Footpaths

Money often provides a twist to the path of a fathers footsteps.

The Australian "Mister Sin," Abe Saffron, purveyed much that was illicit into a relatively noisy fortune. He did bring son (currently talent agent) Alan into the business a bit, but also kept much from him. Some of what he kept from him — in the form of money from the estate — might have played a role in the son writing a tell-all memoir of the pain his father put him through.

Richard Branson, also known for the decibels of news his fortune lets him create, has laid a very different foot path for daughter Holly. And when she was waylaid by medicine from following him, he began a new medically-related venture to seduce her into the family biz. No doubt the Virgin family business will soon have something environmentally induced to make sure son Sam stays within the fold.

While Saffron and Branson used fortunes to encourage their kids, Richard Garriott created a fortune to spend on following his father's trail. Garriott, son of skylab astronaut Owen Garriott, was told by NASA docs that he didn't have the vision to lives his dreams in space.

But it turned out he did have enough vision to a series of electronic and online games that built him a fortune. And the vision that created games millions want(ed) to play now means that he can spend $30 million to book 10-days of space travel on a Russian space station.

Money may serve as stepping stones along a father's path, but the stones are laid in different places at every turn.