Typically that's what we would hope for correct? Treating it as money earned is treating it as something with a high level of value that deserves thought and planning. Treating it as a completely inexhaustible resource and putting no planning into it at all is how you lose it.
I understand that you're saying nearly 800 million dollars is almost impossible for an individual to completely lose through being "wasteful". But if you want the money to BECOME an ongoing family legacy that will last for generations, it would certainly be helpful to plan.
I am not sure that is what I would hope for. As a Christian, I would worry about what that amount of wealth would do to me and my family. It's not about being wasteful, its about hoarding vs. being a generous steward.
- If you are given $100,000 you might have a unique opportunity to make some wise choices and put your family in a much more favorable long-term position (paying off school and house debt, investing in your business).
- If you are given $10,000,000 you can ensure that your family may be in a real position to pursue higher goods than just earning a living. You might also be able to make a big differnce in the lives of the people around you.
- But if you recieve a $1,000,000,000, you and your family are taken care of hundreds of times over. All of your thought and planning about how to perpetuate that wealth for your own benfit can start to smell of greed, plain and simple. You may need to give A LOT a way.
The Church has always taught that resources are intended for the benefit of all. It also teaches that it is perfectly wise and reasonable to allow those who have proven themsleves most industrious and responsible to handle that wealth disproportionately, for the benefit of all. I agree that it is wise to emulate people like that if you ever come across a lot of money.
When someone works very hard in a responsible manner to generate wealth, the idea is that person has proven that he can be trusted as a stewart of that money, for the benefit of all. While that doesn't mean giving it all away, it certainly doesn't mean sticking hundreds of millions in a bank account as a permanent cushion between your family and reality. The idea is not to ensure that their grandchildren are fabulously wealth (though that may be the case). That is not responsibility, that is greed. While it might be easy to convince myself that the cosmos had blessed me to be extremely comfortable and care-free while so many people around me are not, that is quite a conclusion to reach.
Note I am not talking about what the law should dictate, but how a person should order their own life.
Long story short, not everything that is ethically, morally, or spiritually permissible to do with $1M dollars, is equally valid for $1B.
