Well, I’ve just read something quite interesting about how billionaires handle inheritance. Bill Gates revealed in an interview that his children will receive less than 1% of his net worth, which, according to Forbes, is around 128 billion dollars. Essentially, we’re talking about less than 1.3 billion per child for the three kids.

The philosophy behind it is quite fascinating: Gates believes that giving children too much money doesn’t truly help them. He said clearly that he wants them to create their own path to success, not to live in the shadow of his fortune. The boys received a good education—Jennifer and Phoebe graduated from Stanford, and Rory from the University of Chicago—but for Gates, this is as far as he intends to go when it comes to leaving them material inheritance.

What’s striking is how Gates thinks about it: he doesn’t ask his children to manage Microsoft—he wants them to find their own income and their own success. An interesting vision, given his astronomical net worth. He also emphasized that the true use of his wealth is to support those who need it most through his foundation.

Now, here comes the interesting contrast. Warren Buffett, a longtime friend and major supporter of the Gates Foundation, has a slightly different approach. In the 2024 Thanksgiving issue, he converted 1,600 Class A shares of Berkshire into 2.4 million Class B shares, donating them to four family foundations managed by his three children, valued at around 1.143 billion dollars. Buffett was more generous—at least initially.

But wait—Buffett’s philosophy isn’t so far from Gates’. He has always said that wealthy parents should leave their children enough to do anything, but not so much that they have to do nothing. He acknowledged that he has given millions to his three children over the years, but with a clear vision: he doesn’t want to build an empire of family inheritance. After his death, all remaining wealth will go to a charitable trust supervised by his children, who will have to decide unanimously how to use it.

What comes through in both cases is a shared awareness: excessive wealth can destroy rather than build. Buffett shared how he and his partner Charlie Munger have seen many families brought down by confusing wills and poorly managed inheritances. For this reason, both Gates and Buffett chose to communicate their decisions clearly to their families.

It’s an interesting contrast to the classic narrative of billionaires accumulating wealth to pass it on to future generations. Gates and Buffett seem to have understood that true inheritance isn’t money—it’s education, values, and the opportunity to create something of your own. Bill Gates’ net worth could allow him to leave billions to his children, but he chooses not to. And Buffett, despite his initial generosity with family foundations, follows a similar logic: wealth should be used for a greater purpose.