A recent Study has established the saying in the business world - once a billionaire, not always a billionaire.
This was established in e recent study report by the UBS Group AG and PricewaterhouseCoopers which studied most of the world’s richest families 20 years ago and found that they have seen their fortunes shrink in the intervening decades.
While studying the fortunes of those who had at least $1 billion in net worth in 1995, the study found that more than half, or 56 percent, of such individuals were not in that bracket as of 2014, the study said.
"Great wealth is volatile -- highly volatile," said Michael Spellacy, a senior partner at PwC.
There were only 126 billionaires of the 289 billionaires identified and studied in 1995 who still belong to the billionaire group.
24 billionaires of the 163 who dropped out saw their wealth diluted among family members while 66 lost their wealth to death and taxes. Business failures and other issues resulted in the decline of fortunes of 73 other, the report said.
Those who lost their riches were more than replaced by new billionaires. The study conducted by UBS and PwC was based on data that was gathered on 1,300 billionaires globally among whom more than 1,000 had been minting since 1995.
Over the past two decades, finance, technology or the consumer and retail industries were the major source of these billionaires making their money.
More than two-thirds of billionaires are over the age of 60 and most have at least two children, another report by the firms in May had found.
"That second generation is really critical to whether the wealth is maintained. The right business acumen and family governance is really important," said John Mathews, head of private wealth management for UBS Wealth Management Americas.
Those of the billionaires who managed to survive the two decades and stay within the list were found to have done quite well. From an average of $2.9 billion 20 years ago, those who survived in the list have seen their wealth quadruple to an average of $11 billion. Most of these billionaires have found that their assets had outperformed the equity markets. Spellacy said that the money that these billionaires gathered from holding on toall or part of the family business were re-invested in the companies. Mostly the family businesses were the source of their wealth.
An estimated $166 billion, or 4.1 percent of their combined fortune have been lost this year by the world’s richest 400 people. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, this so happened because the stock markets have lost ground and wealth derived from commodities such as oil has declined. As of Dec. 14, their estimated net worth was a combined $3.89 trillion.
UBS and PwC also found that women are taking on more decision-making for family businesses and investment strategy. Women billionaires are growing at a faster rate even as men vastly outnumber the women worth at least $1 billion. The study also found that a growing percentage of female billionaires are self-made, especially in Asia even as about 80 percent of the richest women inherit or marry into their wealth.
"We expect more and more self-made women billionaires in the future," Mathews said.
(Source:www.bloomberg.com)
This was established in e recent study report by the UBS Group AG and PricewaterhouseCoopers which studied most of the world’s richest families 20 years ago and found that they have seen their fortunes shrink in the intervening decades.
While studying the fortunes of those who had at least $1 billion in net worth in 1995, the study found that more than half, or 56 percent, of such individuals were not in that bracket as of 2014, the study said.
"Great wealth is volatile -- highly volatile," said Michael Spellacy, a senior partner at PwC.
There were only 126 billionaires of the 289 billionaires identified and studied in 1995 who still belong to the billionaire group.
24 billionaires of the 163 who dropped out saw their wealth diluted among family members while 66 lost their wealth to death and taxes. Business failures and other issues resulted in the decline of fortunes of 73 other, the report said.
Those who lost their riches were more than replaced by new billionaires. The study conducted by UBS and PwC was based on data that was gathered on 1,300 billionaires globally among whom more than 1,000 had been minting since 1995.
Over the past two decades, finance, technology or the consumer and retail industries were the major source of these billionaires making their money.
More than two-thirds of billionaires are over the age of 60 and most have at least two children, another report by the firms in May had found.
"That second generation is really critical to whether the wealth is maintained. The right business acumen and family governance is really important," said John Mathews, head of private wealth management for UBS Wealth Management Americas.
Those of the billionaires who managed to survive the two decades and stay within the list were found to have done quite well. From an average of $2.9 billion 20 years ago, those who survived in the list have seen their wealth quadruple to an average of $11 billion. Most of these billionaires have found that their assets had outperformed the equity markets. Spellacy said that the money that these billionaires gathered from holding on toall or part of the family business were re-invested in the companies. Mostly the family businesses were the source of their wealth.
An estimated $166 billion, or 4.1 percent of their combined fortune have been lost this year by the world’s richest 400 people. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, this so happened because the stock markets have lost ground and wealth derived from commodities such as oil has declined. As of Dec. 14, their estimated net worth was a combined $3.89 trillion.
UBS and PwC also found that women are taking on more decision-making for family businesses and investment strategy. Women billionaires are growing at a faster rate even as men vastly outnumber the women worth at least $1 billion. The study also found that a growing percentage of female billionaires are self-made, especially in Asia even as about 80 percent of the richest women inherit or marry into their wealth.
"We expect more and more self-made women billionaires in the future," Mathews said.
(Source:www.bloomberg.com)
