Bill Gates US$93B

Principal Microsoft founder, William Henry “Bill” Gates said his three children understand why he has pledged to leave his US$90 B fortune to charity when he dies. They are also ‘proud’ of his decision to dedicate his money to helping the world’s poorest. In one interview, Gates remarked, “Our kids will receive a great education and some money so they are never going to be poorly off but they’ll go out and have their own career. It’s not a favor to kids to have them have huge sums of wealth. It distorts anything they might do, creating their own path.”

Instead of providing billion-dollar trust funds, his two daughters and son will be given a ‘great education’ to help kick-start their own careers.

Warren Buffet US$82B

The world’s most savvy investor, Warren Buffet has intimated that only a very small fortune of that money will go to his three children. According to Fortune magazine, Buffet pledged to give away 99% of his wealth over his lifetime. “My family won’t receive huge amounts of my net worth. I still believe in the philosophy…that a very rich person should leave his kids enough to do anything but not enough to do nothing.”

Yu Pang-Lin US$2 B

High profile billionaire, real estate mogul and one of the world’s top philanthropists, Yu Pang-Lin passed away at the age 92 in 2015 but in a gathering five years earlier, he announced that he would entrust his entire wealth valued at USD$1.5 Billion to a bank and the money would then be donated to charity after his death.

Yu was believed to be China’s first billionaire to donate an entire fortune to charity. He gained prominence when he acquired Bruce Lee’s home in the early 70’s and rose from toilet cleaner to billionaire. He once said, “If my children are more capable than me, it’s not necessary to leave a lot of money to them. If they are incompetent, a lot of money will only be harmful to them.”

Elton John US$550M

Regardless of geography, there appears to be a growing awareness on the dangers of children entitlement. English singer, pianist, and composer Elton John whose net worth is around USD550 million has the same mindset. He has no plans of leaving much of it to his sons, “Of course I want to leave my boys in a very sound financial state. But it’s terrible to give kids the silver spoon. It ruins their life! Listen, the boys live the most incredible lives, they are not normal kids. But you have to have some semblance of normality, some respect for money, some respect for work.”

Jacky Chan US$350M

It looks like Jaycee Chan will have to make it on his own as well.  His celebrity father, Jackie Chan, has decided to donate his money to charity instead of his son. As reported in Hong Kong media, Jackie Chan, who has a fortune estimated at USD350 Million, recently announced that he will donate all his wealth to charity. The “Bleeding Steel” star, who originally intended to split his wealth between his family and charity, has decided to give it all to the needy. Chan was quoted as saying that his son Jaycee should be capable of earning his own money now that he has his own career.

The Most Difficult Decision You Will Ever Make

Inheritance can be tricky so discussion is often avoided. However, as the founder reaches the age of 60 and up and the children are all grown up and likely to have been forced (lured)into the business with zero outside work experience, founders can expect the following worrisome scenarios:

• Escalating dispute between founder and children related to management style
• Simmering sibling rivalry on family and business issues
• Children jockeying for power aggravated by In Law influence
• Worsening marital spats between the founder/spouse
• A competitive and highly regulated marketplace
• Growing tax pressure exacerbated by different sets of Internal books
• Urgency to align a complicated ownership structure for estate and transition planning

When these combustible issues are mixed, the process of initiating an inheritance plan can be so overwhelmingly daunting that owners tend to naturally forego the process. Procrastination or the “Do Nothing Option” then ends up as the most convenient choice.

So when an event like death or illness strikes the founder, expect the phenomenon to reappear, “Rice bowl to rice bowl in three generations.”/WDJ