you might be interested in this article:
How the World’s Richest Family Went Broke
http://www.earlytorise.com/how-the-worlds-richest-family-went-broke/#
here’s an excerpt :
Within just 30 years of the death of the Commodore no member of the Vanderbilt family was among the richest in the US. And 48 years after his death, one of his grandchildren is said to have died penniless.
In less than a single generation the surviving Vanderbilts had spent the majority of their family wealth! And the wealth was virtually gone within four generations. How was this possible?
Simply put, they went from producers of great wealth, to great consumers of it.
The Vanderbilts held a family reunion at Vanderbilt University in 1973 attended by 120 family members. Not one of them was even a millionaire.