The past few decades have seen an entrepreneurial boom that has created enormous wealth — which is now starting to be passed on to the next generation. UBS’s survey of billionaires, Billionaire Ambitions Report 2023: Changing of the guard, says a generational transfer of over $5 trillion is just beginning.
This handoff — and its creation of new billionaires — has significant implications. This year’s UBS survey found that new billionaires had acquired more money through inheritance than through entrepreneurship. Yet more than half of the new multi-gen billionaires are opting not to join the family business or family office but rather to chart their own course.
Overall, 56.6% of multi-gen billionaires in the survey said they are not following the family legacy, though there were regional differences:
- The trend was especially strong in Asia, where 66.7% were going their own way.
- In the Americas, 53.3% said they were not joining the family business or office.
- The EMEA region was the exception: 47.1% said they would go their own way, but a majority said they would continue the family legacy.
The report also identifies shifts in the sectors that produce or grow billionaires’ wealth, with consumer and retail accounting for the largest increase. A look at these trends suggests that even the heirs who opt to continue in the family business or family office may not continue to invest or do business the way their parents did.