1: 10 SECRETS Billionaires Will NEVER Share With You.
10 SECRETS Billionaires Will NEVER Share with you.
Billionaires hold many secrets about their immense wealth and success. From how they get richer, avoid taxes, to family struggles and their mindset, there’s much that they don't reveal. Here are the top 10 things billionaires won’t tell you about their wealth, lifestyle, and the path to extraordinary success.
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10. "We just get richer and richer"
In 2013, global billionaire wealth soared to $5.4 trillion, a 17% increase from 2012, with 1,426 billionaires, including 200 newcomers like Mark Zuckerberg. U.S. billionaires' average net worth rose to $10.8 billion, while the broader U.S. household net worth remained stagnant at 95% of its pre-recession level. Factors like rising financial markets and low inflation fueled this wealth gap, highlighting the widening disparity between the ultra-wealthy and average households.
9. "One million - or 10 - ain't what it used to be."
In today’s world, being a millionaire no longer signifies wealth. With Manhattan homes averaging over $1 million, even $10 million is modest, says Charles Merlot, author of The Billionaire’s Apprentice. Luxuries like $7 million helicopters and $2.4 million Bugatti Veyron showcase the super-rich’s spending power. The shift in perception, highlighted in The Social Network, shows that billionaires now set the standard, viewing millionaires as less wealthy, even if they share boardrooms.
8. "This is basically a boys' club."
Women are making strides, with 138 female billionaires this year, up from 104. However, over 90% of billionaires are men, reflecting broader gender disparities. Women hold only 4% of CEO roles at Fortune 1,000 companies, despite holding 18% of U.S. Congressional seats.
While many billionaires inherit wealth, like Liliane Bettencourt, some, like Rosalia Mera, build it. In the case of young male billionaires, like Mark Zuckerberg, ambition often stems from personal motivations, like meeting people, which sometimes leads to extraordinary success.
7. "I may be smart, but I got a headstart."
Research highlights that many American billionaires are highly educated, often attending prestigious institutions. Success typically blends intellect and opportunity.
While figures like Bill Gates and the Koch brothers hail from privileged backgrounds, others overcame adversity. Sheldon Adelson grew up in a working-class neighborhood, Stephen Bisciotti supported himself after his father’s death, and Lynn Tilton juggled single motherhood with grueling Wall Street hours.
These contrasting journeys underscore that wealth stems from a mix of privilege, resilience, and relentless ambition.
6. "It's like Monopoly money."
Billionaires often spend extravagantly, such as Roman Abramovich’s $1 billion yacht or Saudi Prince Alwaleed’s $400 million Airbus A380. Yet, these purchases are relative; Oprah Winfrey’s interest in a $38,000 handbag represents just 0.001% of her $2.9 billion net worth.
Despite lavish splurges, many billionaires remain frugal in daily life, says Wealth-X’s David Friedman. They often scrutinize minor expenses, like arguing over 50 cents at a restaurant, even as they make multimillion-dollar purchases like private jets. This duality underscores their unique financial mindset.
5. "What scares us? Divorce lawyers."
Divorce is rare among billionaires, with only 8% of married billionaires divorced, compared to 40–50% in the general U.S. population, according to Wealth-X. However, when divorces occur, they can be extremely costly and expose private details.
The 2003 divorce of GE's Jack Welch revealed lavish living standards, leading to public scrutiny and an SEC inquiry into his $2.5 million annual retirement package. Welch later relinquished the benefits to protect GE's reputation. Such cases highlight the high stakes and challenges of divorce in the billionaire world.
4. "We didn't get rich investing in stocks."
Building billionaire wealth from scratch rarely happens through stock market investing. Even achieving a 15% annual return—a near-impossible feat—requires starting with $65 million to reach $1 billion in 20 years, notes Martin Fridson, author of How to Be a Billionaire.
Instead, many billionaires like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg built their fortunes through start-ups. Recent IPOs, such as Twitter’s, highlight the wealth potential in Silicon Valley over Wall Street. According to wealth strategist Mark Martiak, Wall Street plays a bigger role in preserving wealth rather than creating it.
3. "You say evading, we say avoiding."
There's no data on whether the ultrawealthy shirk their responsibility to pay taxes more often than the average citizen, but incidents involving billionaires certainly garner more media attention - presumably because of the vast sums involved.
"A lot of billionaires try to avoid paying taxes," says Friedman of Wealth-X. The latest to be named and shamed - and face jail time: Ty Warner, 69, CEO of Ty, the maker of stuffed Beanie Babies and worth an estimated $2.6 billion, according to Forbes.
"I apologise for my conduct," Warner told a U.S. District Court in Chicago in October. "I made a mistake. I'm fully responsible." He owes the government $53.6 million for failing to file a report on foreign financial accounts, one of the largest offshore-account penalties ever.
The line certainly gets blurred between illegal tax evasion and lawful tax avoidance. For the most part, Martiak says, "no-one is deliberately or intentionally avoiding paying tax." The very wealthy - billionaires included - also have the opportunity to pay a far smaller percentage of their income in taxes, since most of their income is from investments and, therefore, taxed at lower rates than wages and salary.
2. "My family hates me, loves my money."
Spare a thought for Gina Rinehart, 59, Australia's richest woman - whose children, John Hancock, 37, and Bianca Rinehart, 36, are suing her. They allege that she engaged in serious misconduct as trustee of the family's multi-billion-dollar trust by trying to delay the date when the trust's beneficiaries - her four children - could access their money. (Gina Rinehart's law firm, Corrs Chambers Westgarth, says she denies all wrongdoing and, in a statement released to the press, said she's offering to give up her role as trustee to end the litigation.)
Not all family disputes are about money, however. Nor is it always the kids suing the parents: Financier T. Boone Pickens sued his son Michael in February for alleged defamation, libel, invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of distress and harmful access by computer, after Michael began writing about the family in a blog called "5 Days In Connecticut." Collin Porterfield, an attorney representing Michael Pickens, says the case is being considered by Dallas County Court and no decision had been reached.
1. "King Lear taught me everything I know."
Most billionaires have traditionally left their fortune to their offspring or brought them into the family business. Case in point: Three of Donald Trump's children work in the family business and even appear on his reality TV show, "The Apprentice." These days, however, more billionaires are taking a slightly different tack. At least 30 billionaires have chosen to sign the "Giving Pledge," an initiative started in 2009 to encourage the ultrawealthy to give away half their wealth. (Warren Buffett has pledged to give away 99% of his wealth. He once told a television interviewer: "I want to give my kids just enough so that they would feel that they could do anything, but not so much that they would feel like doing nothing.")
Others who have made the pledge thus far include hotelier Barron Hilton, banker David Rockefeller, financier Ronald Perelman, Citigroup founder Sandy Weill and his wife, Joan, hedge-fund managers Julian Robertson Jr. and Jim Simons, private-equity financier David Rubenstein and "Star Wars" creator George Lucas. In fact, Lucas, 69, also sold off the bulk of his business empire last year, which some experts say will prevent a power struggle among his three adopted children after he's gone.
For many billionaires, their legacy becomes more important than their money, says Martin Fridson, author of "How to be a Billionaire: Proven Strategies from the Titans of Wealth." Although they obviously didn't become billionaires by accident, he says many billionaires mellow with age: "They'll usually tell you, 'I never set out to be a billionaire, I set out to do good.'"Understanding these secrets offers a glimpse into the billionaire world, where wealth, power, and ambition create a unique reality.
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