The super-rich are inheriting record levels of wealth as they pass down billions of dollars to their children, grandchildren and spouses, research by a Swiss bank favoured by billionaires shows.<\/p>\n
Globally, there are 9,919 billionaires this year, up from 2,682 in 2024, UBS<\/a> found.<\/p>\n Of these, 91 people this year became billionaires through inheritance, collectively receiving $298bn (\u00a3223bn) in the 12 months to April, the bank said. That was up more than a third against last year and the highest since UBS started its research in 2015.<\/p>\n Among them are the six grandchildren of the late Asian paint tycoon Goh Cheng Liang, who died in Singapore in August aged 98. Each grandchild inherited stakes in a public company worth more than $1bn, according to reports.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, 196 \u201cself-made\u201d entrepreneurs became billionaires this year, with a collective wealth of $386.5bn, UBS said.<\/p>\n Benjamin Cavalli, an executive at the bank, said the increase in billionaire inheritance was proof of a \u201cmulti-year wealth transfer that\u2019s intensifying\u201d, with this group expected to inherit at least $5.9tn in the next 15 years.<\/p>\n Most of the inheritance is expected to come from the US, followed by India, France, Germany and Switzerland<\/a>. The UK ranked seventh, with $164bn worth in wealth expected to be passed down over the next 15 years.<\/p>\n However, this could change as footloose billionaires move around the world, motivated by a better quality of life, geopolitical concerns and tax considerations, UBS found.<\/p>\n Various European governments have faced calls to introduce a wealth tax<\/a> on the international elite this year. In Switzerland, where UBS estimates that $206bn will be inherited over the next 15 years, voters on Sunday overwhelmingly rejected a proposed 50% tax on inherited fortunes of \u00a347m or more.<\/p>\n In October, the French parliament voted against a proposed 2% tax on fortunes over \u20ac100m. Italy, which has attracted many wealthy residents thanks to its flat-tax regime for foreign income, has set out plans to increase the levy by 50% to \u20ac300,000 a year from 2026.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the UK, which distanced itself from reports of a formal wealth tax over the summer, officially ended non-dom status this year<\/a> under which UK residents who declared their permanent home as overseas could avoid paying UK tax on foreign income and gains. It also announced plans for a council tax surcharge, labelled a \u201cmansion tax\u201d<\/a>, on homes worth more than \u00a32m in last week\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n Last year, Spain, Brazil, Germany and South Africa signed a motion at the G20 for a minimum 2% tax <\/a>on the super-rich to reduce inequality and raise public funds. Forecasts on its impact vary, but a study by the leading French economist Gabriel Zucman<\/a> found it could net up to $250bn in extra revenue.<\/p>\n The four countries have called on other governments to support the campaign, saying a levy on the ultra-wealthy would complement negotiations on the taxation of the digital economy and continuing efforts to bring in a global minimum corporate tax of 15%<\/a> for multinational businesses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The super-rich are inheriting record levels of wealth as they pass down billions of dollars to their children,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[45,49,48,133,131,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-324767","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-finance","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}