The Top 10 Richest People in the US
79Who are the Top 10 richest people in the US for 2011? Here is the Forbes list. You can no longer just be a millionaire to make the list. You need to be a billionaire.
If you notice, 4 out of the 10 are heirs of the Sam Walton Walmart fortune. Bill Gates tops the list and was founder of Microsoft. He is listed as #2 of the Top 10 richest in the world.
Christy Walton and Alice Walton are the only women mentioned on the list. The list hasn't changed much from the 2010 list.
List of Top Ten Richest in the US for 2011
1. Bill Gates - Gates made his fortune as founder of Microsoft and is now the co-chairman of the Bill and Melind1a Gates foundation. He plans on giving away most of his money before he dies to various charitable organizations. His relationship with his mother was close and she worked for charities. This may be why he is a generous man and would like to help the world.
2. Warren Buffett - Buffett has made his fortune through investing. He started as a young boy and continued investing. His theory is patience is a virtue. If a stock goes down, just wait and it will go back up.
He also contributes to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
3. Larry Ellison - Ellison is the chief executive and co-founder of the Oracle Corporation, a software company. He was born to an unwed mother and when he got pneumonia at 9 months of age,his mother let her aunt and uncle adopt him. At the age of 48, he met his biological mother for the first time.
In 2006 he was rated as the richest man in the US.
4. Christy Walton and Family - Christy is the widow of John Walton who was one of Sam Walton's sons. After John's death Christy inherited $15.7 billion. Her fortune has come from the famous Walmart stores. She is rated as the 10th richest person in the world.
She is rated as giving more money than any other woman in the world to charity.
5. Charles Koch - Koch is co-owner and chief executive of the board for Koch Industries. It is the second largest company that is privately owned at least rated by revenue in the US. He and his brother David Koch inherited the company when their father passed away.
Koch Industries is involved in many different products.
6. David Koch - David Koch is the brother to Charles Koch. He is chief vice-president of the board for Koch industries. The Koch's believe in minimal taxes and less programs for the needy. They also promote less regulation on business including enviromental issues.
7. Jim Walton - He is another heir of the Walmart fortune and was Sam Walton's youngest son. He is rated as the 20th richest person in the world. He has a wife and 4 children and lives in Arkansas where the original Walmart was built.
8. Alice Walton - Her money also comes from being an heir to the Walmart money and is the daughter of Sam Walton. She is now the buyer for art for Walmart. She lives in Texas and loves horses.
9. S. Robson Walton - He is the eldest son of Sam Walton. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Walmart and has served in that position since his father's death.
10. Michael Bloomburg - He is the 108th mayor of New York City. Bloomburg has a long history in business and investing. He gives a lot of his money to charity including giving over $300 million to John Hopkins University.
My Conclusion
You either need to be enterpreneur and start your own business, invest in stock starting at an early age, or inherit a large sum of money. You still probably won't make the Top 10 Richest list, but you may become rich.
Quiz
What Do You Think It Takes to be Rich?
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My son would like to do something like that, but it sure would be hard to compete with Walmart.
Barbara, How very inspirational this Hub is, with such different backgrounds and upbringings...and yet look what they became! Thanks so much for sharing.
b. Malin, I happy to hear you found it an inspiration. Yes, the do have different backgrounds. Thanks for commenting.
Very interesting! An enjoyable read for sure!
Phillbert, Thanks for reading.
Great article. I work at the Nashville Symphony and our largest donor is Martha Ingram of Ingram industries. She was rated one of the top 400 richest in America in 2004 according to Forbes. She has donated to many charities and is such a nice person. If you did not know who she was you would never know she is so wealthy. Thanks for sharing. It is fascinating and I would love to have more money myself. Teresa
Teresa, I think it is wonderful when the super rich share their wealth with charity. Thanks for commenting.
Thank you for the idea. This will help me with a satire I am writing based on conspiracy theory. Stay tuned!
Bowling It Down, I'll have to read your hub. I've heard people talk about the conspiracy theory involving the super rich. I don't think some of these people are involved though, just a couple of them.
Very informative and inspiring hub. I like how you provide a bit of information on each of the people on this list. I am familiar with the majority of them, but there was a couple I hadn't heard of. I agree with your conclusions, although for myself, despite Warren Bufffet's success investing, I would still stay away from the market.
I experimented with stocks and stock options a while back to disastrous results, so it'll be a long time until I consider that an option again, but it is true that patience can pay off, except of course when the company you have invested in goes bankrupt, which happens more than most people expect. Blockbuster being just one example (and one I have personal experience with). Excellent hub!
We invested back in the mid to late 90's in Mutual Funds and lost money too. I stay away from stocks myself, but I also know some people that made big money this way.
Blockbuster was a really bad one, but who knows what to put your money into. You need a crystal ball.
If only I could inherit a large sum of money. Too bad no one in my family is rich!! Guess I'll have to stick with buying lottery tickets...
ournote2self, My husband buys lottery tickets every week too. We don't have anybody rich in the family either. Thanks for commenting on the hub.
I Will create a list of top 10 richest from from heart in the world soon
celebritie Level 2 Commenter 13 months ago
Or you can open a discount retail store like Walmart and if you have a big family like the Waltons, everyone in the family can be millionaires.
Oops I mean Billionaires, LOL