It seems more and more wealthy celebrities and business people won’t be willing to leave huge sums of their own hard-earned fortune to their children when they’re gone. They want to teach their children valuable lessons — that money and wealth don’t fall from the tree, and that the capability of working for a living is something that anyone cannot buy.
Here are some of the wealthy elites who have decided to cut their children out of their wills:
1. Bill and Melinda Gates
Microsoft’s Bill Gates — currently the richest man in the world — and his wife Melinda have announced that they won’t leave their huge sums of fortune to their three children. However, the couple has also said that they intend to leave $10 million for each of their kids when they die — a sufficient amount of money so that the children work for a living. It seems certain that they are on their way to bequeath 99% of their wealth to philanthropy.
In 2009, Gates, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and business magnate Warren Buffet founded The Giving Pledge, by which they and other billionaires pledge that they should give at least half of their fortune to charity.
2. Mark Zuckerberg
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan may be one of the elite billionaires in the world, but the couple won’t be leaving their children Maxima and their soon-to-be-born second daughter a huge chunk of their wealth. Instead, Mark and Priscilla have pledged that they will donate 99% of their fortune to the Zuckerberg Foundation when they die.
3. Gordon Ramsay
The colorful and controversial British celebrity chef has recently announced that he won’t leave his fortune to his four kids on his will. He is known as tough not just in the kitchen, but also in his family life. He won’t allow his kids to sit with them in first class, or even dine at any of his restaurants. He wants them to work and earn their own money. This isn’t so surprising since Ramsay himself worked his way to the top and he wants his children to experience the same thing, and appreciate the fruits of their own labor. Way to go, kids, daddy ain’t that nice.
4. Jackie Chan
The internationally-famous Hong Kong actor and martial arts star has insisted that he won’t leave his huge fortune to his son Jaycee upon his death. Instead, he will be giving most of it to charity. He reportedly explained to the press: “If he is capable, he can make his own money. If he is not, then he will just be wasting my money.”
5. Nigella Lawson
Nigella Lawson herself came from a well-heeled family. But in complete fairness to her, the fabulous celebrity chef has made her own billions through her cooking shows and cookbooks. She won’t leave her children filthy rich when she dies, saying that she wants her kids to get their own jobs and have their own careers as she did. Despite that, she wants to ensure her children’s education. She explained: “I am determined that my children should have no financial security. It ruins people not having to earn money.”
6. Gloria Vanderbilt
Gloria Vanderbilt may be an heiress, but she made her own considerable fortune particularly from designing the now-ubiquitous blue jeans.
She is the mother of CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, who reveals he’s not going to inherit his mother’s fortune. And he’s perfectly okay with it — in fact, he’s even grateful that he won’t be receiving any. He says, “Who has inherited a lot of money that has gone on to do things in their own life? From the time I was growing up, if I felt that there was some pot of gold waiting for me, I don’t know that I would’ve been so motivated.”
7. Sting
The famous musician Sting who has a net worth of $300 million is not less a strict father here. He has already announced that his six children won’t inherit any of his wealth. His words are, “I told them there won’t be much money left because [my wife and I] are spending it! We have a lot of commitments. What comes in we spend, and there isn’t much left. “I certainly don’t want to leave them trust funds that are albatrosses round their necks. They have to work. All my kids know that and they rarely ask me for anything, which I really respect and appreciate,” he said.
8. Andrew Lloyd Webber
The man behind ‘Cats’, ‘Joseph’ and ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ Andrew Lloyd owns a net worth of $1.2 billion is nowhere planned to be inherited to his five children. “I am not in favour of children suddenly finding a lot of money coming their way because then they have no incentive to work,” he said. He plans to invest his money into musical projects, although the projects are yet to be finalized, he wouldn’t have his kids enjoy the fortune.