For any family with $100 million or more in assets, managing those assets can be a full-time job. Ultra-wealthy families typically have dozens of trusts and partnerships, and an array of investments that require oversight and performance reporting. They also need sophisticated cash flow and liquidity management, not to mention extensive tax, estate, and philanthropic planning.

The Roy family, a media dynasty loosely modeled after the Murdochs (Fox) and Redstones (Viacom), spends its quality time together bitterly debating who will succeed the patriarch, Logan Roy. Although Succession reflects some of the worst realities of family and power dynamics, conversations about wealth and inheritance do not have to be contentious. In fact, family meetings are one of the best ways wealthy families can avoid the misunderstandings and false assumptions that often lead to conflict.

Although the wealth management industry has evolved since Schwed’s book was published 81 years ago, the underlying issue remains: it is first and foremost a money-making machine for those who work in the industry. This doesn’t mean the wealth management sector is made up of bad people (I’m one of them!) but rather that their incentives aren’t usually aligned with acting in clients’ best interests. Like Upton Sinclair says, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”