Experts at the Swiss bank UBS said: During the next 20 to 30 years, over 1,000 of todays billionaires are likely to transfer more than $5.2tn to their heirs. How do we calculate this number? Simply by adding up the wealth of the 1,023 billionaires who are aged 70 or more today.
Looking to the longer term, the exceptional wealth resulting from the boom in entrepreneurial activity since the 1990s has established a foundation for future generations of billionaire families.
The richest person on the planet is the majority owner of the luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, Bernard Arnault. He is 75 and has recently promoted his children to key roles in the business. Arnault has an estimated fortune of $233bn, a 10% increase on last year.
Charles Koch, the elder of the US billionaire industrialist brothers, is 88. Phil Knight, the billionaire co-founder of Nike, is 86.
A total of $70tn is expected to be inherited by the next generation over the next 20 years, according to estimates by the consulting firm Cerulli Associates. The transfer is expected to make millennials the richest generation in history, says research by the real estate agent Knight Frank.