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Gwyneth Paltrow: No trust funds for her kids
Filed under: Work Life, Celeb Kids, Celeb Parents
When celebrity chef Nigella Lawson announced that she wasn't planning to leave her children a penny of her considerable fortune, she was roundly criticized. Convinced that financial security ruins people, she says she wants her kids to learn the value of money by actually working for theirs. You can add actress Gwyneth Paltrow to the list of wealthy celebrities determined not to let their kids have a free financial ride. Like Lawson, Paltrow believes kids need to learn to work and that a guaranteed trust fund fortune looming the the future can inhibit the desire to do that.
"My father made it very clear that the day I left university I was on my own," Paltrow said. "He didn't give me any money and I really struggled and I waitressed and bought cigarettes out of tips and tried to get to auditions with no gas. The worst thing you can do is give a child a trust fund. They know they'll get it when they're 18 or 21. And it just kills passion."
I think what Paltrow says makes sense. Unlike Lawson, she's not saying she will never give Apple and Moses any money, she just isn't going to hand it over to them the moment they become adults. But I do hope she will be willing to chip in for the name-change expenses Apple is surely going to require should she choose a career outside of Hollywood.











ReaderComments (Page 5 of 6)
5-20-2008 @ 5:23PM
Lee said...I thought one of the main reasons for acquiring wealth was to make certain that's one's children did not have to go out into the world and beg for a job. However, it depends on the form of that wealth. If the wealth is cash only, the child can blow all of that, ending up destitute. However, if it is an ongoing business entity, it can last through the generations, like the Rockefellers and oil, Du Ponts and chemicals and munitions, etc.
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5-20-2008 @ 5:27PM
nofitz said..."I left university" Why do these American celebrities try to use British mannerisms? In America, Gwyneth's home country, we say "left college" or "left the university." It sounds like she's being pretentious. Madonna does the same thing. Gag.
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5-20-2008 @ 5:50PM
PETA said...What Ringling Bros & Barnum & Bailey Circus Doesn't want you to know.
www.circuses.com
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5-20-2008 @ 6:01PM
Angelwisp2bb said...I'm sort of a Gwyneth Paltrow fan, so I'm not going to bash her nor find fault with her regarding her own money and how she handles the financial dealings with her kids. However, I would like to comment on the general subject of trust funds and such. I really think there is a better way to teach children financial responsibility. You can let them have an allowance and teach them how to handle a budget. You can let them have a paper route, just for the sake of finding out what people have to do for a living. You can let them live on their own for one year when they graduate high school and work their way to pay their own rent or through college. What I think is the important issue here is to teach them responsibility. After they have experienced a year of earning their own way and showing responsibility, then they will appreciate the trust fund you set up for them. I just don't believe in a person making tons and tons of money and not passing it down to their children. That is insane. For me, making tons of money would be FOR being able to make it easier for my children. Just teach them the concepts of responsibility as you are raising them. They are more likely to make you proud of them than not. The kids who turn wild are those who had no parental guidance, and THAT IS A FACT.
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5-20-2008 @ 6:14PM
Emily said...Good for Gwyn. Trust-fund babies are a pain in the ass--especially when they have weird names on top of their entitled attitudes.
In all seriousness, though, I think parents have a responsibility to teach their kids the value of actually working for their money instead of getting a gazillion dollars handed to them just cause mom and dad were famous. I'm not against leaving money to your kids when you die or occasionally helping them out financially if they need it, but allowing kids to think they don't need to go out and get an education and a job is just dangerous.
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5-20-2008 @ 6:14PM
Emily said...Gwyneth Paltrow "suffered?" Ha. I love Gwyn and think she's a great actor, but honestly...Has she seen how the not-famous set lives? What she had to go through after she finished college was not "suffering"--it was life. It was the same dues-paying that almost everyone on earth has to do for at least a little while until the "dream job" comes along.
Okay, so she worked as a waitress. Boo hoo. I worked in a library shelving books and converting the card catalog to computer to help put myself through grad school. It was totally boring and mindless but I don't think I "suffered" doing that. I learned the value of an honest day's work.
Gwyn thinks she suffered because her screen-legend parents didn't just hand her a gazillion dollars on a silver platter and tell her she never had to lift a finger to help herself...
I think she just lived like a normal person until she was able to break into Hollywood on her own merits--of which she has many.
If that's suffering, then 90 percent of the world is suffering.
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5-20-2008 @ 6:12PM
Angelwisp2bb said...Annette (5:14 PM), you hit the nail right on the head. You brought out a very good point, and often the scenario which you described does happen. Thanks for posting that. My comment (6:01 PM) runs along your style of thinking on the subject, but I hadn't mentioned that great (and true) point you made. Well done.
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5-20-2008 @ 6:12PM
Annie said...If someone is poor and buying cigs, that's their choice, she was spending her own money that she worked for at that time. When someone is hitting up someone else or using food stamps to buy food because they are spending all other available funds on cigs, then maybe they need to take a better look their financial choices. But if it is your money, and you choose to buy cigs over other stuff and you are making it on your own, then it's your business. Especially for a single person that has no children at that time. l bought cigs when l was single and broke, no one but me suffered when l came up short.
Not to mention, when she was that age, cigs cost a fraction of what they do now. She's close in age to me, when she was that young they probably cost around a dollar and change a pack.
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5-20-2008 @ 6:13PM
gayle said...Hip Hip Hooray Hip Hip Hooray
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5-20-2008 @ 6:13PM
Andrea said...I think that the name Apple is very nice. Why in the world do people think they should comment on what someone names their child? The cigarettes are another issue. Shame on anyone who indulges in that nasty vice.
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5-20-2008 @ 6:22PM
Dr.Tom said...Paris Hilton was again trashed in this feature. Here we have a not so attractive young woman, skinny with big feet, who took her name and made herself a brand...and has made a fortune herself for doing what we are not sure. Last year, according to Forbes, she made $135M and is now worth more than her parents and her grandfather with all the Hilton money is not leaving any of it to his family. So let;s applaud Paris for doing great by herself and stop being jealous of her...
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5-20-2008 @ 6:28PM
Michele said...Just because she doesn't set up a trust fund doesn't mean her children won't have money. They are going to be accustomed to a certain way of living for security of their safety, if for no other reason. They will also probably have opportunities to make the kind of money their mother made. She didn't say she was throwing them out at 18. They are going to turn out as they will. We just do our best by example and being there to comment or answer questions while they are growing up. My husband and I have a goal of leaving them enough money to bury us, and not owe anything. We're still working on our goal. lol
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5-20-2008 @ 6:30PM
bestmimiof3 said...bla bla bla who cares whot she does with her money. if i had that kind of money i would love to make it better for my children. i hope she takes the time to teach her kids how to be responsable adults, not free loaders.
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5-20-2008 @ 6:34PM
Carla said...Yeah, those poor people said Hmmm, I am poor and really can't afford to eat (3.00 would buy a loaf of bread and jelly or p'nut butter-a few days meals) so I think I will take up smoking (over 3.00 a pack and gone in a day maybe a day and a half). I bet they really gave it alot of thought and figured it was the best thing they could do. Yeah right.............
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5-20-2008 @ 6:35PM
flrchld1@yahoo.com said...I think it's great what Gwyneth Paltrow and Nigella Lawson are doing, in not leaving their children a "trust fund" or any money. I have found that alot of kids today, whether their parents have money or not, are SPOILED BRATS. Try to get a teenager to have a job, let alone save the money they make from working or doing odd jobs for something they want. If they save the money themselves, it makes it that much sweeter when they actually get what they want. To many kids today think that things should just be handed to them on a silver platter. As a result, they grow up to be DISRESPECTFUL ADULTS with the same type of attitude. I grew up poor. Anything I wanted, I had to work for. Usually doing odd jobs for my grandparents, like mowing the grass( for $5.00), trimming around plants(for $2.00). I think there are alot of parents that could learn from what Gwyneth and Nigella are doing. I look forward to any comments anyone might have.
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5-20-2008 @ 7:03PM
utre said...it is criminal for a parent to give there children there hard earned money and KILL the incentive for these kid's.
NONE of my 3 million will go to any of my children. I shared that with them and they are fine with it.
ANIMAL shelters are getting it.
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5-20-2008 @ 7:08PM
cldade55 said...Smart woman. Too many trust fund babies never get their acts together. When my children ask what I am going to leave them, I say that I will live long enough to spend it all. I told them I would pay for college and then they are on their own.
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5-20-2008 @ 7:39PM
Carol Levy said...Good idea but the legacy of the names, Stephen Paltrow and Blythe Danner is more than enough of a legacy to get them in many more doors than the majority could ever hope to see the inside of.
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5-28-2008 @ 8:02PM
kate said...So true. And she didn't go to some public school. Sweetheart went to some ritzy fi-fi country day school in Manhattan. Really sounds like mommy and daddy wanted her to learn how to live rough.
5-20-2008 @ 7:10PM
lots said...NONE of my money will go to my kids either. I have 1 freedloader child who would drown if I would give one dime to this kid.
The other two are fine with it but I will NOT take sides.
So all my money will go to charity, all 2 mill of it.
Money kills kid's will and drive and NOBODY does any good with it.
Just talk to a previous lottery winner and you will find out out what goes on after winning, and your children. It's almost a curse.
make your own way in life and you be proud and happier. I did aquire mine alone. NO money in the world makes them love you more, you are kidding yourself if you think they will, it's just the opposite.
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