The rich have traditionally passed their wealth on to their children. But an increasing number of billionaires are choosing not to. The reason They want their children to live on themselves—and not to turn into spoiled heirs and heiresses.
Nicola Horlick—or "supermum" to the tabloids (小报), owing to the fact that she has high-flying jobs and five kids—has spent her career a reported ￡250m; she now seems determined to throw off large parts of it. She already gives away about 25% of her income each year; she has just revealed, in a report on the state of charity in the city, that she will not be leaving most of the remainder to her children. "I think it is wrong to give too much inherited wealth to children," Horlick told the report’s authors. "I will not be leaving all my wealth to my children because that would just ruin their lives."
She is by no means the first to go public with this conviction. Bill Gates has ploughed an estimated $30bn into the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This was supplemented, in 2009, by another $24bn or so from his friend Warren Buffett.
Buffett has always been colourfully, quotably clear on where he stands. His daughter often tells a story of finding herself without change for a car parking ticket—her father lent her $20, then promptly made her write him a check. "To suggest that the children of the wealthy should be just as wealthy," he has said, "is like saying the members of America’s 2004 Olympics team should be made up only of the children of the 1980 Olympics team."
Anita Roddick, the late founder of the Body Shop, told her kids that they would not inherit one penny. The money that she made from the company would go into the Body Shop Foundation, which isn’t one of those awful tax shelters, like some in America. It just functions to take the money and give it away.
Sir Tom Hunter, the first Scottish billionaire, announced last July that he will be giving his billion to charity; two weeks ago Barron Hilton said he would be doing the same with 97% of his $2.3bn fortune—his granddaughter Paris’s embarrassing antics (滑稽行为) having convinced him that bequeathing (遗赠) unearned wealth is not something he wants to do. What do we learn about Nicola Horlick