Chapter 21 - FLETCHER AT EIGHTEEN
Fletcher’s first adult beneficiary meeting was deeply disappointing to him.
He arrived wearing sneakers.
Drank two coffees.
Read four pages of a binder.
Then asked:
“So I don’t own ten percent of the company?”
“No.”
“Can I fire CEO?”
“No.”
“Can I get free hotel rooms?”
“No automatic entitlement.”
“Can I make restaurants serve breakfast all day?”
The trustee smiled.
“No.”
“This trust is useless.”
I laughed.
He learned.
Protected voting rights.
Economic distributions.
Independent fiduciaries.
Tax.
Conflict rules.
Direct reporting.
He chose not to become a trustee.
Smart.
Fletcher studied landscape architecture.
Not finance.
Not hospitality.
Not nutrition.
People tried to interpret it anyway.
“Because of the dinner trauma, you design public spaces?”
He rolled his eyes.
“I like parks.”
Trauma does not own every career.
He used lawful trust distributions for university.
Worked internships.
Bought an old truck with his own earnings.
Used trust money later for graduate school after independent approval.
No shame.
No prince fantasy.
May you like
Money became administration.
Exactly what we wanted.
