The 15 tycoons who refuse to leave their fortunes to their children

THEY'RE among the world’s richest people – but don’t expect them to share their incredible wealth with their children.

Some want to donate their millions to charity, while others wish to teach their children the value of hard work.

As Business Insider reports, the children of these 15 tycoons - including actors, company founders and musicians - won't be living the high life on their parents' coin.

TV personality Nigella Lawson

She came from a wealthy family and made her fortune through her best-selling books and TV shows. But Lawson expects her children to support themselves once they finished school.

"I am determined that my children should have no financial security. It ruins people not having to ea money," she said.

Microsoft founder and CEO Bill Gates

Gates and his wife Melinda – who have three children - founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 1994, with assets of over $US37 billion ($40.9 billion).

They set up "The Giving Pledge," inviting other wealthy individuals to donate half their money to charity.

"I knew I didn't think it was a good idea to give the money to my kids. That wouldn't be good either for my kids or society," Gates once said.

Iron magnate Gina Rinehart

The richest woman in Australia, who inherited her company from father Lang Hancock, believes three of her four children are unfit to manage the family fortune.

“None of the plaintiffs has the requisite capacity or skill, nor the knowledge, experience, judgment or responsible work ethic to administer a trust in the nature of the trust in particular as part of the growing HPPL Group,” she once claimed in court papers.

Investor Warren Buffet

The billionaire investor has pledged to give away 99 per cent of his wealth.

“I want to give my kids just enough so that they would feel that they could do anything, but not so much that they would feel like doing nothing," he wrote to the Gates Foundation, to which he pledged 83 per cent of his wealth.

eBay founder Pierre Omidyar

The father of three continuously gives eBay shares to the Omidyar Network, his philanthropic investment firm.

He and his wife Pam are the single biggest private donors to the fight against the human trafficking industry.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg

Worth $19.5 billion, the avid philanthropist has donated millions to Johns Hopkins University, the Caegie Corporation, and thousands of other non-profits.

“The best financial planning ends with bouncing the check to the undertaker," the father of two once said.

KISS bassist Gene Simmons

The rockstar wants his kids Nick and Sophie to work as hard as he did to build his $300 million wealth.

“In terms of an inheritance and stuff, they're gonna be taken care of, but they will never be rich off my money,” he told CNBC. “Because every year they should be forced to get up out of bed, and go out and work and make their own way."

Actor Jackie Chan

The movie star announced two years ago he would give away half his money to charity when he dies, instead of his son Jaycee.

"If he is capable, he can make his own money. If he is not, then he will just be wasting my money," he told Channel NewsAsia.

Home Depot co-founder Beard Marcus

Marcus doesn’t want to share much of his $1.5 billion with his children “for their own good”.

He plans to give most to the Georgia Aquarium and his own charity, the Marcus Foundation.

Businessman Chuck Feeney

The co-founder of airport stores Duty-Free Shoppers Group transferred his billions to his foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies, in the 1980s.

He reportedly forced his children to make calls on payphones and to work through their holidays.

"I want the last check I write to bounce," he told the New York Times.

Media mogul Ted Tuer

He made his fortune founding media outlets like CNN and TBS, and has given billions of dollars to causes such as the United Nations Foundation.

Tuer has five children from three marriages but rather than leave them with anything, he said he wants just enough money to cover his funeral expenses when he dies.

Hedge fund manager John Aold

Aold, 40, closed his hedge fund, Centaurus Energy, last year after amassing about $4 billion.

Now he and his wife Laura want to give it away through their foundation rather than to their three children.

"Because of our backgrounds and because of our own experiences, we just don't believe in dynastic wealth," Laura Aold said.

British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber

Webber wants to use his millions to encourage teaching the arts, rather than funding the lifestyles of his five children.

"(A will) is one thing you do start to think about when you get to my age. I don't think it should be about having a whole load of rich children and grandchildren," he said.

Director and producer George Lucas

The father of four signed on to the Gates' The Giving Pledge in 2010, promising to give at least half of his wealth away by the time of his death to improve education.

Texas oil and gas magnate T. Boone Pickens

The corporate raider has a net worth of $1.4 billion and as a signatory to The Giving Pledge, plans to donate at least half of it to charity.

"I'm not a big fan of inherited wealth. It generally does more harm than good," he said.