Insight: I'm an adviser to the world's richest billionaires — here are 5 surprising insights about their spending

We are all familiar with the stereotype of the ultrawealthy. Flashy, show-off, perhaps even complacent.

Half the world's 1,500 billionaires bank with UBS and the reality we see day-to-day could not be further from that caricature.

Whenever we meet our clients we are struck by how normal they are. Yes they are usually intensely focused, bright and passionate, particularly when it comes to their business. But they are also often quiet, thoughtful and preoccupied as much by the responsibilities of great wealth as by its benefits.

That sense of the 'burden of wealth' is having some interesting effects. The new generation of billionaires in particular is motivated not only by wealth creation but a broader sense of purpose. This means even more commitment to improving living standards, job creation, and providing broader access to cultural capital. As governments around the world cut back on spending, there is a growing feeling that the private sectormustplay a bigger role.

Our Billionaire Insights 2017 report, now in its fourth edition, has for the first time started to quantify that broader social contribution. Billionaires are a major creator of jobs. The 1,542 billionaires we analyzed own or partly own companies that employ at least 27.7 million people worldwide - roughly the same as the UK's working population.

1. Arts and culture

Billionaires are creating alternative legacies through their cultural pursuits. Private museums are growing in number and public museums are receiving more funding, increasing the accessibility of art to the public. Maja Oeri, a Swiss pharmaceuticals heiress, illustrated the trend when she donated a large proportion of the funds for the 2016 extension of the Kunstmuseum Basel, the city's municipal art collection. Similar initiatives have proven to be equally successful: US museums like the MoMA in New York and SFMOMA thrive on support from billionaires.

2. Sports

The ultrawealthy are also helping sports clubs to become more sustainable, helping them to deliver associated benefits to the communities of which they are a part. For example, Jack Ma's Alibaba has invested in Evergrande Taobao FC, recruiting international players and coaches, building one of the world's biggest football schools, dominating the league and becoming the first Chinese winners of the Asian Champions League in 2013.

3. Philanthropy

Networks and communities are playing an increasingly important part in enabling this sort of purpose-driven activity. A prominent example is The Giving Pledge. At the end of May 2017, 160 signatories, including some of the world's wealthiest individuals and families, had committed more than 

half their wealth to philanthropy.

4. Impact investing

Impact investing is also growing fast. The Rise Fund, for example, aims to balance competitive financial returns with positive societal outcomes. Its Founders Board includes billionaire entrepreneurs, rock stars, royalty.

5. Family

Looking ahead, the global impact of billionaire wealth is set to grow even further, with an estimated USD2.4 trillion of billionaire wealth expected to be transferred in the next two decades.

It may be that what we have seen so far is just the tip of the iceberg. As billionaires' wealth grows, so too does their sense of responsibility and their ambition. Stopping climate change, improving public education, alleviating poverty, eradicating malaria, finding a cure for Alzheimer's and so on. It is a forbidding, world-changing to-do list and we will continue to cheer them on as they tackle it.