Usually, financially stable parents who pay for their kids’ clothes, phones, cars, etc. will say, “I paid for it, so it belongs to me.” But in extremely wealthy families that are 3 or 4 generations deep with hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars, what actually belongs to who?
At that point, the money may not have originally come from the parents themselves — it could’ve been inherited from grandparents or great-grandparents and passed down through generations. So can parents in those families still say, “It’s my money because I paid for it,” when the wealth itself wasn’t originally theirs either?
Usually, financially stable parents who pay for their kids’ clothes, phones, cars, etc. will say, “I paid for it, so it belongs to me.”
Financially “stable” just above the poverty line or formerly poor parents, yes.
In my experience, rich people don’t look at the bill or who owns what.
They will occasionally use the concept of having supported someone financially as a cudgel, depending on the person, but they will never go “well those shoes I bought for you are still mine because it was my money” cause the shoes don’t matter nor does the money used to buy them.
It is literally “the thought that counts”, because the dollar amounts are trivial.
As for who owns what in the broader sense of family fortunes, that really depends on what kind of wealth and the culture they are from. Are they old money? are they nobles? are they new money? This will largely dictate who is actually in control of the “family” holdings.
I’m sorry, but that’s not usual.
And the ultra wealthy don’t have to care about money, they don’t buy things. Others do that for them. They get styled. They have managed collections. Private bankers. Private financial advisors. Private funds. They don’t live like us. They don’t think like us. They don’t exist in the same spaces as us. They are nothing like us. It’s a complete and utter alternate existence.
I have never once bought a thing for my kid, or anyone else, and claimed it was mine.
I haven’t either, I bought it to give to them, so it’s theirs. That’s the definition of a gift, I’m not loaning it to them. Also, if I’m their parent and I need to protect my child or discipline them, I don’t need to confuse or attack them with threats of ownership. It’s their belongings but I can ground or restrict their access because I’m their parent and they are my responsibility.
I’m hardly financially stable, but when I buy something for my kids, I consider it theirs. It can be taken away as punishment, but I never say that “it’s mine”.
I think it’s very uncommon for a parent to claim that they own all of their children’s possessions. I’ve never heard that before.
I can only remember hearing that once as a child.
It was in the context of “If you don’t give me XXX or do YYY I’ll just call the police / CPS and have them come take me away!” when I was maybe 8 years old.
I don’t know which of us said it, but dad’s response was something like “Well ok, you do what you have to do, but just remember all your stuff–your toys, your clothes, your video games–that’s here was bought for my kids with my money and so it stays here. And you still have to deal with me and the house rules for as long as it takes them to get here.”
Needless to say, no agency was ever called (and never needed calling in the first place).
I also can’t conceive of a circumstance to assert property rights over my kids’ stuff in my day to day life. Like, what, give me your tablet because I’m bored and it’s actually mine? Sounds pretty juvenile.
Spitballing here but I suspect a lot of things are owned by a family trust instead of specific people.
Look up ‘trust funds.’
Often, the grandparents will set up independent sources of income for the grandkids.
If you are disassociating a line of ownership with things that are durable goods (i.e. a car) you are probably an asshole
I’m financially stable and any gifts or material goods I bought specifically for them are their property, now they could sometimes lose the right to use the item as punishment, but I find the practice of faux ownership and parental mandate disgusting. I imagine those even more well off would probably forget they even bought the thing for their kid, as the kid probably gets a solid allowance anyway.
If you’re talking earningwise : yes ok money initially doesn’t belong to them but the person who earned it…but they may be dead so it’s not like you’re going to bury the money with them and not use it for any thing such as a college fund for their child. Keeping it for the dead person who earned it would just be illogical. Pay off their debt, pay taxes, then use it for their family.
If you’re talking estate wise: it belongs to the generation that was passed down to on the will. But again, still pay their debt and taxes first.
If you’re talking spiritually: it doesn’t belong to any of us and it is but a construct we use for keeping these flesh bags we wander around in alive. It really doesn’t fulfill any further use than a catalyst of change but yet some people hoard this thing like it’s going with them to the next life which I’ve already covered is illogical thinking and every billionaire should be considered in a state mental illness and examined as such.
