Among his eight children Mick Jagger boasts designers, actors, models and a journalist — and they’ll need to put at least some effort into making their own way in the world if The Rolling Stones frontman has anything to say about it.
The London rock n’ roll legend has an estimated worth of approximately $500 million, but Jagger says he has no plans to up that figure by selling any of the Stones music catalog.
It’s a tactic increasingly being used by music stars across the spectrum. Justin Bieber sold his music catalog in 2023 for $200 million, Katy Perry reportedly sold hers this month for $225 million.
Stars who came up alongside the Stones have also sold their catalogs: Bob Dylan, for example, sold his entire collection for more than $300 million in 2020 while David Bowie’s was sold in 2022 for $250 million.
But Jagger, 80, has no plans to join the elite group — and says that even if he did sell the catalog, the proceeds would likely go to charity.
“The children don’t need $500 million to live well. Come on,” Jagger told The Wall Street Journal in an interview released this week.
With the money “you maybe do some good in the world” instead, he added.
Another money maker for many artists is autobiographies. For example, U2 frontman Bono reportedly made €6.5 million ($6.9 million) for his memoirs, Surrender. Jagger also ruled this option out, seemingly instead focussing on the release of the band’s next album.
Hackney Diamonds is the Stones’s first release of original material in almost two decades, but if previous records are anything to go by, the band can expect millions of sales.
Among their top-selling discography is Hot Rocks which sold nearly seven million copies and Some Girls which sold more than six million.
Ultra-rich not saving for kids
However much of a payday Hackney Diamonds may prove to be for Jagger, the British music icon seems certain his children don’t need millions more to live their lives.
Among his children are models Georgia May Jagger and Elizabeth Jagger, as well as Netflix producer Karis Hunt Jagger and jewelry designer Jade Jagger.
And they’re not alone in having a famous parent who doesn’t plan to gift them a lavish lifestyle. In fact, many ultra-rich parents have openly said they don’t intend to leave their children anything more than a sum to live comfortably.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is of the same mindset as Jagger. “Our kids will receive a great education and some money, so they are never going to be poorly off, but they’ll go out and have their own career,” he said. “It’s not a favor to kids to have them have huge sums of wealth. It distorts anything they might do, creating their own path.”
Legendary investor Warren Buffett feels the same, famously telling Fortune in 1986 that he would give his children “enough money so that they would feel they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing.”
Shark Tank star Mark Cuban has also told his children they can’t ride on his coattails forever.
The man worth $6.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index, told Steve Harvey’s talk show ‘Steve on Watch’ in 2020 his message to his children is clear: “I’m not going to write you checks. You don’t just get a credit card. You can’t just buy whatever you want.
“I tell them, ‘After your health, my No. 1 thing for you all is, I don’t want you to be entitled jerks.’”
