We’re still surprised people did this but... 50+ founders worth $10M to $4B reveal their personal finances. Here it is: https://joinhampton.com/mw-wr
Why do we do this? Because if you’re an aspirational person or someone who runs a business and is making money, it’s incredibly challenging to figure out what to do. Information is impossible to find — and that’s what we put together: the net worth reveal and why we do this podcast, Moneywise.
The youngest Vanderbilt got the smallest inheritance, built the biggest house in America, and died with $11,000 in stocks.
George Vanderbilt was the youngest of eight kids in the richest family in America. His brothers inherited about $65 million each. He got $10 million, then spent somewhere between a third and half of it building the Biltmore: 250 rooms, 125,000 acres, 80 servants, electricity before almost anyone had it, and a forestry program that outspent the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He outspent his income every year, dipped into principal to cover it, and when he died at 51 his personal estate came to about $900,000. His widow sold 86,000 acres to the government for $5 an acre to keep the house standing.
This episode is the full financial autopsy of the Biltmore. What it cost to build (and why inflation math gets it wrong), what it cost to run, how the family sold off piece after piece just to hold onto the house, and how a grandson who quit banking turned a money pit into a business that now pulls in 1.4 million visitors a year. Along the way, Moneywise guests like Hank and Neil Patel show up with their own versions of the Biltmore problem. It ends with three numbers to run before you buy any house.
Also, this podcast is made by Hampton, which is a community for founders doing on average $20 million a year in revenue. We saw a lot of these money conversations happening privately behind closed doors and we thought, “What the heck, let’s make it public.” If you are a founder, apply here: http://joinhampton.com/mw
Timestamps:
00:00 — The richest man in America dies; his youngest son gets the smallest check and builds the biggest house
01:14 — What this episode is about, and why the Biltmore problem is still alive in Hampton today
01:55 — Cornelius Vanderbilt, “which is a sick name,” and a $200 million fortune (roughly $6–7 billion today)
02:37 — George the bookworm secretly buys 700 parcels, 50 farms, five cemeteries, and an entire town
03:29 — The architect of the family and the designer of Central Park draw up a French castle in the Blue Ridge
04:12 — No roads, so he builds a private railroad, a brick kiln, and a woodworking factory from scratch
04:56 — Electricity, an Otis elevator, a 70,000-gallon pool, and a bowling alley: “like a spaceship” in 1895
05:41 — 250 rooms, 33 years old, single
06:02 — What it actually cost, and why “$200 million today” is the wrong number (try $9 billion)
07:16 — His brothers spent the same on summer houses they used a few weeks a year
07:53 — Why building the house was the cheapest part: 80 servants and outspending a federal department
09:01 — The estate was supposed to pay for itself; it never did
09:16 — Hank’s 24,000 sq ft house: “we looked at each other like, what did we just do?”
10:00 — Marriage, a canceled Titanic ticket, and death at 51 with $11,000 in stocks and bonds
10:59 — Edith sells 86,000 acres for $5 an acre; 125,000 acres shrinks to 8,000
11:36 — The question nobody in George’s life asked him
12:12 — The Depression forces the doors open at $2 a ticket; WWII hides the National Gallery inside
12:39 — A grandson quits banking in 1960 and runs the house like a business: 64,000 visitors to 1.4 million
13:30 — Still private, still family-owned, assessed at $157 million
13:54 — Was George an idiot? Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves and the Vanderbilt reunion with zero millionaires
14:53 — “The house isn’t the mistake. The house that only costs money is the mistake.”
15:09 — Three numbers to run tonight before you buy or build a house
16:06 — Hank and Neil Patel both downsized, and both see their kids more
Sponsors:
Silvia, your personal AI CFO. Bring your investments, cash, property, and debt into one view and get answers built around your finances, your family, and creating generational wealth. https://www.cfosilvia.com/moneywise
Subscribe to Moneywise: / @themoneywisepodcast
Follow Daniel on X: https://x.com/danielcberk
Listen on Spotify / Apple Podcasts: [search “Moneywise Hampton”]