Over the past few years, billionaires have only been adding to their net worth, and it won’t be long until one reaches trillionaire status. Here’s everything you need to know:
When is someone worth $1 trillion?
With the net worths of the world’s richest people constantly fluctuating, it’s hard to pin down a definitive answer. However, many financial calculators have attempted to predict when the world might see its first trillionaire.
Finance and procurement platform Approve analyzed the status of the world’s most expensive elite, looking at data on the world’s 30 richest people. Their results show that one’s net worth will surpass $1 trillion much sooner than most people think — certainly by the end of the decade.
Analyzing the net worths of these individuals since January 2022, the website determined that the first trillionaire milestone could be reached as early as 2024, although depending on the global economy, this could be pushed back a few years.
Who will it be and will there be others?
Well, once upon a time, the obvious answer was Twitter CEO and Tesla founder Elon Musk. The controversial tech mogul is currently valued at $174.5 billion Forbes. He is now the world’s second richest man, having recently lost the crown to LVMH chairman Bernard Arnold.
For a long time, Musk appeared to be the consensus choice to be the first person to reach a net worth of $1 trillion. After all, his wealth was on a seemingly astronomical rise, and he was valued at over $200 billion at one point. “Of the 21 people who have the chance to reach this amazing milestone in their lifetime, Elon Musk will be the first,” he said. CEO Magazine. This prediction was reiterated The Guardian, The Economic Times, and many others.
However, Musk’s net worth has been on the decline recently, due to falling Tesla shares and several controversial decisions surrounding his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter. Notably, most outlets predicting Kasthuri to become the first trillionaire published pieces in 2022 — before his Twitter takeover.
If Musk doesn’t end up being the world’s first trillionaire, who else could? There’s always Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who was the world’s richest man for years before being usurped by Musk. He is still the fourth richest person on earth, according to Forbes, With a net worth of $114.4 billion, he could easily move up a few spots in the rankings. Investopedia Report on another potential dark-horse candidate: genetics researcher Craig Venter. The outlet noted that his research could make him very wealthy, especially if he tries to find a cure for cancer, and his current fortunes are unlikely to reach trillions of dollars.
How much money is 1 trillion dollars?
A lot.
It can be difficult to understand how much more money $1 trillion is than $1 billion. Basically, $1 trillion equals $1,000 billion, which is equal to $1,000 million, according to Investopedia. Simply put, the outlet called it “too much money.”
$1 trillion is so big that trying to put it into perspective is often difficult. For starters, according to the World Bank, that’s about the same as the gross domestic products of many countries. This includes Australia with a GDP of $1.5 trillion, Brazil with a GDP of $1.6 trillion and Indonesia with a GDP of $1.1 trillion. The reality is that even though the GDP of many countries is in the tens of trillions, there are still many developed states that do not reach the trillion dollar mark.
USA Today He’s compiled a list of some of the things a person can do with $1 trillion — and it’s pretty specific. For example, in San Francisco, almost every person can afford an apartment, with an average rent of $3,600 and home prices averaging $1.35 million. A sports fan can buy the Miami Dolphins football team – 1,000 times over. In fact, according to Fox Business, you could buy every team in every sports league and still have three-quarters of your wealth left over. You could buy ExxonMobil, McDonald’s and Coca-Cola stock all together and still have money left over.
Beyond the financial aspects of $1 trillion, it’s hard to understand how a trillion is more than a billion. Nothing. For example, USA Today If you travel back a billion seconds, you’ll be in 1987, which, compared to world history, isn’t that long ago. However, go back a trillion seconds.
Should there even be trillionaires?
Some would argue not to, and there’s an interesting volume online that shows just how vast wealth inequality is not just in America, but globally. USA Today In 2020, Bezos noted that there was a backlash, especially amid the global pandemic, when it was reported that he was on track to become a trillionaire. Contrary to claims that Amazon employees work long hours without bathroom breaks, a video created by CollegeHumor shows how much money someone like Bezos really has.
Bezos is one of many super-rich people who have faced criticism in light of their growing wealth — and as noted, COVID-19 hasn’t done much to dampen the financial growth of these moguls. If anything, most reports suggest that the rich have just gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer.
Even Microsoft founder Bill Gates, one of the world’s longest-serving richest men, weighed in on whether people could amass this kind of wealth. “For the first time in my life, people were like, ‘Well, you want to have millionaires?’ say,” Gates said. Forbes. “If you actually implement something like that, the amount you gain is far less than the amount you lose.”
The extraordinary property issue has been embroiled in controversy. However, financial indicators point to the continuation of the vast accumulation of wealth, and research shows that the era of the world’s first trillionaire may be only a few years away.
