The largest transfer of wealth in world history has begun. According to a report jointly released by global wealth consulting firm Wealth-X and consulting firm NFP on Monday, by 2026, the world's ultra-high net worth rich (with assets of more than US$30 million) will pass on a total wealth of US$3.9 trillion to the next generation. That's down 5% from the $4.1 trillion the report expected in 2014, mainly because some of the super-rich started transferring wealth earlier than previously expected.

US$3.9 trillion is equivalent to 13% of the total assets of the world's ultra-high net worth rich people, which is enough to directly buy the ten largest companies in the world: Apple, Google's parent company Alphabet, Microsoft, Exxon Mobil, Berkshire Hathaway, Amazon, Facebook, Johnson & Johnson, General Electric, and China Mobile.

According to the report, in the next ten years, a total of more than 14,000 ultra-high-net-worth individuals may transfer wealth. This number exceeds the number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals in China (12,050) and the number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals in the United Kingdom (10,650). Among them, the United States will experience the largest wealth transfer in the world.

The report points out that those most likely to transfer wealth to the next generation are ultra-high-net-worth individuals aged 80 and above. The average wealth of this group ($272 million) is much higher than the average wealth of the ultra-high-net-worth group ($141 million). Although the media focuses most of its lens on the young rich in Silicon Valley, in fact, in 2015, ultra-high-net-worth individuals aged 80 and older were on average seven times wealthier than ultra-high-net-worth individuals aged 30 and under. The former is also seven times more numerous than the latter.

In addition, the proportion of female widows among ultra-high-net-worth wealthy people is relatively high, and most of the male ultra-high-net-worth wealthy individuals who transfer wealth have spouses. Ultra-high-net-worth female widows are most likely to pass their wealth directly to their descendants.

The report predicts that by 2020, the wealth of the world's ultra-high net worth rich will increase by 54% to US$46 trillion. Among them, 64% were earned from scratch, and 19% inherited some wealth and then created it themselves.