Rubbing shoulders with billionaires
By Dian Vujovich
That Forbes list of billionaires has everybody talking. So does the Dow’s recent regaining of its all time high mark. Do they have anything to do with one another? You betcha.
Billionaires are different than the rest of us. Really different. Not only do they have beyond belief oodles of money, most are risk takers. Names like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Oprah Winfrey come to mind. All are examples of individuals who both take risks and then work with— and enjoy– the rewards of doing so.
Ordinary folks don’t generally like taking risks—or too many of them—with their money. Perhaps that’s because many work for The Man and make a wage that that man or woman sets for them. Consequently, that old ‘hard-earned’ buck kind of thinking coupled with the don’t-invest-in-the-stock-market- unless-you’ve-got-money-to-lose mind set keeps lots of folks from ever attaining seven-, eight- or 10-digit wealth.
On the other hand, once successful men and women reach a certain degree of success, investing becomes part and parcel of making their money grow.
If risk taking isn’t a part of your make-up, but you’d like to hang out where the uber wealthy live, the good news is you don’t have to leave the United States to do so. Even with our economic woes there are more billionaires living in the U.S. than in any other country on the planet.
A recent story in Silicion India listed the 10 countries on the globe with the most billionaires. They include: In the 10th position, Canada with 40 billionaires; 9th is Brazil with 49 billionaires; 8th, Switzerland with 57; Hong Kong at 64; Russia is in 6th position with 97 billionaires; in front of it, India with 109; in the 4th slot is Germany, 137; 3rd is the United Kingdom with 140; 2nd is China with 147 billionaires; and in the No. 1 position, the mighty U.S. of A. with, 480 billionaires.
To be clear and keep things above board, the Forbes 2013 list of billionaires reported 420 of them the U.S. The Silicion India story states more–480. It was compiled by Wealth-X. I don’t know which figure is correct. I just know that there are plenty of the super monied men and women residing on Earth.
To read the full story in Silicion India, and get a few details about the richest in each country listed, visit: http://tinyurl.com/b7vx4wz .
To read more articles, please visit the column archive.
