MONEY & LIFE

MONEY & LIFE Special Edition, Thursday January 12, 2015

TOP 5 Richest People around the World

Daily Quotes Money is the most important?

You Should‌ Save money for a better future?

Richest People around the World

1.Bill Gates: He's back. Helped by a bounce in Microsoft shares, Bill Gates returns to the top of our annual Billionaires list this year amid a leadership shakeup at the software giant he founded. He's been the richest man in the world for 15 out of the last 20 years. After years focused on his philanthropy, Gates plans to spend more of his time working with product managers at Microsoft as rivals like Google and Apple continue to outshine the company in the market. Gates stepped down as Microsoft chairman in February, when new CEO Satya Nadella took over. Meanwhile, Gates remains focused on his foundation's efforts to eradicate polio (he secured $335 million in pledges to the cause from six billionaire comrades, including $100 million each from Mexico's Carlos Slim and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg) and getting fellow billionaires more involved with philanthropy. He and Warren Buffett have thus far convinced over 100 of the super rich to sign on to the Giving Pledge, a promise to donate at least half one's net worth to charity.

2.Carlos Slim & Family His four-year run as world's richest person has come to an end, primarily because shares of Minera Frisco, his mining company, have fallen more than 50% in the past year as the price of gold and copper plummeted. That plus a dip in the value of his largest asset, pan-Latin American telecom firm America Movil, combined to knock $1 billion off his net worth, making him the only billionaire among the world's 10 richest to get poorer in the past year. America Movil has come under pressure in Mexico after the passage of a new anti-monopoly telecom and media law. America Movil has 70% or more market share of both the landline and mobile markets in Mexico.

Slim also holds a controlling interest in industrial conglomerate Grupo Carso, financial venture Grupo Financiero Inbursa, real estate enterprise Inmuebles Carso and infrastructure development and operating company Impulsora del Desarrollo y el Empleo en AmĂŠrica Latina, or Ideal. He continues to hold minority stakes in U.S. companies Saks Fifth Avenue and The New York Times Co. He has also invested in two Spanish companies: Grupo Prisa, a media conglomerate, and CaixaBank, an investment banking firm.

3.Amancio Ortega World's richest retailer Ortega added $7 billion to his fortune this past year, expanding the gap between him and number four, Warren Buffett. He is up a total of $26.5 billion in the past two years. Though he stepped down as chairman of Inditex (best known for its Zara brand) in 2011, he still owns nearly 60% of its shares. He also has a growing real estate portfolio, estimated to be worth nearly $5 billion, much of it acquired at bargain prices during the financial downturn. He is reportedly planning to list his property holdings in a real estate investment trust. Among his properties: the iconic Torre Picasso, a 43-story skyscraper in Madrid (Google is a tenant). In the past year, he's bought four new buildings in Madrid, New York and London for around $830 million, taking the number of buildings he owns to 26. A railway worker's son, he started as a gofer in a shirt store. With then-wife Rosalia Mera, now deceased, he started making dressing gowns and lingerie in their living room. They had a daughter Sandra, and a son, Marcos. Ortega is now married to Flora Perez Marcote, with whom he had another daughter, Marta.

4.Warren Buffett Now in his ninth decade, Buffett is still doing huge deals. Last year he teamed up with 3G Capital to pick up iconic ketchup maker H.J. Heinz for $23.2 billion, invested nearly $4 billion in ExxonMobil and a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary bought Nevada's NV Energy for $5.6 billion. All of this helped boost his fortune by $4.7 billion despite his gift of $2 billion in Berkshire stock to the Gates Foundation in July, bringing his lifetime giving to $20 billion. What is his secret? In his investment letter in 2014, he told Berkshire Hathaway shareholders his best investment wasn't a stock or business, it was buying Benjamin Graham's book "The Intelligent Investor" in 1949. The book's simple, logically sound approach changed his financial life, he said. As for his advice to investors today, the Oracle of Omaha said in February, as the S&P 500 again touched record levels, to steer clear of market euphoria and focus on the potential for profits over time.

5.Larry Ellison San Francisco lost $11.5 million hosting the America's Cup during the summer of 2013, but that's nothing compared to what Larry Ellison spent bringing the event to town. In September, his Team Oracle pulled off a stunning comeback from a seven-race deficit to win its second consecutive Cup, allowing the Oracle and founder and CEO to choose the setting for the next race.

With a loss already on its books San Francisco may not want another event, though little gets in the way of Larry Ellison's ambition--or mouth. In an Aug. 2013 television interview, the Oracle founder said that Apple's best days are behind it after the passing of close friend Steve Jobs and that Google's alleged infringement on Oracle's patents in its Android software was "absolutely evil." Ellison collects houses on Malibu's Carbon Beach and also owns of 98% of Hawaii's Lanai Island. A recently-launched website for the island reveals its owner's larger plans, including a 2015 film festival on the island. His daughter Megan is a growing Hollywood powerhouse and has financed a string of critical successes including American Hustle and Zero Dark Thirty.

Daily Quotes…

“Money has never made man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more of it one has the more one wants.”

Benjamin Franklin

“There are people who have money and people who are rich.”

Coco Chanel

“If you are born poor it’s not your mistake, but if you die poor it’s your mistake.”

Bill Gates

Why I need to save money?

Saving money is one of those tasks that are so much easier said than done — everyone knows it's smart to save money in the long run, but many of us still have difficulty doing it. There's more to saving than simply spending less money, although this alone can be challenging. Smart money-savers also need to consider how to spend the money they do have as well as how to maximize their income.

Start with Step 1 below to learn how to set realistic goals, keep your spending in check, and get the greatest long-term benefit for your money.

1. Pay yourself first.

The easiest way to save money rather than spending it is to make sure that that you never get a chance to spend the money in the first place. Arranging for a portion of each paycheck to be deposited directly into a savings account or a retirement account takes the stress and tedium out of the process of deciding how much money to save and how much to keep for yourself each month — basically, you save automatically and the money you keep each month is yours to spend as you please. Over time, depositing even a small portion of each paycheck into your savings can add up (especially when you take interest into account) so start as soon as you can for maximum benefit.

2. Avoid accumulating new debt.

Some debt is essentially unavoidable. For instance, only the very rich have enough money to buy a house in one lump sum payment, yet millions of people are able to buy houses by taking out loans and slowly paying them back. However, in general, when you can avoid going into debt, do so. Paying a sum of money up-front is always cheaper in the long run than paying off an equivalent loan while interest accumulates over time.

3. Set reasonable savings goals.

It's a lot easier to save if you know you have something to save for. Set yourself savings goals that are within your reach to motivate yourself to make the tough financial decisions needed to save responsibly. For serious goals like buying a house or retiring, your goals may take years or decades to achieve. In these cases, it's important to monitor your progress on a regular basis. Only by stepping back and taking a look at the big picture can you get a sense for how far you've come and how far you have left to go.