Do you happen to know if those low intelligence wealthy people are slowly losing their wealth? Or is there a structure (like a trust) that administers this so they can't lose too much of it by their own action.

It definitely varies.

In Brooklyn there are plenty of kids who inherited money and working jobs that do not match their wealth/housing/lifestyle. So they are spending down whatever wealth they inherited for sure.

The typical picture I've seen is that the parents/trust buy them a condo all-cash, and then the underemployed then live a lifestyle that implies easily a $1M/year income except in a job that would imply a $0-$100k income. So unless they inherit like $25M+, they are spending it down quickly.

I've also seen the early stages of this from the other end with my colleagues, where parents in NYC who come from more modest backgrounds, end up making FAANG level salaries but then having kids that want to get a philosophy degree and work at an NGO (while enjoying having a place in Manhattan to live and traveling internationally 3x/year).

I guess theres a fine line between giving your kids space to grow & pushing too hard / trying to choose their path for them.. But being raised in comfort does seem to remove the striving mindset and understanding that this lifestyle doesn't come for free or from a fun job.

I've see much more limited versions of this. Living a $150k lifestyle on $65k income. Basically, blending in with the 20-something white collar scene. Then, they throw a wedding, and it removes all doubt :)

There's a common refrain that wealth disappears within 3 generations.

From my NYC observations, 3 generations seems like the best case.