http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4615139.html THEY'RE IN THE MONEY Strong energy market pushes richest Houstonian up Forbes' list By PURVA PATEL Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle TOOLS Houston's richest have gotten richer. Four Houston billionaires who made Forbes magazine's annual list of the world's wealthiest last year moved up this year. One stayed the same, two fell, and three made their debut. A strong energy industry help push Dan Duncan, the richest Houstonian, to No. 85 on the list with a net worth of $8.2 billion, compared with a rank of 100 and a net worth of $6 billion the prior year. Rich Kinder, George Mitchell and Robert McNair also moved up in the rankings. At the top of the world list, Bill Gates retained first place for the 13th straight year with a net worth of $56 billion, followed by Warren Buffett as the second-richest and Mexican industrialist Carlos Slim in third place. Not all Houstonians on the list increased their wealth. Money manager Fayez Sarofim fell to No. 664 from No. 428 as his net worth slipped to $1.5 billion. Tracy Krohn, founder and president of W&T Offshore, dropped to No. 717 from No. 512 as his fortune slipped to $1.4 billion from $1.5 billion. He tied with attorney Joe Jamail Jr., whose net worth and rank remain unchanged from last year. Jamail said his fortune's actually higher than the reported $1.4 billion, but he's not looking to publicize the actual figure. He never pays attention to the list anyway, he said. "It doesn't make me feel any better or worse," he said. "What it does is it gets me more phone calls from people who want to borrow money or want me to make a contribution, or I get on the list of all the politicians. I'd pay to get off that list." Jamail added that the only thing the money has helped him do, aside from live comfortably, is give back to the community. He and his late wife, Lee, have contributed to local hospitals and funded scholarships at Texas universities. "That's all it's worth," he said. "I never saw a Brink's truck at a funeral in my life, and where I'm going, up or down, there are no vaults." Ten Houstonians are among the 946 billionaires worldwide on Forbes' 2007 list. Last year's list boasted 793. The three new Houston faces on the world list — Rockets owner Leslie Alexander, Gulf States Toyota founder Thomas Friedkin and Hilcorp Energy Co. CEO Jeffery Hildebrand — were all added to the Forbes annual list of the 400 Richest Americans in September. Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane Jr. of Temple is also on the list again this year, with a net worth of $1.3 billion, although his rank dropped to No. 754 from No. 645. Forbes determines the net worths of those on the list by valuing their assets, from shares of publicly traded companies to real estate holdings to yachts and planes and art collections. Other local billionaires couldn't be reached for comment or declined to comment. The wealthiest Texan on the list, Alice Walton, ranks 26th in the world with a net worth of $16.6 billion. She stripped Michael Dell of the richest Texan title as his rank fell to No. 30 with a net worth of $15.8 billion. Brazilian Joseph Safra's banking empire made him among the richest in Latin America with a net worth of $6 billion. Venezuelan media mogul Gustavo Cisneros and family racked up a net worth of $5 billion.
The rich are getting substantially richer, and the middle class is barely able to tread water. Welcome to Dubyanomics.
88% of Millionaires are 1st Generation..meaning they are the first in their families to have lots of money. Most of them are just smart with their money. The majority have never made more than 150K in any year. Read "The Millionaire Next Door" its an eye opener to the wealthy.
Actually, everybody's earning more...its just that as a society we're all making MUCH WORSE decisions with our money than our great-grandparents. Leasing Cars, $300+ game consoles, $70-$150 on shoes. I once visited a friend in 5th Ward who drove a new BMW, had 2 Sat Dishes on his roof, and had Fully Loaded Cable TV (this was the early 90's), and wore clothes I couldn't afford. Not to say I haven't made stupid decisions with money...but thats the major problem with the economic woes of society.
peoples priorities are screwed up thats why, i know a guy who drives a jaguar and lives in a trailer, hes a dumbass
Live within your means would help, although that's hard to do in today's world of excess, I have done my share of frivolous purchases. Pin everything that goes wrong on GW is the easy way out. Presidents usually have little effect on the overall economy (at least the economy during their term).
I really don't understand many actions of people regarding their purchases and lack of any sort of savings or living within their means. I remember through a charity group, we were delivering turkey dinners to underprividged families and two of the four had big screen televisions, playstations and were wearing expensive sports memorabilia. I think I do well for myself, but i won't spend $100 on a jersey or $180 for a pair of damn workout shoes. Yet they asked us for assistance on Thanksgiving??? I remember I was eating at Burger King the yesterday and I saw a guy get off of work there and went and got into an Infiniti Big Suv with these huge gaudy rims. And then the stereo started blaring. Couldn't that money have gone into an IRA?? I think the biggest determinant of not having to leech off of the government during your life is spending the dollars you have and make wisely for most people.
OK - who bet 2.5 hours for the over/under on how this thread could be diverted into a bunch of b****ing about poor people being lazy and irresponsible. Whoever won, I hope you put your money in an IRA.
Living within your means is great....unless you don't have health insurance and get a serious illness. Or unless you lose your job and the only other one you can get pays half what you used to make. I agree that pinning everything that goes wrong on GW is the easy way out. For example, GW is not responsible for Hurricane Katrina hitting New Orleans. He is responsible, however, for the federal governments woeful response to Hurricane Katrina, because no matter how many times the buck is passed, it ultimately ends with him. . As far as the economy is concerned, GW's policies are directly responsible for the growth in the gulf between the haves and have nots during his tenure. Middle Class incomes have not grown as much as they had during the 90s, and cost increases, especially in health care and energy, are squeezing the life out of the middle class.
If FD Khan were a singer, "b****ing about poor people being lazy and irresponsible" would be his greatest, and only, hit.
Some interesting stats: Medium household net assets in the US is only 78K? Doesn't that sound pretty low? link
I just want to know this from the people on this list: I just did my taxes and the software I used compared me to the rest of the country. I was in the 91st percentile in income, but the 97th percentile in taxes paid. How does the 6% that makes more money than me but pays less taxes do it?
