Thanks for Nothing, Dad!

Rich fathers who don’t leave their money to their kids.

Related: Thanks for Nothing, Dad!

Warren Buffet

Warren Buffett, the third-wealthiest person in the world according to Forbes, has said that he doesn’t believe in dynastic wealth, calling those who grew up rich “members of the lucky sperm club.”

He has pledged 85 percent of his $44 billion or so to charity—most of it to the Gates Foundation. "A very rich person," he said, "should leave his kids enough to do anything, but not enough to do nothing."

How do his children feel about that? “My dad is one of the most honest, principled, good guys I know,'' his daughter Susan told Fortune in 1986. ''And I basically agree with him. But it's sort of strange when you know most parents want to buy things for their kids and all you need is a small sum of money—to fix up the kitchen, not to go to the beach for six months. He won't give it to us on principle. All my life my father has been teaching us. Well, I feel I've learned the lesson. At a certain point you can stop.”

Here Susan talks with her father at the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Neb., on May 5.

Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images.
Bill Gates

The world’s second-richest man shares Buffett’s philosophy about wealth. He and wife Melinda have pledged half of their $54 billion fortune to their foundation, which fights poverty around the world and funds educational initiatives, among other endeavors.

Not only is Gates intent on donating most of his riches, he and Buffett have created a “Giving Pledge,” encouraging other billionaires to donate rather than keep it in the family. Though compared with his total wealth, the sum his three children will receive is “minuscule,” as Gates has put it, some have estimated that it will amount to $10 million per child.

Here Gates talks to Katherine Huftsman, left, and to James Murdoch, son of less philanthropically minded billionaire, Rupert.

CREDIT: Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images.
Vladimir Potanin

Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin is often ahead of the curve. During his country’s move to a market economy, he took control of more than 20 formerly state-owned businesses, including major banks. In 2010, he became the first Russian tycoon to follow the Gatesian model, vowing to transfer his fortune to charity.

"A million [dollars] handed over from inheritance helps a person to receive a good education, find employment without haste and find himself. A transferred billion [dollars] kills him and deprives him of the sense of life," Potanin has said. A million dollars certainly is not too shabby, but considering Potanin can drop $5 million on a whim, his children may have conflicted feelings about their father’s philosophy.

Here, Potanin, right, meets with former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in 2008.

Vladimir Rodionov/AFP/Getty Images.
Duncan Bannatyne

Scottish entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne, star of the TV show Dragons' Den, supposedly once terminated his daughter’s interest in a trust because he caught her smoking. The millionaire author has set up trusts for his children with an array of other stipulations requiring them to demonstrate proper moral fiber (drinking is also frowned upon).

“If they want to smoke, they can, but they'll not get their trust fund," he has said. In the meantime, he’s been giving big chunks of his money away to various causes, including, not surprisingly, No Smoking Day.

Tim Whitby/Getty Images.
Andrew Carnegie

Many modern philanthropists credit industrialist Andrew Carnegie with inspiring their thinking. He’s the author of the oft-quoted statements “The man who dies rich dies in disgrace” and "The parent who leaves his son enormous wealth generally deadens the talents and energies of the son."

Enormous wealth was something that Carnegie knew well. In 1901, he sold U.S. Steel for $492 million, a massive sum in 2012, but a mind-blowing figure (more like $12.4 billion today) back then. Throughout his life, he gave most of his money away, handing over millions to libraries, teachers, and schools, among other causes.

His one daughter, Margaret Carnegie Miller, did not end up poor, by any measure, but the sum she received was less than 10 percent of his fortune. Here, Andrew takes a stroll with his wife Louise Whitfield Carnegie, sister-in-law Estelle (Stella) Whitfield, and daughter Margaret, in 1911.

Library of Congress.
Aaron Spelling

Ironically, it was a fictional TV family that helped drive a wedge between Tori Spelling and her legendary producer father Aaron. He and her mother Candy, apparently disapproved of the autobiographical sitcom spoof, NoTORIous.

The other factors that kept Tori from speaking to her father for around nine months during the final year of his life vary dramatically depending on the source, but what is clear is that when her father died, Tori was left with just $800,000 of his estimated $500 million fortune. Having grown up surrounded by privilege and fame, this was a serious shock to the system.

Diane Freed/Getty Images.
Peter Sellers

Actor Peter Sellers amassed quite a fortune during his successful career. When he died, his wife Lynn Frederick inherited most of his £4.5 million estate (around $7 million). His children, from whom he had been estranged for a long period, received approximately $1,300 each.

A letter penned by the Pink Panther the same day he fell into a coma in 1980 expressed that he had a change of heart: Apparently, he wanted to give more to his estranged offspring, with whom he’d been reconciling. Alas for the Seller children, he died before he was able to push these changes through. Here, Sellers with his son Michael in 1957.

AFP/Getty Images.
Eugene Lang

Eugene Lang, the man behind the “I Have a Dream” Foundation, funds the educational aspirations of low-income children throughout the world. His children, also had their education funded by their father. But that’s where the money ended. After college, he handed them what he calls a “nominal sum” and from there they were cut off.

Lang, who amassed a fortune of more than $50 million through REFAC Technology Development Corp, a high-tech licensing company, says that they will receive nothing after he dies. His reasoning? “Inheritance dilutes the motivation that most young people have to fulfill the best that is in them. I want to give my kids the tremendous satisfaction of making it on their own,” he has said. Here he poses with his actor son Stephen Lang at the "I Have a Dream" Foundation Spring Gala in 2010.

Mark Von Holden/Getty Images for “I Have a Dream” Foundation.
Chinese Real Estate Tycoon Yu Pengnian

Yu announced in 2010 that he is giving away the last $500 million of his fortune to his charitable foundation. When asked whether his children are angry about the donations, he responded, “They didn’t oppose this idea, at least not in public.” He added, “If my children are competent, they don’t need my money. If they’re not, leaving them a lot of money is only doing them harm.”

Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images.
Ted Turner’s Father, R.E. Turner

If R.E. Turner Jr. had gotten his way, he would have left his son Ted without access to the family business. A few days before committing suicide in 1963, he sold his Atlanta billboard business to Curt Carlson. As detailed in an article in Fortune, Carlson said that “he was sure if Ted got his hands on the business, he would run it into the ground.''

But Ted, then 24, talked his mother into helping him buy the business back. As of March, Turner’s net worth was $2 billion. Here, Turner stands with his own son Beau Turner and grandson in 2004.

Mark Mainz/Getty Images.

This Father’s Day, be thankful for your father, no matter how much money he has. After all, a rich dad doesn’t guarantee a cushy inheritance. The millionaire and billionaire fathers in this gallery gave most of their money to someone other than their children. Sometimes the rationale was lofty and philosophical; other times it was the result of a good old family feud.