How Realistic Are Your Chances Of Becoming A Billionaire?
If, after you pay off all your debts and you value your remaining assets, you get a number
above 1 billion, you are a billionaire.
However, modern-day billionaires are valued based on their net worth in dollars.
So if your assets are right on or above the $1billon mark, congrats you belong to an elite
class of a few thousand snobs.
To be honest, many of us will like to billionaires – the fact that some of them are snobs is
irrelevant.
But becoming a billionaire is a rare feat that only a few thousand people have achieved.
In the United States, the number of billionaires in a country with a population of 328million
people is just 615.
That means there is one billionaire for each 533, 333 Americans.
In the world, there are 2,153 billionaires out of the 7.4billion people that populate
the earth.
These numbers create steep odds for people that are trying to join the exclusive ranks
of billionaires.
A billion dollars is a fantasy for the vast majority of us, but it doesn’t hurt to dream
and work towards it.
With such wealth comes a very exclusive lifestyle – private yachts, private jets, exotic cars,
mansions in multiple locations across the planet, and more.
The American dream is that anyone that has the talent and is willing to work hard can
achieve any goal in life.
But this doesn’t mean everyone that is talented and hardworking can become a billionaire.
The Odds Of You Becoming A Billionaire.
The stats will tell you that your chances of ever becoming a billionaire are meagre
at best.
This is probably true, especially when you consider the fact that on a planet that contains
billions of people, only a few thousand have managed to accumulate such wealth.
But this doesn’t mean the odds are entirely against you.
The wealth of the world is not finite, new wealth is created every day, and new billionaires
are made every year.
As people come up with new ideas that solve problems, they create companies as a vehicle
to provide those solutions to consumers, these companies own assets, and these assets become
wealth.
So if you are talented, and you choose the right path, and you are extremely lucky, and
you work hard; you may just be able to turn the odds in your favour.
Many people choose the wrong path on their way to accumulating wealth.
They spend years of their lives trying to win the lottery and winning the billion-dollar
jackpot.
But this rarely ever works out.
You can try your luck and try and win Millions or even $1billion in the multi-state Mega
Millions Lottery.
However, you must know the odds aren’t exactly in your favour.
Only 1 in 300 million people ever win the lottery, and if by a miraculous chance you
do win it.
Theirs a high chance you can lose it all.
According to statistics over 70% of lottery winners end up bankrupt in just a few years
because they never learned how to build sustainable wealth.
And as the saying goes; Easy come, easy go.
A more ideal path to becoming a billionaire is to build a successful business empire or
start a tech startup and sell it for a ton of money.
Factors That Can Influence Your Chances of becoming a billionaire.
So this entire video all about how realistic your odds of becoming a billionaire is, and
below are some of the factors which can influence your chances, for better or for worse.
1.
Where you live: People who live in wealthy countries have
a better chance of becoming billionaires than people who do not.
The vast majority of the billionaires in the world are in the USA, China, Japan, and Germany.
And it’s no coincidence that these countries have the top four largest economies in the
world.
2.
Level of educational attainment: Bill Gates has romanticized the image of the
drop-out billionaire.
Indeed, some billionaires never went to college, but the reality is that the vast majority
of billionaires are college-educated.
The more educated you are, the better your chances.
Many billionaires hold Masters Degrees and PhDs.
While having a level of education is almost an essential requirement, a college education
is not overwhelmingly important.
Notable billionaires like Bill Gates, Mark Zukerberg, Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison, and
many others never completed college.
However, not everyone possesses the genius intellect of these individuals, and you will
boost your chances considerably if you get a college degree.
3.
Your background: A significant proportion of billionaires in
the world today inherited substantial wealth from their parents.
The current American president, – Donald Trump is a good example.
He is a billionaire today, but he inherited millions from his father’s estate which
gave him the platform he needed to build his wealth.
And Trump is not the only one.
Other names that inherited their billions include the Rothschilds, the Mars Family,
the Waltons, the Rockefellers, and many more.
So if you are fortunate to come from a wealthy family that bequeathed you a few millions,
you have already gained a head start in your race to a billion dollars.
This, of course, significantly raises your chances of making it to the elite billionaires
club.
Also, if you are a trust fund kid, then the odds are firmly in your favour.
4.
Your income: This is very applicable to CEOs and top executives
that earn millions in salaries and bonuses.
An example is Sundar Pichai, who makes hundreds of millions in bonuses and stock options every
year and is well on his way to becoming a billionaire.
Very few people belong to this category.
However, if you are a CEO of a multibillion-dollar company and you rake in millions every year,
then you stand a better chance of becoming a billionaire.
5.
Your ability to save and invest: Warren Buffet is the world’s most famous
investor.
And for a good reason too.
Investing has made him one of the wealthiest people on the planet!
But he is not alone, other billionaires like George Soros, Bill Ackman, Ray Dalio, and
many others made their billions from investing.
If you want to become a billionaire and you are very good at investing, you have a good
chance of accomplishing your goal.
However, saving and investing are inseparable.
If you don’t save, you will have nothing to invest.
Many billionaire investors indeed made their fortune by investing other people’s money
and taking a cut from the returns.
But no one will invest in your fund if your own money is not in it.
You must have skin in the game.
6.
Your race: It’s massively disappointing, but there
is a vast racial disparity among wealthy individuals.
White and Asian people have a better chance of becoming billionaires than blacks and South
Americans.
2,153 billionaires exist in the world, but in the whole of Latin America and the Caribbean,
there are less than 120 billionaires.
For blacks, it is much worse, there are only 15 black billionaires in the world.
So if you are born white or Asian, you have better odds of becoming a billionaire than
if you are born black or if you are born in South America.
So, the question now is; How can you become a Billionaire?
Here are some of the ways you can become a billionaire:
1.
Invent something: Many modern billionaires come from the tech
sector, and the extra-ordinary culture of innovation in that sector explains this reality.
Building wealth through innovation is a very tough path, and only exceptional individuals
can come up with innovative products, software tools, and services that can generate wealth
in billions.
If you have the ability and you can identify a consumer need that you can solve, then this
may be your path to becoming a billionaire.
Some inventors and innovators come up with new technology and inventions that helped
them make their billions.
People like Bill Gates who started Microsoft, Jeff Bezos the founder of Amazon, Mark Zuckerberg
the inventor of Facebook, and Elon Musk the pioneer behind Tesla and SpaceX, all followed
this path.
Some inventors focused on improving existing products and making them much better than
other alternatives.
People like James Dyson, who started Dyson - a company that makes fancy vacuum cleaners
and other electrical appliances.
And Travis Kalanick one of the founders of Uber, fall under this category.
2.
Become an entrepreneur: This is the traditional way to become a billionaire,
and the very first billionaires in the United States such as; John D. Rockefeller, Dale
Carnegie, J.P. Morgan made their wealth from entrepreneurship.
Many modern billionaires also fall into this category.
Carlos Slim Helu of Mexico made his fortune from entrepreneurship, Bernard Arnault of
France made his billions through a fashion empire, and Ingvar Kamprad of Sweden made
his fortune through IKEA - the furniture maker.
These individuals all started their businesses from scratch.
They built them into multibillion-dollar empires due to sheer business acumen and their ability
to spot lucrative opportunities.
If you have the fortitude, work ethic, and business acumen, this is one of the surest
paths to building a billion-dollar fortune.
3.
Become an investor: A significant number of the billionaires on
the Forbes list are investors.
I have already mentioned some of them, and they include people like James Simmons (who
runs a hedge fund that relies on Artificial Intelligence to make investment decisions),
Warren Buffet (who is a value investor), Gorge Soros, and Ray Dalio (who runs the world’s
largest hedge fund) and many others.
These investors raise funds from other investors, and then invest the funds in the capital market,
which the investor then receives a handsome percentage of profits if specific targets
are met.
If you are a financial guru and you have the right Wall Street connections, this may just
be your path to becoming a billionaire.
However, to become a billionaire investor, you must resist the temptation to jump in
on the next big thing.
They usually turn out not to be so big.
Billionaires who made their money from investments kept clear of flashy, high-risk choices.
They instead chose to go with those that promise steady, good returns over the long-term.
4.
Marry a billionaire: Well, this one is a little out of the norm
but, if you are looking for a stress-free path to becoming a billionaire, then consider
marrying one.
It’s true that many billionaires have successful marriages and share ownership of their wealth
with their spouses.
However, for others – the path to becoming a billionaire is to marry one and get your
billions in your divorce settlement.
And so if you are interested, MacKenzie Bezos is now worth $40billion after divorcing her
husband.
But, truth be told, the odds of you ever becoming a billionaire is slim to none.
But that should not put down your lofty ambitions.
You might not be the next Bill Gates or Warren Buffet, but there’s a lot you can learn
by emulating these financially successful men.
You can adopt their innovative and forward-thinking approach to become outstanding in your field.
Most of these billionaires weren’t born with their stupendous wealth, they had to
start from scratch.
And what helped them along their way to riches are a set of traits every aspiring billionaire
should do well to embody.
These traits evolved from skills that they deliberately cultivated over time and which
crystalized into habits.
Habits that made them staggering sums of money.
Great passion, willingness to take risks, unconventional thinking, and uncommon grit
are some values to hold dear if you want to increase your chances of becoming a billionaire.
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