http://bostonherald.com/track/inside_track/view.bg?articleid=1269698

ALL of the money for this is from the late PA Senator John Heinz's vast wealth. I can't even decide whether this guy is alpha or beta. One the one hand, he married a woman with hundreds of millions (maybe billions) of dollars. On the other hand, said woman was the widow of a more popular, far wealthier man with a brighter future. Said wife also still refers to herself as "Teresa Heinz": ""My legal name is still Teresa Heinz. Teresa Heinz Kerry is my name...for politics. Just so people don't ask me questions about so and so is so and so's wife or this and that. Teresa Heinz is what I've been all my growing-up life, adult life, more than any other name. And it's the name of my boys, you know?"[7]

Chump or champ? What say ye, BLBers?

Kerry doesn't control the money, but he does have a say in how it's spent, I'm sure. Could you be comfortable with this? Have you ever seen Teresa Heinz in action? She's not a shrinking violet, she's a pretty aggressive woman. She's head of her husband's family foundation as her job--the John Heinz Foundation. Literally, her job is to protect and promote the legacy and causes of her late husband and his family.

John Heinz's children are going to receive the vast share of the fortune when it's said and done. John's own children and fairly TTT and live a humble lifestyle, I doubt he can leave any of Heinz's wealth to his own kids--but at least he can enjoy the ride on the yacht, right? If that were me, I'd feel a little weird on that boat, knowing that when I die in 5 or 10 years, it's going to the children of my wife and her ex. I think about weird things like that, which is why I didn't handle marrying into serious money very well. It's more infantalizing than you'd imagine from the outside.

Kerry's an old man and he's probably more relaxed and cool about everything. I still find the situation funny, though.

When you marry into an out-of-sight wealthy family with old money trusts in place, no one tells you what to do explicitly, but that's not the issue. No one is rushing to re-title assets into your name or loan you the Hampton House for your friend's bachelor party weekend. You're not truly an equal. As a man, it is even worse than if you're a woman, because of society's built-in schemas.

Here is what the Boston Globe, which covers Kerry, says:

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/08/01/the_yacht_vs_the_pickup_truck/

Summary for the stupids out there (OK, who am I kidding, this is for SE):

Before marrying Heinz:

Living off his salary, with trust fund worth 100k at most. In other words, upper middle class at the very most. Not rich in any financial sense.

After marrying Heinz:

Shares assets worth at least $230 Mil. Married to a major philanthropist whose family money and assets are well into the billions.

My theory is that she wants to be more connected to politics than merely running a think tank or being a big time donor along the lines of Soros - I don't think her wealth is even substantial enough for her to do that. Is it? I think she's getting the benefit of that relationship, since money for Kerry's yachts and other flights of fancy is of less significance to her than the access she gains by marrying a Senator with some seniority.

She controls billions, although she herself can most likely only put her finger on 100M or so. They bought a $7M boat, it's safe to say she has "fuck you" money, the type of wealth locked up in trusts and foundations that would take several generations to spend, even with extreme profligacy.