How long could the fortunes of French billionaires pay for pensions? Not much...

Tax the rich, XXL version. Imagine a French law that confiscates the money of all the biggest fortunes in the country. Not just a percentage, absolutely EVERYTHING.

This is an incredible amount to relieve public finances, which are in a very bad state. Enough to see coming, right? Not really.

Or rather, for an extremely limited time. Even playing the extremist Robin Hood, the entire fortune of French billionaires would only finance pensions for a few months... Nineteen, according to a tweet that has gone viral on social networks, which has more than four thousand likes on X. But where does this figure come from?

And above all, is it accurate? We took out the calculator. How much do pensions cost each year?

According to the 2025 report from the Pension Orientation Council (COR), expenses of the French retirement system reached 420 billion euros in 2024. A considerable amount, which reflects the weight of pensions in public finances. 420 billion divided by twelve months = 35 billion euros per month.

This is the price of the entry ticket. It remains to be seen whether the great French fortunes have the pockets deep enough to settle it. How much are the fortunes of French billionaires worth?

For now, the figures are much more variable. Two rankings are referred to, but they do not count exactly the same thing. The first, that of the American magazine Forbes, lists billionaires individually.

According to the figures retained for 2025, the 52 French billionaires would accumulate around 530 billion euros in fortune. 530/35 = 15.1 months funded for retirement. The Challenges magazine ranking adopts a different approach: it lists the great professional and family fortunes.

It integrates the assets of entire families, including the fortune of the heirs, even if each of them does not exceed an individual billion before having received the will. In 2025, Challenges identified 153 billionaire families, with a cumulative fortune estimated between 800 and 900 billion euros. Let's, for once, be a good sport with our seniors and stick to the high range.

900/35 = 25.7 months financed for retirement. That’s more than two years of funded pensions. Woohoo.

Depending on the classification used, we therefore obtain between 15 to 26 months of pension financing. The 19 months are therefore in the right range. The considerable difference is partly explained by the calculation methods, the scope used but also by one last major variable: fortunes fluctuate, most of them being stock market quotations that are particularly volatile in terms of prices.

Why doesn't this comparison really hold water? But here’s the plot twist: this calculation makes no sense. Sorry for only revealing this to you now, well you could have thought a little about yourself too.

Machine-translated from French