Millions, billions and trillions. No, it’s not RM. We are talking about US$. According to Bloomberg Billionaire Index, the networth of the world’s richest 400 stood at US$4.1 Trillion. In fact, within 2014 alone, these people added US$92 Billion to their collective fortune. The amazing thing is, this is in the face of the falling energy prices as well as the many geopolitical turmoils of today. The biggest gainer is someone who everyone knows as owner of Alibaba. I think this will be a huge competitor to many current established players in the e-commerce space. As soon as his company got listed, he exceeded Li Ka-Shing’s wealth briefly. Moving forward, I think as long as Alibaba continue to perform to expectations, he should exceed any traditional business owners easily. Online is always fascinating if you can make it huge.
Another two very famous people who also gained a lot would be Warren Buffet, with an additional US$13.7 Billion as well as Mark Zuckerberg who gained US$10.6 billion. Bill Gates gained US$9.1 billion during the same period. Of course, when we compare the time that these billionaires gain their billions, I think Mark Zuckerberg is considered ‘lightning speed’. Again, it’s online business, just like Jack Ma. Before everyone rushes to start an online company, do note that the failure rate is higher than any other type of business. Instead of the usual manufacturing which builds on demand, any online business would always be losing money from day one until they receive financial support and it will still continue to run at a loss. Most of these online businesses never made it in the end but for venture capitalists, just one which can made it would mean they win big.
Personally, I think majority of us would never become any one of these multi-billionaires. However, what can we actually learn from some of these people? I think it is the passion. With passion, we would work hard. When we work hard, the results are almost always better the those who did not work hard. Yes, of course sometimes, we happen to hit it big suddenly but if we do not work on what we have suddenly gained, very soon it will leave us. Just look at those sudden millionaires from jackpots. In a lunch recently, I was talking to a colleague who asked me what’s the best price to buy a certain stock. I said, if we follow Warren Buffet, he said we should buy undervalued companies after an objective research. The reason is because if the business is good, it will soon be mirrored in its stock price. Of course, this is very tough to follow because when we buy a stock, it would always be with the intention to quickly gain a lot within a short period of time. With this in mind, the stock we buy would also mirror our thoughts; a more speculative one. The same thoughts happen all the time when we are also buying a property. As soon as key is handed over the price increase should be 20% or more. If everything happens as what we envision all the time, we may need to queue a few kilometres just to buy a property. Our actions always mirror our thoughts. Happy thinking, dreaming or learning by doing.
written on 10 Jan 2015
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