微軟創始人比爾·蓋茨仍處于創富模式。

他在接受彭博電視臺采訪時說：“你知道，我們不是處于某種防御姿態，因為我們手中大多是現金，或者類似于現金的東西。我們在投資上的策略一直是股票占60%以上。”

這一策略幫助蓋茨在今年將個人凈值提升了160億美元，使其身家達到1060億美元，在彭博億萬富翁指數中僅次于杰夫·貝佐斯，而且這還是在他的捐款超過350億美元的情況下。

彭博整理的數據顯示，截至9月中旬，蓋茨夫婦的財產中有大約600億美元股票。相比之下，咨詢公司Campden Wealth的2018年全球家族辦公室報告指出，股票平均占2018年北美家族辦公室所持資產的32%。

負責為蓋茨實現財富增值的是他的投資主管邁克爾·拉爾森，后者管理著家族辦公室Cascade Investment，還讓蓋茨在個人財富不貶值的情況下建立了世界上最大的私人基金會。

如果政客們按蓋茨的建議提高稅率，這位億萬富翁的財富就有可能縮水。

蓋茨在采訪中稱：“你知道，我懷疑美國會不會征收財富稅，但我不反對這樣做。目前最接近財富稅的是遺產稅。而且我一直非常支持讓遺產稅率回升到55%，也就是幾十年前的水平。”

貧富差距已經成為一個爆炸性政治問題， 0.1%的美國最富有階層控制的財富達到了1929年以來的最高水平。9月16日，比爾及梅琳達·蓋茨基金會公布了他們的《目標守衛者》年度報告。該報告旨在監測和協助聯合國推進并實現可持續發展目標，而且該基金會認為，持續存在的貧富差距阻礙了這個目標。報告呼吁增加醫療保健、教育和科技投資，以便縮小全世界的貧富差距。

報告稱：“沒有什么可以讓地理環境、性別以及其他隨機元素不再重要的靈丹妙藥。但讓每一個孩子都能進入良好的醫療和教育體系，是朝著這個方向邁進的非常好的開始。”

63歲的蓋茨還支持對美國最富有人群征收更高的所得稅，并倡議提高透明度。“我支持大幅提高財務透明度。沒人知道那些信托歸誰所有的情況，我不喜歡。”

雖然仍看好美國和全球經濟，但蓋茨懷疑此前他所享受的經濟增長是否有可能延續下去。“有理由認為今后10年的絕對回報率將低于過去幾十年人們看到的水平。”（財富中文網）

譯者：Charlie

審校：夏林

Bill Gates is still in wealth-creation mode.

“We’re not, you know, in some defensive posture where we’re mostly in cash, or anything like that,” the Microsoft Corp. founder said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “The strategy that’s been used on the investments is to be over 60% in equities.”

That’s helped Gates add $16 billion to his net worth this year, taking his wealth to $106 billion, behind only Jeff Bezos on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, even as his charitable donations have topped $35 billion.

The Gates fortune had about $60 billion of equity assets as of Monday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. By comparison, the average family office portfolio in North America held about 32% of its assets in equities in 2018, according to Campden Wealth’s 2018 global family office report.

The growth overseen by the billionaire’s investment chief, Michael Larson, who oversees family office Cascade Investment, has enabled Gates to build the world’s largest private foundation without diminishing his fortune.

That may start to shrink if politicians heed his call for higher taxes.

“I doubt, you know, the U.S. will do a wealth tax but I wouldn’t be against it,” he said in the interview. “The closest thing we have to it is the estate tax. And I’ve been a huge proponent that that should go back to the level of 55% that it was a few decades ago.”

Inequality has become an explosive political issue with America’s richest 0.1% controlling more wealth than at any time since 1929. On Tuesday, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation released its annual Goalkeepers report. The study seeks to monitor and aid the progress of the United Nations in achieving in its Sustainable Development Goals, which the foundation says are being hindered by persistent inequality. The report called for greater investment in health care, education and technology to help reduce inequality worldwide.

“There is no silver bullet that will make geography, gender and other random factors stop mattering,” the report notes. “But guaranteeing that every single child has access to good health and education systems is a very good start in that direction.”

Gates, 63, also backed higher income taxes on America’s wealthiest people and made a call for greater transparency. “I’m for way more financial transparency. I don’t like that you can have trusts where nobody knows who owns it.”

While Gates remains bullish on the U.S. and global economy, he doubted that the performance he’s enjoyed over the past was likely to endure. “There’s reasons to think absolute returns for the next decade will be less than they have been for the last several decades.”