In the news at Yahoo Finance, these are the characteristics of a sample group of billionaires:
*Billionaire Parents Had Math-Related Careers
Math prowess is ofter inherited. Engineer, accountant and small-business owner predominated among the professions followed by those billionaire parents whom the study could track down.
* Billionaires had September Birthdays
Of the 380 self-made American tycoons on Forbes list of the World’s Billionaires over the last three years, the most (42) were born in September.
*Billionaires Dropped Out and Tuned In….To Tech Success
More than 20% of self-made billionaires on the latest list of the World’s Billionaires dropped out and became tech tycoons – including Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Michael Dell, Larry Ellison, (Oracle) and Theodore Waitt (Gateway).
*Skull and Bones
Many billionaires were members of Skull and Bones, the secret society to which John Kerry and George W. Bush belonged. They include hedge-fund manager Edward Lampert, Blackstone co-founder Steven Schwarzman and FedEx founder Frederick Smith.
*Goldman Sachs
Of 68 self-made American finance billionaires, at least eight come out of Goldman Sachs, especially: its “risk arbitrage” unit where Edward Lampert, Daniel Och, Tom Steyer and Richard Perry started out.
My Comment
This is the kind of news article that deserves deconstructing. Apparently, the way to the greatest wealth in the US is through an early start, a good head for figures, and a network of the most politically well–connected people around, i.e., through insider contacts. If that’s so, it portends ill for real capitalism.
I have no idea what the September birthdays mean….
Virgos rule!
September birthdays very significant in terms of how school starting age works in the U.S. Think of Malcolm Gladwells example of hockey stars and how their births are clustered in Janaury. If you are born in September, you are going to start school a lot later than other kids and thus you you will be older, more confident than the other kids. Example
Kid born in July starts Kindy in Late August one month after his or her birthday. Is 5 and one month old when Kindy starts
Kid born in late september starts Kindy in late august after his or her 5th birthday 11 months after the 5th birthday so nearly six years old and thus bigger and dominant. Could be astrological signgs but doubt it. Check out Gladwell on Ouliers–same phenomenon due to way canadian hockey leagues are organized champions tend to be born in Janaury and February….
RE: September birthdays. I read years ago that those concieved in the winter score better on intelligence tests. I don’t beleive this equates to when you start school.
Hmmmm…September birthdays. I read years ago that those concieved in the winter score better on intelligence tests. I don’t beleive this equates to when you start school.
So its magic and you don’t belive that this equates when you start school. Depends what you mean. Again scads of evidence point out that if you start later than your peers in school you are well more developed and thus have an advantage–see gladwell and a lot of the research. You will be pleased to know that kids with larger shoe sizes score higher in reading in first grade. Guess why? They are a few months older than their peers. Or is it big feet and astrological signs dictate reading performance per your thinking? If by “I don’t beleive this equates to when you start school.” what do you think is the cause of september births some bilogical effect due to conception in winter? Would this be true in the Southern Hemisphere also? I fear for the republic.
I remember reading about the “concieved in winter” thing in Guy Davenports’ book “The Geography of Intelligence.” If I remember right he quoted some statistics on tests taken by collage students. He checked out their birthdays and came to the conclusion mentioned. I don’t dispute getting a late start in school helps but I don’t beleive someone’s IQ goes up because of that; nor do I believe it’s an advantage at the collage level.
PS: Sorry I made you mad.