The Guardian reports that many multibillionaires choose to give their money to charity for the sake of their children. They feel that to inherit such vast fortunes would ruin their children's lives in a Hilton-esque way. This feeling is behind William Barron Hilton's recent donations as well as Warren Buffet's. Buffet gave a great quote: “A very rich man might leave his children enough money to make it possible for them to do almost anything they want, but he would be a fool to leave them so much money that they ended up doing nothing at all.”
This touches on my last few posts on private giving. I’m forced to wonder if Chinese billionaires feel the same way – and I assume that they don't. Li Yuan suggests that for them the point of having a fortune is to provide it to your family. If our super rich are realizing that sustaining their wealth for many generations is not even in their children's best interests, why do they continue to raise such fortunes?
