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The Cibolo Creek Ranch in Shafter, Texas. Matthew Busch/Getty Images

A billionaire with zero heirs is pouring his riches into ghost town in a Texas county where 1 in 5 live in poverty — 'This place is going to boom’

Emma Caplan-Fisher
Sep 29, 2026
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An estimated $124 trillion is set to change hands in the Great Wealth Transfer between now and 2048, according to Cerulli Associates, as baby boomers pass their fortunes to heirs. But for some billionaires with no heirs to pass anything to, their plans can look quite different, and more creative.

For John Poindexter, 81, the answer is a ghost town in West Texas with a population of about 25 people.

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Poindexter — a Houston manufacturing magnate, Vietnam veteran, and owner of J.B. Poindexter & Co., which builds the bodies of UPS’s brown delivery trucks — has been directing millions toward Shafter, Texas, according to Fortune. When asked why his family won’t inherit his wealth, he said, “I’ve never been married, I have no children.”

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So instead, he’s building something.

The town and why it matters

Shafter sits in Presidio County, one of the least populated and poorest corners of Texas.

According to Census Bureau data, the county had an estimated 5,433 residents in 2025 — down 11.4% since 2020 and down sharply from 7,818 in 2010. Median household income stands at $43,802, roughly half the national median, and nearly 20% of residents live in poverty. The nearest grocery store from Shafter is 19 miles away in Presidio, Fortune notes.

The town’s last boom was in silver. The Presidio Mine operated from 1883 to 1942 and produced 35.2 million ounces of silver, according to owner Black Bear Minerals. When the mine closed, people left town.

Poindexter’s Tidewater and Big Bend Foundation has taken in nearly $67 million in contributions since late 2020, including $20.6 million in the fiscal year ending November 2024, Fortune reports. The Shafter plan includes a resort and living history museum with a rebuilt saloon, post office and general store, plus about 12 adobe homes to be rented for overnight stays.

While not all residents are pleased, a local water board president sees the potential. “This is a wake-up call for sure, for people to start considering what’s going to happen to the town,” David Long told the Big Bend Sentinel.

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What happens when the ultra-wealthy have no heirs

Poindexter’s situation of enormous wealth and no children or a spouse raises a question that estate planners increasingly encounter: what to do with a fortune when there are no natural heirs to receive it.

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According to Cerulli Associates, of the $124 trillion expected to transfer through 2048, $18 trillion is projected to flow to charities rather than heirs — much of it from people who, like Poindexter, have chosen to direct wealth toward causes rather than family.

Poindexter’s approach is among the most hands-on. Rather than writing checks to existing institutions, he’s building one, with Shafter as its most visible expression. He plans for his foundation to eventually own all of his properties, including the 30,000-acre Cibolo Creek Ranch where Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died in 2016.

And his plan has historical precedent. John D. Rockefeller Jr. anonymously bought properties in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1926 and committed $5 million to restore the former colonial capital, according to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. When his identity was revealed at a town meeting, at least one resident stood to object.

Poindexter is being more open, though, having invited roughly 200 guests to Shafter over Labor Day weekend. And where today’s tech billionaires are spending hundreds of millions to build an entirely new California city from scratch, he wants to reclaim something that already existed.

The 25 people living in Shafter face a similar question. As Long, the water board president, put it: “Once we get a dependable, good water system in here, the place is going to boom.”

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Emma Caplan-Fisher Contributor

With a writing and editing career spanning over 15 years, Emma creates and refines content across a broad spectrum of industries, including personal finance, lifestyle, travel, health & wellness, real estate, beauty & fitness and B2B/SaaS/tech.

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