American economist Paul Samuelson once described investing as “watching paint dry, or grass grow.” It’s a battle of patience where investors must be disciplined in their predictions amid the allure of short-term gains and financial challenges.
A few who have withstood this pressure to be profitable can now lay the claim as the richest in the world.
Let’s count down the ten wealthiest investors globally.
10. Ray Dalio
Estimated net worth: USD 15.4 billion
Ray Dalio is an American investor and hedge fund manager. While boasting years of experience as a stock trader and futures broker, most of his wealth came from Bridgewater Associates.
The former is a hedge fund that Dalio founded in 1975, of which he serves as a co-chief investment officer. It serves large clients in foreign governments, central banks, endowments, and pension funds. Bridgewater is among the best-performing hedge funds (and one of the largest worldwide), currently having USD 125 billion in assets under management.
9. Michael Platt
Estimated net worth: USD 18 billion
Michael Platt is another of several investors who made their fortunes as a hedge fund manager. He co-founded BlueCrest Capital Management in 2000, one of Europe’s largest hedge funds. Platt is frequently mentioned among the wealthiest UK citizens.
The billionaire’s first introduction to investing was with stocks. He graduated from the London School of Economics in 1991, the same year he joined financial giant JP Morgan. Platt moved up the trading ranks for the company before co-founding BlueCrest in 2000.
8. Steve Cohen
Estimated net worth: USD 19.8 billion
Steve Cohen is another American billionaire hedge fund manager like Ray Dalio. He got his investing break in 1978 as a junior trader in the now-defunct boutique private banking company Gruntal & Co. This was before the investor founded a group of hedge funds named SAC Capital Advisors in 1992.
Cohen is also known for one of the biggest criminal charges against a hedge fund. SAC Capital Advisors closed in 2013 after he pleaded guilty to insider trading and financial crimes like wire fraud. Nevertheless, Cohen founded a new hedge fund, Point72 Asset Management, which is still active.
7. David Tepper
Estimated net worth: USD 20.6 billion
David Tepper is the next American billionaire hedge fund manager on this top 10 list. Tepper’s hedge fund, Appaloosa Management (founded in 1993), is unique in specializing in distressed debt. Here, hedge funds purchase the bonds of companies that have declared bankruptcy or may do so.
Experts regard investing in distressed debt as much riskier than other markets. Yet, the returns are substantial, explaining Tepper’s source of wealth and demonstrating his investing genius.
Besides distressed debt, Tepper’s hedge fund also invests in fixed-income and public equity.
6. Jeff Yass
Estimated net worth: USD 20.6 billion
Unlike the previous hedge fund tycoons, Jeff Yass is an American billionaire who made his wealth in multiple trading and investing industries. Most of his riches come from co-founding the Susquehanna International Group in 1987.
The trading and technology company invests in several markets, such as options, stocks, forex trading, and commodities, as well as derivative products, venture capital, and many others.
Yass is also known for investing in then-unknown ByteDance in 2012, which owns one of the world’s most popular video-sharing platforms, TikTok.
5. Masayoshi Son
Estimated net worth: USD 31.2 billion
Masayoshi Son is an eccentric Japanese technology entrepreneur and investor who founded SoftBank, one of the world’s largest holding companies. Interestingly, some have dubbed Son the ‘worst investor ever.’ Despite this, his USD 20 million investment in Alibaba in 2000 remains the envy of many, given that this stake was worth multiple billions when the company went public in 2014.
SoftBank is highly diversified, investing in software, artificial intelligence, robotics, logistics, real estate, e-commerce, finance, and information technology, among many other areas.
4. Jim Simmons
Estimated net worth: USD 31.4 billion
Jim Simmons is a unique billionaire investor since he’s also a mathematician with a doctorate. He even worked as a code breaker during the Cold War. It’s this genius that helped him co-develop Renaissance Technologies in 1978.
This quantitative hedge fund uses “mathematical and statistical methods in the design and execution of its investment programs.” Many analysts regard the fund as one of the best-performing in history.
3. Ken Griffin
Estimated net worth: USD 36.4 billion
Ken Griffin is another investing and hedge fund mogul with one of the most profitable hedge funds, Citadel LLC. While many of the investors already profiled are in their mid-60s, the American is the youngest at 55 years.
After starting his trading career in a dorm room at Harvard University in 1987, Griffin eventually founded Citadel three years later. The investor added equity, trading, and fixed-income subsidiaries and created one of the US’ largest market makers, Citadel Securities.
2. Stephen Schwarzman
Estimated net worth: USD 38.2 billion
Stephen Schwarzman is an American billionaire who became successful through private equity ventures with Blackstone Inc. The former is an alternative investment company known for being among the most substantial investors in leveraged buyouts.
Blackstone is the most valuable alternative investment firm, with assets under management exceeding USD 1 trillion as of 2024. It’s also active in other industries, including hedge funds, real estate, credit, insurance, growth equity, etc.
1. Warren Buffett
Estimated net worth: USD 38.2 billion
The top person on this list shouldn’t come as a surprise for investing followers. At 93, Warren Buffett is the richest investor and widely considered the greatest. Many applaud Buffett for his value investing principles and long-term patience.
The ‘Oracle of Omaha’ has been investing since his pre-teen days before a successful business career in his early 20s.
Like Son, Buffett also developed his own holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, in the early 60s. He used the profits from this then-ailing textile mill to buy stocks of many other businesses in the decades to come. Simultaneously, Berkshire Hathaway gained holdings in massive blue-chip corporations.
Final Word — Investing Is A Long-Term Game
The first takeaway from this list is that many wealthy investors made their money through hedge funds. Moreover, these companies have existed for decades, emphasizing the importance of long-term profit forecasting and sustainable businesses.
It’s also no wonder that the ultra-rich investors are over 55. This exemplifies their incredible patience and the fact that you become better at your craft the older you get.
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