UBS Report: Billionaires’ Ambitions and the Future of Wealth

There’s no denying the billionaire’s life is a golden one, and this truth has only grown more evident over the last decade. According to the latest annual UBS Billionaire Ambitions report, the collective wealth of billionaires has seen an eye-watering increase of 121% to $14 trillion, between 2015 and 2024. To put that into perspective, the MSCI AC World Index, which monitors growth in large and mid-cap sectors in 23 developed markets, only rose by 73% in the same period.

However, the real story here isn’t about the accumulation of wealth but what these billionaires plan to do with their fortunes over the next year. Jennifer Gabrielli, Head of UBS’s Ultra-High Net Worth solutions group, who played a leading role in the report’s creation, brings this point into focus.

“They’re in businesses and industries that they’ve run for, if not generations, certainly decades, where they feel like they have a specific edge,” Gabrielli says. “And even after they dispose of those assets, when they go to investing, they still go to what they know best.”

Investment Plans for the Coming Year

According to the report, billionaire investors have identified three major areas of interest for their capital in the next 12 months:

Real Estate

• Real estate is the asset class attracting the most interest from billionaires. Despite wealthy families looking to sell their commercial real estate and public real estate investment trusts raising eyebrows, the report reveals that 19% of respondents plan to “significantly” increase their exposure. This includes 33% of billionaires in the Americas, 27% in the Asia-Pacific, and 10% in Europe, the Middle-East, and Africa.

Developed Market Bonds and Equities

• Besides the 9% of respondents planning a significant increase in bond exposure in developed markets, 26% aim to slightly boost their exposure, while only 1% intend to decrease their investments significantly. 42% of respondents plan to invest in developed market equities.

Gold and Other Precious Metals

• Ranked third place, 7% of respondents plan to increase their exposure to rare metals significantly, usually considered a safe-haven during times of instability. Thirty-three percent plan to slightly increase their exposure.

A notable point from the report is that while almost as many billionaires plan to increase their exposure to direct private equity holdings (38%)—which have been a favorite among investors lately—twenty percent plan to decrease their exposure.

Generational Wealth Transfer

The report also underscores the likelihood of an increase in wealth passed onto heirs, as billionaires continue to outperform the market. Over the past decade, multigenerational billionaires have inherited $1.3 trillion. However, over the next 15 years, they’re expected to inherit a staggering $6.3 trillion. “That’s higher than forecast in 2023,” according to the report, “because more billionaires have reached the age of 70, and asset values have increased.”

So, how many degrees of separation are you from the globe’s most powerful business leaders? Explore who made our brand-new list of the 100 Most Powerful People in Business. Plus, learn about the metrics we used to make it.