The World's Richest People Simply Red ? Money?s Too Tight to Mention
I been laid off, my rent is due My kids all need brand new shoes So I went to the bank to see what they could do They said ?son looks like bad luck got a hold on you?
Billionaire Clusters
Duncan Greenberg, 04.02.09, 04:00 PM EDT
Want to become a billionaire? Up your chances by dropping out of college, working at Goldman Sachs or joining Skull & Bones.
In summary:
1. A significant percentage of billionaires had parents with a high aptitude for math.
2. Few billionaires are born in December.
3. More than 20% of the 292 of the self-made American billionaires on the most recent list of the World's Billionaires have either never started or never completed college.
4. Billionaires who derive their fortunes from finance make up one of the most highly educated sub-groups: More than 55% of them have graduate degrees. Nearly 90% of those with M.B.A.s obtained their master's degree from one of three Ivy League schools: Harvard, Columbia or U. Penn's Wharton School of Business.
5. Goldman Sachs ( GS - news - people ) has attracted a large share of hungry minds that went on to garner 10-figure fortunes. At least 11 current and recent billionaire financiers worked at Goldman early in their careers.
6. Several billionaires suffered a bitter professional setback early in their careers that heightened their fear of failure.
7. Several current and former billionaires rounded out their Yale careers as members of Skull and Bones, the secret society portrayed with enigmatic relish by Hollywood in movies like The Skulls and W.
