While money can be a fickle mistress, we don’t think the richest people in the world have too much to worry about in the near future.
Although the figures change on a daily basis, the three richest people in the world (Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg) have a current combined net worth of $920 billion.
This is still shy of a trillion dollars, but with Musk tipped to become the world’s first trillionaire by 2027, it looks like the only way is up.
Musk has been enjoying a lucrative 2024, with his appointment as the co-head of the government’s new DOGE, Tesla stocks hitting a record high on December 11, and a boost to SpaceX’s valuation helping push him over the $400 mark.
Elon Musk has a ‘golden rule’ when it comes to investing (Anna Moneymaker / Staff / Getty)
After becoming the first person to have a net worth of over $300 billion in November 2021, he’s comfortably sat as the world’s richest person ever since.
Musk’s current wealth can be traced back to the cool $175.8 million he made when PayPal was sold to eBay in 2002, with him eventually making it onto Forbes’ billionaires list a decade later with just $2 billion.
Despite his mind-blowing net worth, Musk has referred to himself as ‘cash poor’ and explained he has no real interest in material possessions.
He’s also defended Bernie Sanders’ complaints that Musk and Bezos own more than the bottom 40% of the country, saying he’s accumulating resources to further humanity’s exploration of the stars.
Whatever anyone thinks of Musk, there’s no denying he’s made a lot of money along the way, so he must be doing something right.
If you fancy yourself as the next Mr. Musk, his ‘golden rule’ of investment has resurfaced in the aftermath of his record-breaking wealth boost.
As shared on X by Teslaconomics, Musk has some relatively simple advice if you want to invest.
In April 2022, Musk wrote: “Since I get asked a lot: Buy stock in several companies that make products & services that *you* believe in.
“Only sell if you think their products & services are trending worse. Don’t panic when the market does.”
His sage advice will apparently ‘serve you well in the long-term’, with Teslaconomics saying they ‘live and die by’ Musk’s musings.
It’s typically not as easy as that, and responding to the advice, someone else wrote: “That’s exactly how I lost all my money when the stocks I held crashed and became delisted. Worst advice ever!”
We’re not sure whether that person was joking, but agreeing with Musk, someone else added: “Only advice to live by: buy Tesla and then buy a little more Tesla. Repeat both steps until you run out of money.”
A third concluded: “Legendary advice by @elonmusk that is simple to understand but most people will struggle to follow long term, especially the last part.”
Suggesting that Musk still stands by these words of wisdom, he even retweeted Teslaconomics original tweet.
Musk’s advice echoes the same principles of value investing that Warren Buffett made famous. The 94-year-old is one of the best-known investors in the world, and while he and Musk might disagree on cryptocurrency, they seem to be on the same page in terms of investing.
Featured Image Credit: Chesnot / Contributor / LUDOVIC MARIN / Contributor / Getty
When it comes to the richest people on Earth, it’s hard to put into context just how rich they are.
Up there with the Zuckerbergs, Bezoses, and Ellisons of the world, Elon Musk is far and away the richest man on the planet.
The tech entrepreneur might have made a dud investment in Twitter/X, but his other ventures continue to soar.
Despite fluctuating wealth, Elon Musk is well on the way to becoming the world’s first trillionaire thanks to a particularly healthy 2024.
Mr. Musk has just crossed another milestone, being the first person ever to boast a net worth of $400 billion.
Musk is the first person to boast a $400 billion net worth (ANGELA WEISS / Contributor / Getty)
According to a December 11 article from Bloomberg, Musk has hit the elusive $400 billion mark.
His $20 billion jump that put him over the line can be attributed to SpaceX investors agreeing to purchase $1.25 billion of insider shares.
With the spacefaring company now valued at $350 billion, it’s the extra boost that Musk needed.
Musk has been on an upward trajectory after Donald Trump’s American election win.
Although the world’s richest saw a massive boost to their net worths, Musk has been enjoying the biggest.
It’s no coincidence that he finds himself part of Trump’s inner circle and co-head of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
As well as this, Musk’s interests in Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, xAI, the Boring Company, and more have seen him placed perfectly for this tech boom.
Similar to Musk’s new milestone, Tesla shares have hit their own record high. Having soared by around 71% in 2024, shares in the car manufacturer climbed to $424.77 on December 11. This is a healthy increase from the pandemic peak of $409.97 on November 4, 2021.
Musk’s net worth has soared in the aftermath of the U.S. election (Anna Moneymaker / Staff / Getty)
With Musk already having $400 billion, there are questions about how much longer it’ll be until he smashes past $500 billion.
To put it into context of how rich Musk is, he could give everyone on Earth $48 billion and he’d still have $6.4 billion in the bank for himself.
That would obviously never happen, but even if he gave everyone estimated to be on the planet right now $1 billion, he’d still have $391.8 billion.
Assuming he stays on track to becoming a trillionaire in 2027, Musk could use $1 trillion to give half of the USA health insurance for a whole year, end homelessness in the country, or simply buy 12 million Cybertrucks.
Although the numbers are constantly going up and down, Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index actually lists Musk’s current net worth at $447 billion. As Jeff Bezos is currently in second place with $249 billion, it looks like Musk is sitting pretty comfortably on his mountains of money.
