How to invest your enormous inheritance
Do not make the mistakes of the first Gilded Age
What do you stand to inherit? It still feels like a question from a different age, despite its growing importance today. In 2025 people across the rich world will inherit some $6trn, or around 10% of GDP—a figure that has climbed sharply in recent decades. French bequests have doubled as a share of national output since the 1960s; those in Germany have tripled since the 1970s; Italian inheritances are now worth around 20% of GDP (see chart 1).
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This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Heiry questions”
Finance & economics
June 14th 2025
From the June 14th 2025 edition
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