I will never forget the morning I watched my colleague walk off the equity trading floor for the last time. We had started together as junior traders at a private bank in Zurich both handling global equity portfolios for ultra-high-net-worth clients. We worked the same brutal hours, studied the same markets, reported to the same demanding bosses. His father's company was a client of the bank. Successful across multiple countries with operations in several markets.

Each year, the UBS Billionaire Ambitions Report provides a rare, data-driven window into how the world’s wealthiest families build, preserve, and transfer wealth. The 2025 edition is particularly instructive, not because the numbers are larger than before, but because the report captures a moment of transition. Wealth is no longer described simply as a personal achievement or financial outcome. Instead, it is increasingly framed as a long-term family system, shaped by decisio