How South Africa’s richest 1% make their money
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Wealth-X has published its wealth report for 2021, detailing how the world’s richest people make their money.
In contrast to often-popular conceptions of wealth, most wealthy individuals across the globe are self-made, and created their fortunes without an inheritance, the report shows.
This is particularly true at the very high net worth (VHNW) level, where more than eight in every 10 individuals are self-made. Wealth-X defines this group as those with a net worth of $5 million to $30 million.
Of the remainder, around two-thirds have net worth that stems from a combination of inherited and self-created wealth, with only a small proportion relying solely on inheritance.
Elon Musk is now the world’s richest person – here’s what he and other rich South Africans studied
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South African-born Elon Musk is now the world’s richest person after Tesla’s shares surged 7.9% on Thursday (7 January).
The climbing share price has boosted Musk past Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the world’s 500 wealthiest people. Musk is now worth $194.8 billion, or $9.5 billion more than Bezos.
Born in South Africa to an engineer father and nutritionist mother, Musk left home at 17 for college in Canada, in part to avoid serving in the apartheid-era South African army.