BUZZ BEAT MEDIA

Being rich means being able to treat your kids the best of the best, but there are some celebs who will be leaving their kids with life lessons instead of millions, or even billions of dollars.

Check out who they are!

Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher

Jayne Kamin-oncea / Getty Images

Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher are parents who believe in keeping their kids’ lives as normal as possible, even after they’re gone. It turns out that Ashton has plans for his $200 million net worth and it doesn’t involve trust funds for his children, Wyatt and Dimitri. Instead, he and his wife Mila, who has a net worth of $65 million, respectively planned to give it all away to charity. 

While we’re sure the charities will appreciate their millions, these parents believe they’re also doing something good for the children. On Dax Shepard’s ‘Armchair Expert’ podcast, Ashton reveals that although he tries to give Wyatt and Dimitri normal lives, it’s not easy. The celebrity husband and wife don’t want to let them to grow up being spoiled or entitled, so they’re not just going to hand over the millions.

But, that doesn’t mean Wyatt and Dimitri are going to be broke, because they’ll have a chance to earn some serious cash. “If they want a paycheck, they’re going to have to work for it,” said Ashton. Even if they’re working for him, he claims that he’d be happy to provide funding if they come up with solid business plans he’d be proud to invest in.

Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan

Mark Zuckerberg via Handout

Baby announcements are usually pretty standard, unless you have a net worth of $149 billion, like Mark Zuckerberg. The moment the Facebook founder and his wife Priscilla Chan, who has a respective net worth of $50 billion, welcomed their daughter Maxima into the world, they laid out their expectations. The new parents wrote a letter to their little girl, and of course, they posted it in Facebook for everyone to see.

Not only did it announce the arrival of Maxima, but the foundation of the Chan-Zuckerberg initiative, which was created for the purpose of “advancing human potential and promoting equality.” Those are lofty goals that would take a fortune to accomplish. But, luckily, that’s exactly what Mark and Priscilla have. They promised to donate 99% of their Facebook shares, and when Maxima was born in 2015, they were worth $45 billion.

Now, even though another daughter named August joined the family 2 years later, Mark and Priscilla haven’t lost sight of their goals. In October 2019 alone, they donated $1 billion to fund affordable housing in Silicon Valley, and funded $1.2M worth of teacher resource requests. 

This couple believes that they have a responsiblity to leave the world a better place, for not only their children, but everyone else.

Gordon Ramsay and Tana Ramsay 

Rodin Eckenroth / E Online

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is known for being tough in the kitchen, so it might not surprise you to learn that he’s also tough on his kids. While he and his wife Tana fly first class, the kids stick to coach. Gordon reasoned that he and his wife earned these expensive luxuries, but their kids haven’t put the work in yet. He claims money isn’t his number one objective, but that’s easy to say when your net worth is nearly $200 million.

Still, Gordon believes that there are things more important than money, and he says that’s reflected in the way he’s raised his children. More often than not, instead of eating in topnotch restaurants, these kids are volunterring to help those less fortunate than themselves.

Gordon says he is not sure what he’s gonna do with his money when he’s gone, but there’s one thing he does know. His kids aren’t getting it.

The only thing he and his wife are willing to fund is a twenty-five percent contribution to each kid’s home. If they wanna get some extra legroom on their next flight, they’re gonna have to work for it.

Mackenzie Scott formerly Mackenzie Bezos

Danny Moloshok / Reuters

When Mackenzie Scott’s divorce was finalized, she was left the third richest woman in the entire world. Her split from now ex-husband Jeff Bezos resulted in the heftiest divorce settlement in history, and left her with a net worth of $36.8 billion. 

As soon as the ink dried on the court documents, Mackenzie turned around and pledged to give half of it away. Mackenzie signed ‘The Giving Pledge’, which was founded by fellow billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. Signing up means giving away at least half of your wealth during your lifetime or leaving it behind in your will. 

Although Jeff applauded his ex-wife’s charitable contribution, he declined to sign the ‘The Giving Pledge’ himself, despite being one of the richest persons in the world. Mackenzie believes in donating money while she’s still here, instead of hoarding it for a later date. The now former couple have four kids together, and if they’re hoping for an inheritance, it looks like they’ll have to ask their daddy.

George Lucas

Paul Childs / Reuters

Georce Lucas is responsible for many of our childhood movies, and some of our new streaming obsessions. In 2022, he sold Lucasfilm, which included the rights to the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises. Since George was the sole owner of the companies in the deal, including Industrial Light and Magic and Skywalker Sound, he walked away with $4.1 billion in stock and cash. 

But, he doesn’t plan to hoard all of that money, or leave it to his four children: Everest, Jett, Katie, and Amanda. Instead, George wants to use it, and the rest of his $6.4 billion net worth, to fund various charitable causes, including the ‘Make-a-Wish Foundation’ and ‘Stand up to Cancer.’

Years later and billions of dollars richer, he’s ready to kick back and “devote more time and resources to philanthropy”. He’s pledged to share the majority of his wealth to go towards the goal of improving education.

Simon Cowell

Simon Cowell has a reputation for being rather opinionated. His outspoken nature has earned him many fans, but also a lot of money, thanks to shows like ‘America’s Got Talent’ and ‘X Factor UK’, he has a net worth of $550 million. But, his son Eric Cowell won’t be inheriting it. 

Simon is a big believer that wealth shouldn’t be inherited from one generation to another. He hopes his biggest gifts to his son are his time and his knowledge, not a bulging bank account. It’s Simon’s dream for Eric to have a childhood like the one he had, and grow up with the same values and appreciation for money.

Though he thinks his son is too young to fully grasp how privileged he is, Simon is determined that he won’t end up spoiled. As a dad, he has plenty of fears about his son growing up, including the idea that he might be bullied, or bully someone else. He also dreads the idea of Eric someday being someday obsessed with flaunting his wealth on social media. Instead, Simon has a “you can enjoy it when you’ve earned it” philosophy.

So, if Eric’s not getting set up with a trust, what could happen to Simon’s millions? This celeb says that most likely’ he’ll leave it all to charity, something involving “kids and dogs”.

Bill Gates and Melinda Gates

Everyone knows that Bill Gates and Melinda Gates are two of the wealthiest people in the world. Depending on the stock market, they go back and forth with Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, etc. They have a lot of money, to put it mildly, but they have big plans for their $110 billion that doesn’t involve it going to their kids Phoebe, Rory, and Jennifer.

Not only have they signed ‘The Giving Pledge,’ they helped found it along with fellow billionaire Warren Buffett. They also founded the ‘Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’ which seeks to improve healthcare, reduce poverty, enhance education, and provide increased access to technology. 

Each of their three children will receive an inheritance of only $10 million. Now, that’s a huge amount for most of us. But, it’s a miniscule fraction of their parents’ fortune.  “We wanna strike a balance where they have the freedom to do anything but not a lot of money showered on them so that they could go out and do nothing,” Bill said.

Bill and Melinda didn’t even let their kids have phones until they were 14 years old. They’re determined for their kids to appreciate and work for what they have, and believe the bulk of their fortune is better spent for charitable endeavors.

Candy Spelling

Tori Spelling grew up in a lap of luxury thanks to the fortune of her producer father Aaron Spelling. He had an estate worth approximately $500 million when he passed away. 

Tori was under the impression that she’d get a sizable inheritance, but her mother, Candy Spelling, has other ideas. The mother and daughter were estranged at the time and since Candy was the executor of her late husband’s estate, Tori and her brother only inherited $800,000 each. 

With five kids and bulging debts, Tori went through the cash quicky. In her memoir ‘Candy at Last’, her mother lamented not teaching Tori and her brother Randy more financial management skills, and handing them everything on a silver platter. She claims she won’t leave her daughter any more money, because the latter isn’t responsible with it, adding that, “Tori can easily drop $50,000-$60,000 on a single shopping spree.”

Even Tori admitted she has a problem in her book ‘Spelling it like it is’. She said growing up surrounded by opulence made it hard to curb her spending as an adult, even when her bank account got carelessly low. Although Candy has a net worth of $600 million, she doesn’t believe her daughter is entitled to any of it. 

While Tori might be cut off, the same isn’t true for her kids. According to Radar Online: “Candy pays more than $72,000 a year for four of the kids to attend a private school.” The rich widow also makes sure her grandkids’ needs are taken care of.

Sting

In addition to his incredible singing career, Sting is also a savvy real estate investor who has managed to cultivate a net worth of $400 million. Like most wealthy parents who don’t plan to leave their fortune to their kids, he wants to teach his kids the value of hard work.

This singer has six kids: Joseph, Fuchsia, Brigitte, Jake, Eliot, and Giacomo Sumner. He’s made an effort to not spoil them, despite all of his money and fame.

But, there’s another reason they shouldn’t expect a good payday. He’s spending all his cash. When he’s not buying up properties, Sting is donating money to various charities.

He flat out told his kids not to get their hopes up ’cause his funds will probably be gone by the time he is. The English musician says that his kids are onboard with this, and knows not to turn to him for handouts. According to Sting, his kids have great work ethics. 

Elton John

According to music legend Elton John, being a father completely changed his life. That doesn’t mean his kids are getting spoiled with his $500 million fortune.

He and his husband David Furnish are teaching their sons to take care of themselves. They don’t plan on leaving the kids pennies, but Elton says, “It’s terrible to give kids a silver spoon. It ruins their life.” He doesn’t mind living enough behind to assist them growing up. But, he adds that if they want, “Picassos or private jets, they better plan on working for them!”

Even now, the kids need to do chores around the house to earn their spending money.