The Myth of the Silver Spoon: Navigating Family Wealth and Creating an Impactful Life

The next generation within wealthy families are often said to be born with a silver spoon in their mouths. Perceived as free from life’s toughest challenges. “Having it all.” But being raised in affluence brings a unique set of pressures and hidden tripwires. Great wealth casts a long shadow. Inheritors commonly face intense familial expectations, public scrutiny and judgment, and confusing or debilitating self-narratives, under which many flounder. And we―as family, friends, and society―slowly lose their contribution to our lives and the common good.

The Myth of the Silver Spoon helps guide the next gen of the affluent, their families, and the ecosystem of professionals who influence them―wealth advisors, estate attorneys, tax attorneys, philanthropic advisors, family office professionals, and career coaches―to identify and confront negative thinking and behaviors related to wealth.

Through new research, meaningful storytelling, and actionable concepts, Kristin Keffeler―an expert advisor, consultant, and certified professional coach to high-net-worth families―helps readers clear the internal and external clutter from their paths that accumulates from growing up with wealth. She shows readers how to:

• Put words to their difficulties and dismantle the hidden tripwires of affluence
• Address challenges at their root, including when raising children of their own, instilling guardrails against entitlement and feelings of helplessness
• Identify structures for finding and sustaining one’s own vision of a fulfilling, impactful life

Privately held wealth has great potential to benefit society. But only if it is held by people able and willing to do good with it. Whether you’re a rising gen yourself or gifting this to a client, The Myth of Silver Spoon offers a compassionate discussion and a seven-step process for connecting a rising gen’s innate strengths to the embers of their hopes, so that they can move forward creating thriving and impactful lives.

KRISTIN KEFFELER, MSM, MAPP, is a thought leader at the forefront of a global shift in family wealth advising, known as Wealth 3.0. As a consultant, she guides affluent and enterprising families, rising gen, and the professionals who support them in embracing the positive power of wealth and doing the “inner work” of money. In 2006 she founded her advisory firm, Illumination360. She lives in Boulder County, Colorado.