What is your idea of wealth? For some, it's having enough money to retire on and live a comfortable life, able to pay your bills, put food on the table and have a roof over your head.
For others, it could be about socking away as much money as possible and joining the high-net-worth club that requires an average personal fortune of about $2.2 million.
These days, millionaires are pretty much a dime a dozen, while the list of billionaires continues to grow – in 2022, there were 3,194 billionaires in the world, according to Statista.
When you consider that American business tycoon John D Rockefeller was the world’s first billionaire in 1916 with an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion – or 1.5 per cent of the US gross domestic product at the time – that’s not a bad growth rate for the super-rich over a period of 107 years.
For many of us, though, wealth without limits is nothing more than a dream – more so when you consider that you need a minimum net worth of $117 billion to make it into the world’s top 10 wealthiest list on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
But don’t be disheartened: It's worth noting that the majority of the world’s billionaires inherited their wealth in 2022 rather than rolling up their sleeves and earning it, according to a report released last week by Swiss banking Group UBS.
It can be lonely at the top of the world’s wealthiest list. Just ask Elon Musk, co-founder of Tesla and owner of social media platform X, formerly Twitter, and Space X. As the world’s richest person, he is currently the sole member of the exclusive $200 billion club.
With a current net worth of $225 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Mr Musk has added a total of $87.8 billion to his personal fortune this year alone and outranks his closest rival, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, by a cool $54 billion.
Mr Bezos, who stepped down as Amazon’s chief executive in 2021, had a personal fortune of $171 billion as of Friday, just ahead of Bernard Arnault, chairman of French luxury group LVMH, with $170 billion in his family coffers.
At one time or another since 2020, all three men have belonged to the $200 billion club – but never at the same time, as their fortunes, mostly tied up in the equity of their companies, rose and fell on the back of volatile global stock markets.
It is Mr Bezos who can lay claim to being the world’s first person to cross the $200 billion net worth threshold, which he achieved on August 26, 2020.
At the peak of his wealth, he was worth $210 billion and was the world’s richest person from 2017 to 2021.
But that is nothing compared with Mr Musk’s peak wealth, which hit the stratospheric height of $338 billion on November 6, 2021, making him the only person in the world to belong to the lofty $300 billion club, albeit briefly.
The roller-coaster ride of Mr Musk’s fortune has seen him dip in and out of the $200 billion club numerous times – and break a few wealth records along the way.
Last year was perhaps the most tumultuous for Mr Musk, which resulted in his wealth plummeting amid a sell-off of technology stocks and the continuing controversies related to his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter.
In January 2022, he broke the world record for the biggest wealth loss in history after shedding $182 billion from his net worth since November 2021, according to a report by Guinness World Records.
Watch: Who is billionaire Elon Musk?
In 2022 alone, the father of 11 shed $138 billion from his net worth – almost equivalent to the gross domestic product of Hungary – resulting in Mr Musk losing his world’s richest crown for the first time in 14 months.
While his fortunes may be on the up this year, dig a little deeper into Mr Musk’s net worth and it appears the world’s richest man has, ahem, no cash, at least according to Bloomberg.
That’s right – $0, which means that Mr Musk appears to be a centibillionaire only on paper.
Bloomberg lists his private assets as SpaceX ($53.2 billion), The Boring Company ($3.3 billion) and X Corp ($9.32 billion). His one public asset is Tesla US equity ($96.8 billion), while he’s got $7.44 billion in miscellaneous liabilities.
No surprise here, but Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and LVMH’s Mr Arnault are in better financial shape, with about $14.1 billion and $13.2 billion in cash respectively, Bloomberg data shows.
Which begs the question: How do you live without cash regardless of your billionaire status? Perhaps that is a question reserved only for the non-wealthy.
But I do know this: Give me my comfortable retirement any day – it's less stress.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Scoreline:
Cardiff City 0
Liverpool 2
Wijnaldum 57', Milner 81' (pen)
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Fixtures
Tuesday - 5.15pm: Team Lebanon v Alger Corsaires; 8.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Pharaohs
Wednesday - 5.15pm: Pharaohs v Carthage Eagles; 8.30pm: Alger Corsaires v Abu Dhabi Storms
Thursday - 4.30pm: Team Lebanon v Pharaohs; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Carthage Eagles
Friday - 4.30pm: Pharaohs v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Team Lebanon
Saturday - 4.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Team Lebanon
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
'Joker'
Directed by: Todd Phillips
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix
Rating: Five out of five stars
UAE v United States, T20 International Series
Both matches at ICC Academy, Dubai. Admission is free.
1st match: Friday, 2pm
2nd match: Saturday, 2pm
UAE squad: Mohammed Naveed (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Shaiman Anwar, Rameez Shahzad, Amjad Gul, CP Rizwan, Mohammed Boota, Abdul Shakoor, Ahmed Raza, Imran Haider, Sultan Ahmed, Zahoor Khan, Amir Hayat
USA squad: Saurabh Netravalkar (captain), Jaskaran Malhotra, Elmore Hutchinson, Aaron Jones, Nosthush Kenjige, Ali Khan, Jannisar Khan, Xavier Marshall, Monank Patel, Timil Patel, Roy Silva, Jessy Singh, Steven Taylor, Hayden Walsh
Full Party in the Park line-up
2pm – Andreah
3pm – Supernovas
4.30pm – The Boxtones
5.30pm – Lighthouse Family
7pm – Step On DJs
8pm – Richard Ashcroft
9.30pm – Chris Wright
10pm – Fatboy Slim
11pm – Hollaphonic
The Cairo Statement
1: Commit to countering all types of terrorism and extremism in all their manifestations
2: Denounce violence and the rhetoric of hatred
3: Adhere to the full compliance with the Riyadh accord of 2014 and the subsequent meeting and executive procedures approved in 2014 by the GCC
4: Comply with all recommendations of the Summit between the US and Muslim countries held in May 2017 in Saudi Arabia.
5: Refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of countries and of supporting rogue entities.
6: Carry out the responsibility of all the countries with the international community to counter all manifestations of extremism and terrorism that threaten international peace and security
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Springtime in a Broken Mirror,
Mario Benedetti, Penguin Modern Classics
TO ALL THE BOYS: ALWAYS AND FOREVER
Directed by: Michael Fimognari
Starring: Lana Condor and Noah Centineo
Two stars
The Little Things
Directed by: John Lee Hancock
Starring: Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto
Four stars
more from Janine di Giovanni
Who is Mohammed Al Halbousi?
The new speaker of Iraq’s parliament Mohammed Al Halbousi is the youngest person ever to serve in the role.
The 37-year-old was born in Al Garmah in Anbar and studied civil engineering in Baghdad before going into business. His development company Al Hadeed undertook reconstruction contracts rebuilding parts of Fallujah’s infrastructure.
He entered parliament in 2014 and served as a member of the human rights and finance committees until 2017. In August last year he was appointed governor of Anbar, a role in which he has struggled to secure funding to provide services in the war-damaged province and to secure the withdrawal of Shia militias. He relinquished the post when he was sworn in as a member of parliament on September 3.
He is a member of the Al Hal Sunni-based political party and the Sunni-led Coalition of Iraqi Forces, which is Iraq’s largest Sunni alliance with 37 seats from the May 12 election.
He maintains good relations with former Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki’s State of Law Coaliton, Hadi Al Amiri’s Badr Organisation and Iranian officials.
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
ZIMBABWE V UAE, ODI SERIES
All matches at the Harare Sports Club:
1st ODI, Wednesday - Zimbabwe won by 7 wickets
2nd ODI, Friday, April 12
3rd ODI, Sunday, April 14
4th ODI, Tuesday, April 16
UAE squad: Mohammed Naveed (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Chirag Suri, Mohammed Boota, Ghulam Shabber, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed
RESULTS
1.45pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,400m
Winner: Dirilis Ertugrul, Fabrice Veron (jockey), Ismail Mohammed (trainer)
2.15pm: Handicap Dh90,000 1,400m
Winner: Kidd Malibu, Sandro Paiva, Musabah Al Muhairi
2.45pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,000m
Winner: Raakezz, Tadhg O’Shea, Nicholas Bachalard
3.15pm: Handicap Dh105,000 1,200m
Winner: Au Couer, Sean Kirrane, Satish Seemar
3.45pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,600m
Winner: Rayig, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson
4.15pm: Handicap Dh105,000 1,600m
Winner: Chiefdom, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
4.45pm: Handicap Dh80,000 1,800m
Winner: King’s Shadow, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar
Cry Macho
Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Clint Eastwood, Dwight Yoakam
Rating:**
UAE cricketers abroad
Sid Jhurani is not the first cricketer from the UAE to go to the UK to try his luck.
Rameez Shahzad Played alongside Ben Stokes and Liam Plunkett in Durham while he was studying there. He also played club cricket as an overseas professional, but his time in the UK stunted his UAE career. The batsman went a decade without playing for the national team.
Yodhin Punja The seam bowler was named in the UAE’s extended World Cup squad in 2015 despite being just 15 at the time. He made his senior UAE debut aged 16, and subsequently took up a scholarship at Claremont High School in the south of England.
A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 290hp
Torque: 340Nm
Price: Dh155,800
On sale: now
Dubai World Cup factbox
Most wins by a trainer: Godolphin’s Saeed bin Suroor(9)
Most wins by a jockey: Jerry Bailey(4)
Most wins by an owner: Godolphin(9)
Most wins by a horse: Godolphin’s Thunder Snow(2)
MATCH INFO
Day 2 at the Gabba
Australia 312-1
Warner 151 not out, Burns 97, Labuschagne 55 not out
Pakistan 240
Shafiq 76, Starc 4-52
The%20Kitchen
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UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
