While I haven't scoured through all 400 people on the 2007 Forbes 400 richest Americans list I did take a peek at the top ten. Aside from the towering Warren Buffet and his ownership of Geico, General Re and United State Liability Insurance Group there aren't too many insurance tycoons breaking into the top ten.
Computer software and hardware mavens take five of the top ten spots and two of them hail from almighty Google (GOOG). It seems to me that because of Bill Gates and Larry Ellison the other three technology billionaires Michael Dell, Sergey Brin and
Larry Paige were able to climb up the list.
It was interesting to me that two of the other top ten wealthiest Americans (Sheldon Adelson & Kirk Kerkorian) made their money buying, selling and building hotels in Las Vegas. I suppose it will be quite some time before Las Vegas is done producing wealthy individuals.
If anyone has gone through the list, let me know how many other people made all or most of their money within the insurance industry. I'd imagine that there are quite a few, although because there are so many private or mutual insurance companies it could be difficult to determine some people's wealth.
I think it will also be a while before Vegas stops KEEPING even more people from becoming wealthy. It's an interesting list, though, isn't it?
In my view, the insurance industry is probably too fragmented to make any one person really-really-super wealthy. That is not to say that it does not lead many people to a comfortable and very successful career... and let's be honest, how many bazillions of dollars does it take for someone to be really happy?
Jerry
www.leads4insurance.com
Posted by: Jerry | October 18, 2007 9:08 PM | Permalink to Comment