Billionaires Gates and Buffett Agree on Whether to Leave Their Wealth to Children

Over the next decade, the world’s richest people (those with more than $30 million) will transfer more than $3.9 trillion to the next generations, according to a report by Wealth-X.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett’s children, judging by their parents’ statements, will not inherit much of the family fortune. Like some other super-rich parents, Gates and Buffett have stated that they will leave their children only a small portion of their wealth, while the rest will be donated to charity, writes CNBC.

Bill and Melinda Gates will leave their children “a small portion” of their $81 billion, which means they will have to find their own way to money. Buffett will leave $2 billion in trust for each of his three children from his $65.4 billion. Let’s be honest, even that small part of the vast fortune will be enough for their children to rank among the richest people in the world.

The golden rule of how much money to leave to children was articulated by Warren Buffett in 1986 for Fortune magazine, and it goes as follows: The perfect amount to leave to children must be enough for them to feel they can do anything they want, but not so much that they don’t have to do anything. If you disagree with this, there are always more extreme views like those of Kevin O’Leary, who made his own fortune and does not plan to leave anything to his children.

– They know that when they finish school, I will push them out of the nest. You want to prepare children to be ready to start their lives. I tell wealthy parents that if they don’t kick their kids out of the house and let them feel the pressure of real life, they won’t succeed in building their lives, O’Leary said.

Let us remember, Buffett, along with the Gates, founded the Giving Pledge in 2010 to encourage as many of the world’s wealthiest people as possible to leave the majority of their wealth for philanthropy. This year, 154 billionaires and their families from 16 countries joined, including Richard Branson, Sheryl Sandberg, and David Rockefeller.