Jay-Z and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter attend Sean Combs’ 50th Birthday Bash presented by Ciroc Vodka in December 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Photo: Getty Images
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https://scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3153743/how-jay-z-and-beyonces-daughter-blue-ivy-worth-us500 Celebrities
How is Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s daughter Blue Ivy worth US$500 million already? Royalties – she rapped on dad’s 4:44 album and dueted with mum on Disney’s The Lion King soundtrack
- Her power couple parents started clocking Blue Ivy performance credits from the age of four – from the rap Blue’s Freestyle to narrating audiobook Hair Love – and the royalties are already rolling in
- You don’t need to be famous to follow their example – financial planners advise investing early for your kids, with Albert Einstein calling compounding ‘the eighth wonder of the world’
Beyoncé and daughter Blue Ivy ... a millionaire already? Photo: @iblueivy/Instagram
From the lyrics of Jay-Z’s hit song The Story of OJ, one can already surmise he knew how the wealth game is played:
I bought some artwork for one million.
Two years later, that s*** worth two million
Few years later, that s*** worth eight million
I can’t wait to give this s*** to my children
The self-made billionaire needs no introduction. Jay-Z’s current portfolio includes investments in Uber and Space-X, and he recently sold his champagne label Armand de Brignac to LVMH for roughly US$630 million.
Even the star’s daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, is worth US$500 million – but that is not the genius part. Anybody with assets can assign wealth to their children early. Jay-Z and wife Beyonce’s mastery is in creating wealth for their daughter without giving her a cent.
The key is the creative power-couple crediting Blue Ivy’s input in their music. At just four years old, Blue Ivy appeared on Jay-Z’s “4:44” album, where she showcased her rap prowess by delivering the impressive Blue’s Freestyle, which her father loved so much that he commissioned an animated music video for it.
Beyoncé, right, and her daughter Blue Ivy Carter arrive at the world premiere of The Lion King in July 2019, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Photo: Invision/AP
Transitioning from the influence of one superstar parent to another, Blue Ivy also showed her vocal talents by narrating the audiobook version of Hair Love, and by partnering with her mum to create Brown Skin Girl, a song on the 2019 soundtrack album to Disney’s live-action, The Lion King: The Gift, which won numerous accolades.
Having songwriting and production credits is no small feat, as royalties are paid for them into perpetuity. Think of daughter Frances Bean Cobain and wife Courtney Love inheriting Kurt Cobain’s share of Nirvana’s royalties.
Every time Blue Ivy’s songs are streamed on Spotify, bought off iTunes and used commercially, a small part of that play builds in her piggy bank. Most importantly, Blue Ivy’s royalty income starts before she is even 10.
Beyoncé with her award at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards on March 14, 2021, in Los Angeles. Photo: Los Angeles Times/TNS
As Jean Folger wrote in an article in Investopedia: “Young adults do have one thing going for them: time. There is a reason that compounding – the ability to grow an investment by reinvesting the earnings – was referred to by Albert Einstein as ‘the eighth wonder of the world’. The magic of compounding allows investors to generate wealth over time and requires only two things: the reinvestment of earnings and time.”
Edwin Cheung, vice-chairman of development, Institute of Financial Planners of Hong Kong, agrees. “Starting investment at a young age has a tremendous advantage in terms of the time value of money and compounding effect,” he said. “Just starting five years earlier can make a massive difference in long-term return. Also starting early can help ride out the fluctuations of the market and enable investors to take more risks for higher long-term potential return.”
Beyoncé and daughter Blue Ivy in Paris wearing matching outfits. Photo: Instagram
Folger illustrates: “A single US$10,000 investment at age 20 would grow to over US$70,000 by the time the investor was 60 years old, based on a 5 per cent interest rate. That US$10,000 investment made at age 30 would yield about US$43,000 by age 60, and at age 40 would yield US$26,000. The longer money is put to work, the more it can generate.”
It’s safe to say Blue Ivy is taking maximum advantage of this phenomenon – by starting at least 20 years before most people. And she has her parents to thank for it all.
While few of us have royalty-generating assets to involve our children in, an investment in some blue-chip stocks for your kids in kindergarten does not sound like a bad idea after all.