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Six of the World’s Richest People Who Are Not Leaving Billions to Their Children

In an effort to ensure their children make their own way in the world, some billionaires have opted against leaving their estates to heirs.

In the next two decades, the heirs of the world’s wealthiest are expected to become significantly richer. An estimated $84 trillion is expected to change hands by 2045 in what has been deemed the largest-ever transfer of intergenerational wealth—but not all billionaires are on board. Some, like Laurene Powell Jobs, have decided against leaving their fortunes to their children. Powell Jobs, whose multibillion-dollar net worth primarily consists of Apple and The Walt Disney Company shares inherited from her late husband Steve Jobs, has previously stated that “it’s not right for individuals to accumulate a massive amount of wealth.” Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett, meanwhile, has designed his will so that his children will inherit a charitable trust that must be doled out within a decade instead of receiving a mass amount of funds.

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Perhaps the most notable example of the anti-inheritance billionaire is Chuck Feeney, an acclaimed philanthropist who died in October 2023 with only $2 million, despite having once accumulated a net worth nearly $8 billion. Feeney, who made a fortune in the duty-free shopping business, gave the bulk of his money away for decades via his Atlantic Philanthropies foundations. “It is eccentric, but he sheltered us from people using the money to treat us differently,” said one of........

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