The non-inheritance movement is going global

Following on the footsteps of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, the richest man in Australia has now promised to give away his fortune to charity. Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest, the iron-ore magnate behind Fortescue Metals, this week said he plans to donate nearly all of his $8 billion fortune before he dies.

“I don’t aspire to great wealth and I don’t admire it and I don’t intend to leave this earth as a rich man,” Mr. Forrest told reporters.

“I have a philosophy [about wealth] and that is that it doesn’t do much for you,” he said.
“I know very wealthy people who have survived and become good guys despite their wealth, but I also know many others around the world who haven’t.”

At a time when so much of the world’s commodity wealth–oil, metals, etc.–is getting dumped into yachts, planes and megamansions, it is encouraging to see that some of the money is going toward helping the poor.

If Mr. Forrest follows through on his promise, perhaps he could become the Bill Gates of Down Under–inspiring an entire new generation of philanthropists who force their children to actually work for a living.

[The Wall Street Journal]