While the experience of wealth is an envied one, inheritors of wealth and their partners know that the enjoyment of it is more complex than is readily apparent. Summer Institute is a community of inheritors of wealth and their partners who create an annual personal growth program to focus on the challenges and opportunities of inherited wealth.
WHAT IS THE SUMMER INSTITUTE?
While the experience of wealth can be an enviable one, inheritors of wealth and their partners know that the enjoyment of it is more complex than is readily apparent. The Summer Institute was established in 1989 as an annual retreat and an ongoing community to address, in a confidential setting, the personal and interpersonal issues that accompany substantial inherited wealth.
The Summer Institute has been described as a seminar, a retreat, a workshop, a growth experience, and a reunion of friends. Our vision is to provide a safe and broad-minded community for people who have inherited wealth to share their individual experiences while growing and learning from others in an atmosphere of fun and friendship, respect, and discovery. We support each other with the goal to move away from feeling that financial wealth controls our lives, and toward feeling we control it and are able to use it as a tool to be happier, have stronger relationships, and live our values more fully.
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WHO RUNS THE SUMMER INSTITUTE?
One of the unique features of Summer Institute is that the program is created and facilitated by past attendees who are addressing the challenges and opportunities of inherited wealth and who share their experience and expertise with other inheritors of wealth and their partners. The Summer Institute is a self-supporting organization and accepts no outside contributions or sponsorships.
WHO ATTENDS THE SUMMER INSTITUTE?
Summer Institute is for inheritors of wealth and their partners. Participants have ranged in age from their twenties into their seventies, and all participants have a desire to learn and grow. While most attendees come alone or with partners, we also welcome family groups of adult siblings, or parents with adult children. Many participants have attended in the past, and we always look forward to welcoming new attendees to our community. Attendance is limited to twenty-four in order to create an intimate and safe gathering.
SHOULD I ATTEND THE SUMMER INSTITUTE?
A past participant described the Summer Institute experience as “a kind of retreat where you can really learn about, and talk about, all the stuff that goes along with wealth that nobody ever really talks about. Stuff like trusts with strings, or parents who want you to be some figure in the family business, or spouses who feel odd after marrying into wealth. What sets this group apart from any other is the kind of context they have. The people are warm and honest and non-judgmental. It’s the best way I’ve found to step back and take stock of what I’m doing, and to find friends who really know what the challenges are. They’ve all been there.”
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People attend and return to the Summer Institute for many reasons including:
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To experience a non-judgmental environment in which to share personal growth and let down one's guard among friends.
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A desire to reset one's internal compass and become redirected and motivated.
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A chance to find community amongst people who have few positive role models or opportunities for real connection.
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A transforming experience for anyone who wants their life and their family life to have personal meaning.
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Consider joining us if:
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You are from or have partnered with someone from the second, third, or later generation of a financially wealthy family and have enough inherited wealth that you could live without working, if you so desired; and
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You are facing, or will be faced with, issues of inheritance or inherited responsibility; or
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You experience inherited wealth as a significant factor in your family dynamics and/or personal psychology; and
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You are in your twenties or older and willing to change and grow.
