Do You Know Any of These People?

"Many speak the truth when they say that they despise riches, but they mean the riches possessed by other men."

   - Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1832), English clergyman

Forbes magazine recently published their annual list of the country's 400 wealthiest individuals. 78%, or 278 of them to be exact, are billionaires. 26%, or 106 are multi-billionaires. If I remember my basic math, a billion is 1,000 million. I can't count that high.

The Windows guy, Bill Gates, is still our richest citizen, a distinction he's held for eleven straight years. His net worth is a cool $48 billion, and he inherited none of it. His buddy, Warren Buffet weighs in at $41 billion. I think he earned all of his too, but I'm not sure.

For the curious among you, Forbes includes some little known facts for your consideration. There are links to biographies of the top ten members on the list, newcomers to the club, and the most eligible bachelors and bachelorettes for those of you who are single and want to find yourself a well-to-do mate. Sorry, no phone numbers were published.

Care to see how much of their fortunes these people donate to charity? In some cases, a lot. There's a link to that information right here.

There's also an interesting link showing what it costs people like this to live extremely well. If you shop at T.J. Maxx or Wal-Mart as I do, the sticker shock may numb you a bit, but hey, we suspected these folks spend a little more for their necessities, didn't we? Now we know.

Should you be interested in the kinds of homes our wealthiest countrymen live in, you can check out some of them in this article. Be sure to click on the slide show at the bottom of the page. They all have at least two things in common: they're big, and they're expensive. I find myself wondering if they've re-financed their home loans now that mortgage rates are so low. Just think what they'd save on their monthly payments.

Do I sound jealous? Not in the slightest. Who would want to own Bill Gates' home in Medina, Washington? It would take you a week just to finish the vacuuming. These guys' wives do make them vacuum, don't they?

Apologies: I just discovered that some of these links have stopped working. It's late and I need some rest, so I'll try to get them fixed tomorrow. The Forbes url is http://www.forbes.com and all of the links can be accessed from the article The 400 Richest Americans in their current issue.