As per the recent survey conducted by Forbes, there are 2,208 billionaires in the world at present. Out of this, only 63 members of this elite group come under the age range of 40. This group of billionaires are a diverse group of individuals and being young isn’t the only common trait that they share. Of course we aren’t talking about them being filthy rich but there are some common traits which made them who they are today.
So, let’s take a sneak peak at these shared traits that the world’s youngest billionaires have in common.
1. More than half of them are Entrepreneurs
More than half the billionaires on the under 40 list are people who are self-made with the majority of them being from the tech industry. Mark Zuckerberg, owner of Facebook and Evan Spiegel of Snapchat are no doubt part of this list.
Along with them, founders of Uber, Airbnb and Stripe are also part of this elite list. But this doesn’t mean that the tech industry is the only flourishing industry for budding entrepreneurs out there. Many of them come from medical, manufacturing and design sectors as well
2. The Power of Inheritance
Not all the world’s Richie Riches made it big from the ground up. Although several of the young billionaires made a name for themselves from scratch, there are plenty others who inherited their wealth.
Heiress Yang Huiyan inherited her father’s real estate development company in China of net worth over $21.9 billion at 36. Heir of Norwegian fish farming company Salmar, Gustav Magnar Witzøe accumulated a net worth of $1.9 billion inheriting half of his father’s company at just 24. To add to this, Norwegian sisters Alexandra and Katharina Andresen at just 21 and 22 years of age inherited 42 % of the investment company Ferd which is owned by their family. It’s net worth came up to $1.4 billion a piece.
This shows us how important it is to make a Will because ultimately, inheritance counts for a lot!
3. Many of them Dropped Out of School to Start their Businesses
Completing school wasn’t on the agenda for many of the youngest billionaires – helping their business take off the ground was their number one priority! Evan Spiegel came up with the idea of Snapchat while he was at Stanford in a product design class. When this idea took root, he wanted to focus on making this app bigger which is why he officially dropped out of Stanford in 2012.
The mind behind Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard to take charge of its ever-increasing popularity. Some of the world’s most brilliant minds and established billionaires dropped out of school before they graduated to chase their dreams and make it larger than life itself and this includes Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. This doesn’t mean that we are implying dropping out of school to pursue a business is one ritual that all future billionaires should follow; several billionaires on the list hold at least a bachelor’s degree and that counts for something.
4. They Manage Multiple Successful Businesses Alongside
Most of the world’s billionaires have more than one claim to fame to their credit. As a matter of fact, several young billionaires have worked on several prominent and profitable projects on their ascend to success. Billionaire Garret Camp is renowned for being co-founder of Uber but what many don’t know is that he was well rooted in the tech scene long before he even started the rideshare corporation. He was also the co-founder of StumbleUpon which he later sold to eBay for $75 million in 2007.
Dustin Moskovitz who was Facebook’s third employee worked with Mark Zuckerberg to get Facebook launched out of their dorm room at Harvard. After they both bid goodbye to college, Moskovitz along with Zuckerberg moved to California to concentrate on further growing and developing Facebook. Moskovitz called it quits with Facebook in 2008 to start Asana which is a project management software. But most of his net worth which comes up to $12.4 billion comes from his small holding in Facebook.
5. They didn’t let their Hobbies Take a Backseat
Jack Collison, the 27 year old founder of Stripe, spends his spare time running which is a hobby we all can afford and indulge in whenever. Norwegian heiresses Katharina and Alexandra Andresen spend the majority of their time riding horses and Brian Chesky – Airbnb billionaire, was a former bodybuilder. While many of these billionaires spend a good amount of their time watching over and managing their mammoth business operations, they still believe in taking out time to pursue their interests and hobbies. That certainly is something we should all take home with us and make it a point to follow through.
While all these young billionaires are humans just like us, they do have a superhuman streak to them which sets them apart from the rest of the world. There are lessons we can all take away from them and who knows, maybe one day you will be the one making it to the list!
