Ken Fisher has a billion-dollar fortune. However, for 25 years, he has been driving the same car. He states himself that he doesn’t care much for money and material things. Therefore, he also does not want his children to inherit his fortune. He has other plans for his wealth.
Ken Fisher is a billionaire with a net worth of 11.2 billion US dollars. At least that’s according to the English-language magazine Forbes.com.
Ken Fisher founded a wealth management company called “Fisher Investments”. Today, the firm is one of the leading companies in financial consulting and asset management worldwide, overseeing more than 45 billion euros.
But instead of spending money to buy an expensive car, he has been driving the same vehicle, a Volvo, for 25 years. Additionally, he refuses to pass on his fortune to his children. He gives several reasons why he doesn’t want to: independence and personal development.
Billionaire believes: Work is an important part of life
Fisher explained to the British Telegraph that he does not want to pass on his vast wealth to his children. He believes it is important for his children to remain independent and to work. He considers work to be an important part of life. He says:
I will not let any of them go hungry. But I don’t think they should have so much that they never have to work again, take drugs, be wasteful, and get divorced 15 times. I believe that work is therapeutic.
Many people do not understand this because they do not like what they do, but I believe that work is good for you.
This form of upbringing he learned from his own father: he was a pragmatist, financed his older sons’ education, but Ken had to fend for himself. This experience shaped his determination and his life philosophy: work as a driver of personal development and not as a compulsion. Thus he built his empire with an initial capital of only 250 dollars.
He wants to donate his money and invest it in a foundation
What will happen to all the money? Fisher explained that he plans to donate his fortune over the next 20 years. Recently, he founded a foundation to distribute the money to the people.
He does not want to leave the money to his own children, as he does not consider it sensible. He stated in a conversation with the British magazine:
Most of my money will go in a way that I do not understand before my wife and I are dead. I do not believe in things like the Giving Pledge – the campaign by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett that aims to encourage wealthy individuals to donate most of their money to charitable causes – that feels too formalized to me.
But I also do not believe that it’s particularly good for anyone to leave huge sums of money in an empire for future descendants. My wife and I are currently figuring out how we can do this. We just established a foundation – and everything must be distributed within 20 years.
In another story, the company Volvo played an important role. The state of Sweden sold Volvos to North Korea at that time. In Sweden, they have been waiting since 1974 for North Korea to pay its bills. They are currently waiting for 300 million euros. This is due to 1,000 cars that were sold to the state: 50 years ago, Sweden sold 1,000 cars to North Korea – To this day, they are waiting for 300 million euros
