Jared Goss, whose mother is part of the du Pont family and whose uncle is Porter J. Goss, the former congressman and director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said he never remembered his family having a conversation about inheritance. But he did remember learning about the extent of his family’s wealth in elementary school in San Francisco.

“All school kids in San Francisco then were very into the Guinness Book of World Records, and I remember at one point someone pointed out the fact that the du Pont family was the richest family in the world,” he said. “I remember laughing at that, thinking we’re just normal people.”

No adviser counsels silence. But Mr. LaFond does advise families to make sure that everyone is ready to receive the information, and that there is a level of trust between parent and child. This may mean speaking more generally about inheritance or about family commitments that can be met only because of excess wealth.

Mr. Treisman said that with his own three children, he has focused on gratitude, privilege and being philanthropic. One goal is not to replicate his experience at his first job.

“There was a time when my salary and my job earned me very little money compared with being responsible for my inheritance,” he said. “When you’re earning $19,000 but responsible for managing $1 million or more of assets, it’s difficult.”

Mr. Treisman continued: “Not knowing about this early, about the financial implications, can be disastrous. In my case, I did not really think that much about it to be honest.”

Mr. Goss said that his parents, while not forthcoming about exact dollar amounts, told him he would have enough family financial support to pursue whatever career he wanted. And he did, working for 20 years as a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.