How Billionaires get their wealth?

Industries which make Mega Fortunes.

With Aliko Dangote’s opulent lifestyle at the forefront, you might be wondering how you, too, can have a gold plated house and a $ 45 million worth XRS private jet. Or maybe you want to build your wealth and donate almost all of it to charity, like Mark Zuckerberg and Warren Buffett.

While ten-digit fortunes can be forged in any industry - from oil to energy drinks and even cinema but there are some sectors that give you better odds at making the billionaires list.

Finance and investments are the top industry to make billions This industry has made up to 267 which are about 15% or the world 1,810 billionaires. The fundamental is simple, make money for others, specially people who already have lots, this leads to big fortunes.  These include mutual fund and brokerage company founders like Charles and Rupert Johnson (behind Franklin Templeton) and Charles Schwab, plus hedge fund managers like David Tepper and George Soros.This also includes investors like Buffett and Carl Icahn, their firms make megadeals for stakes in large companies.

Another really great industry is the Fashion and retail. The industry made 221 billionaires which is about 12% of the total billionaires. Big box retailers like Home Depot’s Bernard Marcus and Arthur Blank or Wal-Mart’s seven Walton family heirs, or discount grocers, like Aldi’s Beate Heister and Karl Albrecht, Jr.  are a great path to prosperity. One could also create their own fashion brand, like Ralph Lauren and Giorgio Armani.

Real estate is another option. It’s the third-biggest source of wealth among the uber rich, with about 163 billionaires. Tech is nearly behind with 159 list members, up 67% from just five years ago thanks to the growing crop of unicorn companies (25 billionaires owe their wealth to these privately-held startups valued above $1 billion).

See below for the full list of top billionaire-producing industries worldwide and the five most successful industries in each region of the world.

Industries that produce the most billionaires worldwide:

1. Finance and Investments: 267 billionaires (15% of worldwide total)

2. Fashion and Retail: 221 billionaires (12% of worldwide total)

3. Real Estate: 163 billionaires (9% of worldwide total)

4. Technology: 159 billionaires (9% of worldwide total)

5. Manufacturing: 157 billionaires (9% of worldwide total)

6. Diversified: 145 billionaires (8% of worldwide total)

7. Food and Beverage: 141 billionaires (8% of worldwide total)

8. Healthcare: 113 billionaires (6% of worldwide total)

9. Energy: 80 billionaires (4% of worldwide total)

10. Media and Entertainment: 74 billionaires (4% of worldwide total)

Top 5 billionaire-producing industries per region:

Asia-Pacific

1. Real Estate (17% of fortunes)

2. Manufacturing (14% of fortunes)

3. Diversified (12% of fortunes)

4. Technology (12% of fortunes)

5. Fashion and Retail (9% of fortunes)

Europe

1. Fashion and Retail (21% of fortunes)

2. Finance and Investments (14% of fortunes)

3. Manufacturing (9% of fortunes)

4. Food and Beverage (8% of fortunes)

5. Healthcare (8% of fortunes)

Middle East & Africa

1. Diversified (30% of fortunes)

2. Finance and Investments (12% of fortunes)

3. Construction and Engineering (9% of fortunes)

4. Fashion and Retail (8% of fortunes)

5. Metals and Mining (7% of fortunes)

The Americas (excluding the United States)

1. Finance and Investments (20% of fortunes)

2. Fashion and Retail (14% of fortunes)

3. Food and Beverage (14% of fortunes)

4. Diversified (13% of fortunes)

5. Media and Entertainment (7% of fortunes)

United States

1. Finance and Investments (24% of fortunes)

2. Technology (14% of fortunes)

3. Food and Beverage (10% of fortunes)

4. Fashion and Retail (9% of fortunes)

5. Real Estate (7% of fortunes)

Synopsis

Billionaires rarely set out with the goal to get rich, they just focus on their passions or target a problem that no one else is addressing, the wealth just flows naturally. Keep your eye on your interests and business vision not the private jet that you might buy one day.

Also, on the path of becoming a billionaire it is important that you may have to say no to becoming a millionaire. Hence, it may be a bad idea to cash out your company before it takes off to make billions.You can look at Mark Zuckerburg’s story for example, he turned down Yahoo’s $1 billion offer in 2006. He reportedly owns 25% of the fledging site which means he could have made a whopping $250 million before taxes He passed and kept growing the company himself. Today, just a decade later, Facebook has a market cap of more than more than $550 billion and Zuck’s net worth rose to more than $70 billion.