the country until 1917 when it got cancelled due to the US's involvement in World War I & would not be held again until 1936. This revival would only last 2 years before the race went on another hiatus which lasted until the 1960's when the SCCA took over the name & ran the race first as a junior open wheel event, then as a sports car race. The Vanderbilt Cup would not return again until 1996 when it was used as the trophy for the US 500 run by CART during the height of the infamous open wheel racing split between them & the IRL. In 2000 CART would use the Vanderbilt Cup trophy as the trophy they would give to the season champion. This lasted until 2008 when CART's successor Champ Car & the IRL merged & the newly united series decided to use a new trophy to give to the season champion.

$100 or $2800 today is enough to buy a boat? Someone needs to redo that conversion.

Gloria also wrote some books. Her memoir, "Once Upon A Time" was an interesting read.

Crazy how fast they lost everything Cornelius worked for .. how can you have everything given to you and still fk it up lol

In every video you talk about the Vanderbilts, you're always oblivious to the fact that Anderson Cooper IS NOT THE ONLY famous Vanderbilt direct descendant. Actor Timothy Olyphant is also a Vanderbilt descendant.

Imagine mutton chops... but, like.. way more.

good thing Gloria had her jeans as a back up 😆

0:36 The public school system I attended from 1st-12th grade was Burwell Public Schools, which was also District 100.

Real story about the Rockefeller would be nice.