There are
more billionaires walking the planet than ever before.
According
to the Forbes 2017
Billionaires List, there are now a record 2,043 billionaires,
having increased by 233 from the previous year.
If you
fancy joining the ranks of the mega rich – these billionaires are
worth a whopping $7.7 trillion (about £5.7 trillion) – then what do
you need to do?
It turns
out picking the right subjects to study at university or
college can play a big part. Analysis of the rich list by
recruitment specialists Aaron Wallis has highlighted that of the
100 richest billionaires, 75 pursued some form of higher
education.
As the
table below highlights, these mega rich people picked some rather
disparate subjects to study, though there are a few that stand out
as being particularly popular among the would-be wealthy.
Clearly,
having a hands on understanding of engineering is a useful way to end
up with the big bucks; if people are willing to spend £1,000 on a
mobile phone that’s awfully similar to the one they already have,
then it’s a good sign that tech is a fruitful area to pursue.
Indeed, according to Forbes, there are now 183 tech
billionaires.
However,
it’s notable that business and economics also score highly.
Understanding economic cycles, and when – not just how – to make a
deal are obviously incredibly useful assets for the super rich to
have.
Aaron
Wallis also picked out certain trends among the first jobs held by
the richest of the rich. A significant 30% of the richest 100
inherited their wealth, which isn’t an option for most of us, but
more than half of them started their working life in somebody
else’s company.
Interestingly, of those 53 super billionaires, the most common
starting role was as a salesman (10), just ahead of being a stock
trader (9), a software developer (5) and an engineer (5).
Again, a
familiarity with making deals, with understanding how to sell
something, is a big plus if you want to end up with a swimming pool
filled with money a la Scrooge McDuck.
If you do
manage to find yourself on the rich list, be warned that membership
may only be temporary.
Forbes
kicked 78 members of the 2016 billionaires list off as a result of
falling fortunes, most notably Elizabeth Holmes whose net worth
went from $3.6 billion (£2.67 billion) to a big, fat zero after her
blood testing company Theranos was the subject of a scandal that
has raised the prospect of liquidation.
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