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Want to Be a Billionaire? First, Get a Harvard Degree

Filed under: Wealth

Obviously you don't have to have a degree from Harvard in order to become a billionaire – but it certainly helps. According to Forbes' new ranking of universities with the highest number of billionaire alums, Harvard thrashes the competition with a record 62 billionaire grads to its credit – more than double the total of the #2 ranked school, Stanford. A whopping 62 Harvard grads are worth $1 billion or more this year, up from 54 last year. Yale clocks in at No. 5 on the list of the top 10 with 16 billionaire alums, while Princeton barely makes the cut at all, coming out tied for last place with Cornell with 9. Notable billionaire Harvard grads include New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Citadel founder Kenneth Griffin, Meg Whitman of eBay and David Rockefeller Sr. Worth noting: an Ivy League degree isn't necessarily better, and Forbes points out that on last year's Forbes 400 list, at least 41 billionaires did not have a college degree at all. Check out the full list of the top 10 after the jump:

Tags: billionaire, billionaires, Chicago, Columbia University, Cornell, education, Harvard, Ivy League, Massachusetts, Meg Whitman, Michael Bloomberg, Princeton, Stanford, the rich, universities, University of Pennsylvania, wealth, Yale

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"I'm Not Rockefeller" Study Inspects Giving Habits of The Wealthy

by Tracy Chait (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Charity, Big Givers

A study released last week by the University of Pennsylvania's Center for High Impact Philanthropy indicates some of the habits of the nation's wealthiest donors. (The survey interviewed those who on average donate at least $1.5 million on an annual basis.)

Despite donating millions each year, very few of the respondents chose to identify themselves as "philanthropists," preferring more modest terms like "community supporter."

The study found that wealthy donors are most likely to determine a gift based on personal experience or recommendations from within their social networks. Due to the difficulties of tracking major gifts, many recipients cited greater willingness to give something tangible -- a new library or a specific scholarship. Donors also stated that it was often difficult to obtain information on an organization's progress without seeming "high-maintenance."

You can read more about the study's findings at the Center for High Impact Philanthropy, a resource center founded by Wharton alums that helps high net worth individuals maximize their charitable giving impact.

[via The Chronicle of Philanthropy]

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Tags: charitable giving, CharitableGiving, charity, university of pennsylvania, UniversityOfPennsylvania, wealthy donors, WealthyDonors, wharton