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The 2025 UBS Billionaire Ambitions Report was released a few hours ago, a per se study of family offices among the growing number of reports published by banks, asset managers and other organizations.
Some findings in the eleventh edition of the UBS report were expected.
This year, even during a global trade war and geopolitical conflicts, there were huge business successes, a rising stock market (the S&P 500 index is up 16% this year), and the transfer of tremendous wealth (see: 15 heirs to the Boehringer Ingelheim pharmaceutical fortune). Together, those things grew the number of billionaires by 8.8%, from 2,682 to nearly 3,000, according to UBS.
Billionaires are also wealthier than they’ve ever been, with an estimated collective net worth of $16.1 trillion, up almost $2 trillion from 2024. Out of the group, 196 self-made billionaires added $386.5 billion, the second-highest annual increase ever recorded by the UBS report. Anticipated or not, those numbers are staggering.
But the Swiss bank's report is not really about the tally. UBS surveyed 87 of its billionaire clients worldwide during July, August and September, delving into what they want, what they are doing, and what worries them, all of which could be interesting, useful, or affirming to others.
Because the survey took place after broad U.S. tariffs were put in place, concerns about a financial crisis rapidly occurring were low (only 16% of billionaires said it was a top worry). “We were well past the point of peak uncertainty when this survey went out,” Daniel Scansaroli, the global investment management head of portfolio strategy and multi-asset solutions for the Americas at UBS, told Modus.
Since then, billionaires have maintained a “risk-on framework,” although many have been asking recently about the euphoria for artificial intelligence and all things related to it.
“A lot of our clients want to stay allocated, but they also want to make sure that they're not taking on the disproportionate risk. Most of them see this as still early stages, in terms of an A.I. revolution, but obviously the tremendous runup that we've seen of seven stocks and the concentration risks…that's going to raise questions: Am I properly diversified and should I be rebalancing my portfolio?” Scansaroli said.
Recent high-profile bankruptcies have led to a surge in headlines about the private credit market. But most of the billionaire clients haven’t been concerned about private credit because they don’t allocate much to that asset class (5% on average), Scansaroli said.
As always, the billionaires are focused on how to lower their tax bills. Even slightly lower rates can mean a huge difference in dollar terms, so the “vast majority” of the conversations Scansaroli has with billionaire investors revolve around tax efficiency. And many of those are leading to discussions about new long-short tax-loss-harvesting strategies coming to market from firms, such as Parametric and AQR Capital Management, he added.
“It seems like everyone is trying to launch a long-short equity strategy for these wealthier clients,” Scansaroli said. Other private investors don’t have the scale to meet the minimum investment requirements. “You really need to be an ultra-high net worth or family-office-type client to be able to invest in those types of strategies.”
The UBS report is also a reminder that the so-called great wealth transfer — the inheritance of as much as $125 trillion in assets by younger generations from Baby Boomers — is not something on the horizon. It’s happening right now. In 2025, 91 people became billionaires by inheriting $297.8 billion between them, up by more than a third from the $218.9 billion last year.
UBS also expects the frequency of billionaire inheritors and the level of their wealth will both accelerate. The bank estimates that $6.9 trillion in global wealth will transfer by 2040, with at least $5.9 trillion passed to children, either directly or indirectly through spouses.
“We've been talking about the great wealth transfer ad nauseam for so long,” Judy Spalthoff, head of the family office solutions group at UBS, told Modus. Now, she is “seeing it actually play out in real time.”
With the windfalls, 80% of billionaires surveyed said they want their children to “follow their own path” and be independent rather than relying solely on their inheritance. The survey also found that 67% hope their children pursue their own passions, and 55% want their children to use their wealth to have a positive impact. But preparing them for the responsibilities that come with that wealth is not straightforward.
Money in billionaire families can still be a taboo topic. Children and family members are typically long-time beneficiaries of great wealth; an inheritance might not change their lifestyle at all. But a transfer of power and responsibilities can be a dramatic shift.
“It is one thing for your dad to have a billion dollars; it's another thing for you to have a billion dollars. When it's not in your hands, when you're not the owner of the assets, it's completely different. You don't understand what it's like to have that agency until you have that agency,” Spalthoff said.” But what can we do to prepare them in the meantime?”
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More News
- Michael and Susan Dell to Put $250 in 25 Million Children’s Accounts. I went to Semafor’s Ledger conference this week, and interviewees and attendees were big fans of this.
- Bloomberg discovered Old Parkland and dubbed it “family office Mecca.”
- Eric Freedman is the new CIO of Northern Trust’s wealth management business. He was previously the CIO of U.S. Bank’s asset management business and was the CIO of Captrust for 10 years.
- Steve Cohen got approval to build a casino next to the Mets Stadium.
- Here’s one that will keep some family offices up at night: They Found Relatives on 23andMe — and Asked for a Cut of the Inheritance.
- The New York Times continued to scrutinize Elon Musk’s foundation, which has grown to $14 billion and, for the fourth year in a row, failed to give away the minimum amount required.
- Working From Home Is Harming Young Employees. They’re Starting to See That.
- Litigation finance was buzzy not that long ago, but Bloomberg reports that it has hit a wall as bets falter.
- Of course, autonomous vehicles have started making illegal U-turns and flooring it the second the light turns green. This genre of news story is going to explode in the coming years, as A.I. makes all kinds of things more humanlike, forcing us to routinely contemplate whether a certain level of mimicry is for better or worse. As passengers slogging through traffic, part of us will want the robots to gun it on green. But isn’t that defeating the point of autonomous vehicles and other things? Wasn’t software supposed to be limited to the rules and less fallible than we are?
Jobs
- A single-family office in Austin, Texas, is looking for a general counsel. This person will work closely with the first-generation principal, a technology entrepreneur interested in strategic partnerships and who is angel investing and allocating to venture and private equity funds. Mack International is running the search.
- A single-family office in Singapore is hiring a chief investment officer to build and lead the investment team. Agreus is doing the search.
Other Stuff
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I am...
- In N.Y.C. for the next couple of weeks and cannot wait for some of the holiday gatherings and things on my calendar. Looking forward to seeing some of you!
- Back to Green, Ohio, for Christmas.
- Then back here in N.Y.C. for New Year's Eve. Plans, TBD.
