I must have misread a headline at some point because the number of finance billionaires is smaller than I thought. Having said that, of the 268 listed by forbes

I must have misread a headline at some point because the number of finance billionaires is smaller than I thought. Having said that, of the 268 listed by forbes, 15 were in finance. http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexmorrell/2014/03/06/worlds-billionaires-newcomers-the-full-list-of-268/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexmorrell/2014/03/06/worlds-bi... Anyway, I'd certainly agree that "hard work and competence" is an understatement but one of the luxuries of being in finance is that your entire career is built around making money from money. This affords a much more systematic approach to being a billionaire than you might find in other industries.