‘ The Forbes Billionaires List Values, “individuals’ Assets–including Stakes In Public And Private

‘ The Forbes Billionaires List values, “individuals’ assets–including stakes in public and private companies, real estate, yachts, art and cash.”  The contributors also take into account estimates of debt and consult, “an array of outside experts in various fields.” Many of the billionaires who show up on the list are already high profile. So, the list is reliable for people like Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, and Warren Buffet. You can also quickly check their net worth on Wikipedia. Yet, not all billionaires are as easy to pin down. Many billionaires are unlikely to show up on any public list. They don’t want the publicity for themselves or their family. They fear being kidnapped, being hit up for money, and even more: they fear the taxman. One of the few billionaires I ever met, is not on any list. This “UnGoogleable Man” paid lawyers a lot of money to remove his name from the public record. His wealth, properties, and investments are held in multiple layers of shell companies, trusts, offshore accounts, foundations, and holding companies. As Brandon Smietana highlights in another thread, some billionaires who get upset when they appear on public billionaire lists, “can vary their net worth as reported in Forbes by choosing to report or not to report various assets, that are owned through trusts and otherwise unlinked to the individual directly.” The Forbes list also tracks individuals, not families. So, in families where wealth is distributed, the list can be a little less reliable. No Rothschild made the list. ‘