Why do most rich families lose all their wealth in one or two generations?

Studies suggest 70 percent of generational wealth transitions fail, and the failure is almost never about investments or tax planning. Kris Kluver, in The Dysfunctional Family Office, points to the real cause directly. Communication breakdowns. Trust deteriorating between generations. Heirs nobody bothered to prepare. No shared sense of what the wealth was for. The pattern shows up across UHNW research from Williams and Preisser, RBC Wealth Management, and decades of family office studies. Money disappears because the family never learned how to talk to one another about it. The investments stay solid for years while the relational side quietly fails, and then the wealth follows the relationships out the door. Most families don't see the pattern until they're already inside it.