Valuetainment - December 09, 2025


"No Prenup, No Will" - Morgan & Morgan Founder BREAKS DOWN His BILLION DOLLAR Inheritance Blueprint


Episode Stats


Length

13 minutes

Words per minute

187.54094

Word count

2,577

Sentence count

231

Harmful content

Misogyny

2

sentences flagged

Hate speech

1

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

How do you pass the wealth from one generation of investors to the next? In this episode, I sit down with Dan Rockefeller to talk about how he and his family passed the wealth down to his children and grandchildren.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 I'm at a family founders event at Goldman Sachs three weeks ago,
00:00:02.800 and I'm at a Solomon Partners event last night in Miami Beach.
00:00:07.180 Okay.
00:00:07.860 Both of them, they have Dallas at Ross Perot Jr. there
00:00:12.040 and the owners of the NASCAR family as well as Emmett Smith and others,
00:00:15.700 and they're talking about G2, G3, G4,
00:00:18.280 and how do you pass the wealth on to the next.
00:00:20.780 And then last night they had the founder of 1-800-Flowers,
00:00:24.640 the Perry Ellis family, and all these other guys that are in the room.
00:00:27.260 Similar type of conversation on how you pass it on.
00:00:29.720 The guy that was running Perry Ellis is the son of the founder of Perry Ellis,
00:00:32.260 so it was kind of like you got four kids, and you're a G1.
00:00:37.240 You made the money, and you made a lot of money.
00:00:39.940 So how are you setting up the estate planning and the living trust
00:00:44.340 and the expectation of which one of your kids comes into the business?
00:00:48.800 If one does not, then how do you set it up with the grandkids?
00:00:52.480 Then if they marry somebody else, like, oh, my God, I'm marrying a Morgan, 1.00
00:00:56.880 so I'm going to get the money,
00:00:58.240 and how do you protect your sons from who they marry
00:01:00.400 to make sure they're doing it for the right reasons?
00:01:02.860 How do you process the entire legacy planning with your wealth?
00:01:06.280 All right, first, all my children are married.
00:01:09.780 All my children have prenups.
00:01:12.200 In my estate, it works like this.
00:01:16.080 If you don't have a prenup, you don't take under the will.
00:01:19.080 Bingo.
00:01:19.360 So I become the bad guy.
00:01:21.360 And every time I tell people this, I don't know how old your kids are,
00:01:23.700 you will remember this, believe me.
00:01:25.920 So you don't want your kid to have to be the bad guy.
00:01:29.700 You're the bad guy.
00:01:30.740 So my kids can say, hey, my dad, my dad's my dad.
00:01:36.560 Now, if you don't want to sign it, we're not getting shit.
00:01:40.680 That's right.
00:01:41.100 And so that's the first thing.
00:01:44.320 The prenups are fairly tough.
00:01:47.640 Like, you know, one lawyer said,
00:01:50.600 this is the most egregious document I've ever read.
00:01:54.320 Egregious.
00:01:54.900 Egregious.
00:01:55.360 I'm sure you took it as a compliment.
00:01:56.600 I said, by design.
00:01:57.680 By design.
00:01:58.480 By design.
00:01:59.460 Yeah.
00:01:59.600 And so, but listen, all of my, the daughter-in-laws, the son-in-law,
00:02:05.780 I love these folks.
00:02:07.740 But I'm not going to have a situation where somebody can come in and,
00:02:13.400 you know, my one son, Matt, said, because he was the first one,
00:02:17.480 he's like, well, Daddy, maybe I put a clause in there that if I cheat on my
00:02:20.960 wife, that is a null and void. 1.00
00:02:24.100 I go, no, no, no, no, no.
00:02:25.620 Because we don't need to have any litigation.
00:02:27.860 He goes, I'm not going to cheat.
00:02:30.360 I said, I know you're not, you know, his mother's.
00:02:33.260 Good question to ask, though.
00:02:34.720 But he asked that question.
00:02:35.660 I said, let's just get the documents signed.
00:02:38.220 So I did that years ago in 2008.
00:02:41.560 I had, when everything crashed, I had everything appraised,
00:02:45.240 and I gave the big gift to them where you could give up to like $24,
00:02:48.340 $25 million.
00:02:49.280 So I did that.
00:02:51.060 I built a company called Litify, which was a software company.
00:02:54.660 And what I did with that, I took Litify, and I just put it all,
00:02:59.100 I put 20%, each one of my children, 20% for me.
00:03:03.480 We sold it to Besmer at a $600 million valuation.
00:03:07.240 We took 60%.
00:03:08.580 But when we sold it, all my kids got the money.
00:03:11.720 And then I used my 20% to toggle off and pay the taxes.
00:03:16.060 So they took it tax-free.
00:03:17.560 So I've done a lot of things.
00:03:18.780 You've got to do a lot of things de novo, early on,
00:03:21.380 where there's no basis.
00:03:24.140 And then the lucky thing for me is because my sons are lawyers,
00:03:29.800 then they get to take shares inside this firm.
00:03:32.880 And we build new cities.
00:03:34.100 Like, we're going to open in Chicago.
00:03:36.420 So they get to come in there de novo.
00:03:38.700 So my children make a lot of money inside the law.
00:03:42.820 But I have been very – that question has been in my mind, you know,
00:03:49.480 even when I didn't have it.
00:03:50.720 Go one more.
00:03:51.440 So what is Dan – what are you leaving to them to decide what to do with the grandkids?
00:03:59.260 Because, you know, you hear, like, the Vanderbilt story,
00:04:01.900 the money only lasted one generation and it was gone,
00:04:04.040 where Anderson Cooper's mom's like, I may be a Vanderbilt,
00:04:06.160 but don't expect Vanderbilt money.
00:04:07.800 It's gone, right?
00:04:08.620 And then you hear some of the Medici family and the Rockefeller family,
00:04:12.080 how they're able to bring it down to six, seven generations.
00:04:14.880 How are you processing it for your G3, for your grandkids?
00:04:17.660 Okay.
00:04:18.180 So the way I'm doing it is this.
00:04:21.780 In our will, when we die, if our kids have $100 million, they get nothing.
00:04:30.020 Because now remember, they're going to have –
00:04:32.200 I'm transferring shares of the firm to them.
00:04:35.100 So they're going to have that.
00:04:36.060 But they're going to get – if they have – they're going to get $100 million,
00:04:39.160 they get nothing.
00:04:41.300 We have an estate, I mean, a foundation that we hope to have, you know,
00:04:46.200 a billion-dollar foundation, and all of my money is going into the foundation.
00:04:52.760 And so – but some of my kids are already past the $100 million.
00:04:57.100 I mean, some of them are already – they're done.
00:04:59.800 And they're going to make a lot of money.
00:05:01.520 My kids are 42, 40, 38, 36.
00:05:04.680 Two years apart.
00:05:05.300 Two years apart.
00:05:05.960 Well, I'm Catholic.
00:05:07.160 You only stopped at four?
00:05:08.460 Well, let me tell you.
00:05:08.920 Because traditionals get like six, eight, nine –
00:05:10.680 Let me tell you the problem.
00:05:12.340 First of all, my wife's a devout Catholic.
00:05:15.020 The rhythm method does not work, especially when you're –
00:05:18.180 especially when you're drinking Jack Daniels on the weekend.
00:05:21.980 You know?
00:05:22.380 So, I mean, listen, man.
00:05:25.060 Every time I had sex, I had a – if I would piss on a rock,
00:05:28.000 there'd be potatoes growing in the morning.
00:05:29.500 So, you know, I'm very potent.
00:05:32.480 I had to finally get fixed because it just – I just – I never missed.
00:05:37.040 But –
00:05:37.240 That's respect.
00:05:38.000 That's respect.
00:05:38.560 Yeah.
00:05:38.900 Major.
00:05:39.100 But I had a hot wife, too. 1.00
00:05:40.400 There you go.
00:05:41.040 That's good.
00:05:41.520 That helps.
00:05:42.920 And so – but, you know, enough's enough.
00:05:46.980 I mean, we're doing things for our grandchildren.
00:05:48.960 We got the generational trust.
00:05:52.800 A guy down here that we recommend, a guy named Andy Cometor, is our tax guy.
00:05:58.020 And – but, you know, but when they were little, you know, I never wanted –
00:06:01.740 I wanted them to work.
00:06:02.740 They always had to work.
00:06:04.540 They never got to, you know, sit home.
00:06:06.960 They never got – you know, a lot of people go to high school
00:06:09.320 and they buy their kids Mercedes.
00:06:10.600 And, no, mine were driving eight-year-old Navigators
00:06:13.520 and they worked on the weekend.
00:06:14.860 And you got to keep them hungry.
00:06:16.860 What are you going to do with your grandkids?
00:06:18.860 I'm not going to – you know, who – I worry about it
00:06:21.460 because the grandkids – generation three is when it all goes to hell
00:06:24.780 in a hand basket.
00:06:26.100 And what I worry about is that they have lived – you know,
00:06:28.840 we flew down today in our G500.
00:06:31.240 My grandchildren, they don't – and that's what I worry about
00:06:34.520 because they lead my – when I go to – I live in Maui in the wintertime.
00:06:38.400 Dan just got married in Maui.
00:06:39.760 You know, my grandkids get to lead our life.
00:06:43.800 So I worry about that.
00:06:46.440 But you know what I think about?
00:06:48.020 I was like, you know what?
00:06:48.920 I'll be dead.
00:06:51.020 I'm going to let you guys worry about it.
00:06:53.120 Handle it.
00:06:53.600 You all handle it.
00:06:54.540 You all give me enough stress as it is.
00:06:56.920 Is one of the kids richer than the other kid?
00:06:58.800 Is there situations where one's done better?
00:07:02.200 And then how do you manage the competitiveness, the ego,
00:07:04.680 the envy, or the jealousy if there's any of that?
00:07:07.280 If there is, I don't know it.
00:07:10.120 I know they're all different tiers in age because, you know,
00:07:13.140 Dan, who you just met, he got out later, you know,
00:07:16.200 and Mike started first.
00:07:17.580 So there is that.
00:07:19.780 But at the end of the day, they all do different things in the business,
00:07:22.480 and some do better than the others.
00:07:25.120 But, you know, some deserve more than the others.
00:07:27.720 But is that – do you talk about it?
00:07:29.340 Do you say –
00:07:29.840 I don't really talk about it.
00:07:31.000 I talk about this.
00:07:32.060 I just say this about that.
00:07:34.720 Comparison is the thief of joy.
00:07:36.620 You've heard that.
00:07:37.360 Of course, yeah.
00:07:38.260 That's not my line.
00:07:39.440 I'm stealing it.
00:07:40.620 But I tell them, look, once you get a certain number, it's the same.
00:07:45.980 I mean, a guy who's got $100 million is leading basically the same life
00:07:50.840 as the guy that's got a billion, except for maybe a yacht, you know,
00:07:55.900 I mean, or some astronomical house.
00:07:59.760 And so it's not – I don't worry about that.
00:08:02.520 What I worried about when I was starting out was that they would never have to
00:08:07.680 struggle after leading the life they lived with me.
00:08:11.640 You know, I didn't make a million dollars until 1997.
00:08:15.980 28 years ago.
00:08:18.380 Yeah.
00:08:18.640 I mean, that's the first year I made a million dollars.
00:08:21.320 Stop it.
00:08:22.060 No, but let me tell you why.
00:08:23.740 This is a secret I'm going to give to everybody listening.
00:08:26.480 Because I kept taking all of my profits and pouring it in to new cities.
00:08:32.280 I mean, I was making a lot.
00:08:33.460 I mean, I was making –
00:08:34.220 So you were paper rich, but you were not cash rich.
00:08:37.620 No.
00:08:37.820 But, but look, all that pouring in, you know, last – this year we'll do, you know,
00:08:44.740 two and a half billion dollars in fees.
00:08:50.840 Once you catch up, once you catch up, the waterfall is – you know,
00:08:56.760 so when I tell people I made a million dollars, how?
00:08:59.200 You were 41.
00:08:59.980 I go, listen, because I was doing Jacksonville and Tampa and Atlanta,
00:09:04.260 and some of them were tough.
00:09:05.620 Some of them didn't make it.
00:09:06.700 You know, not didn't make it.
00:09:07.740 It took time.
00:09:08.880 So I was really building – so now, you know, we've got 7,000 employees
00:09:15.340 in all 50 states, and I still got some cities that have not –
00:09:21.760 that are still in the red.
00:09:23.160 Like, you know, New York City is still in the red.
00:09:25.800 But when I look at what it's going to be, when I look at my inventory,
00:09:29.340 when I look at L.A., it's going to be bigger than the core.
00:09:32.760 All those – that $2.5 billion, the expansion is going to be bigger than the core,
00:09:38.980 in my opinion.
00:09:40.280 So the great thing about that is when you invest in those startups,
00:09:44.620 you get to write off 40%.
00:09:46.240 So if I put, you know, $20 million in a city, I only have to put in $12
00:09:51.100 because, you know, it's a loss.
00:09:52.640 So what happens in these businesses, you come in, advertise red, red, red advertising,
00:09:58.460 you know, then you kind of flatten out.
00:10:00.140 You're not feeding the beast.
00:10:01.200 And then all of a sudden, you start getting your money back.
00:10:03.380 And then you cross the Rubicon, I call it.
00:10:06.420 You cross the Rubicon, and that's because I burn the boats.
00:10:09.720 When I go in, I'm burning the boats.
00:10:11.120 That's the river.
00:10:12.040 When you cross the Rubicon, you go from red to black,
00:10:15.260 and then it's just like a hockey stick.
00:10:17.740 When was that?
00:10:18.400 When was the moment for you where you're like,
00:10:20.720 we're about to make a lot of money?
00:10:22.940 And I'm talking exponential.
00:10:24.560 I'm not talking millions.
00:10:25.680 I'm talking we're about to fly.
00:10:27.600 Our private company is almost like a Fortune 100 company now.
00:10:31.820 I mean, when you see, I don't want to talk about my net,
00:10:34.200 but it was, you know, the last nine years just started.
00:10:43.180 And when it came, it poured.
00:10:48.900 Thank God.
00:10:50.460 Thank God.
00:10:51.840 That's a great thing about this.
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00:10:57.480 I'm on day 57 out of 58 that I've worn these shoes.
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00:11:20.300 She was crying.
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