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As major American industries change, we also may see generational waves of wealth change. Of the wealthiest Americans, the vast majority of billionaires are from the silent and baby boomer generations. For each generation, barriers to and opportunities for wealth exist. But for now, the explosion of “big tech” and “big data” may be the key for Millennials or Generation Z to achieve financial freedom. At GCU, we see our students pursuing this opportunity by enrolling in coursework in technical fields like computer science and data analytics.
We also noted that across the board, for all types of generations, the average age when billionaires were named CEOs was only 35.1. Overall, this age marks a pretty early period in an individual’s career to take such reigns. An even more noticeable statistic is that in the tech industry, the average age to become CEO is only 30.8. This trend in younger individuals becoming CEOs speaks to greater power in more youthful generations than ever before.7
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In terms of education, there is no one blueprint for what creates a billionaire. Only 6% of billionaires have their PhD, and 16% just completed high school. However, we noticed that 40% achieved a master’s program in business administration or another field. GCU offers master’s degree programs in everything from computer science to psychology for those looking to join these individuals.
We also took note of the institutions from which billionaires received their degrees. Despite popular stories of billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg dropping out of Harvard University to start Facebook, only 14% of billionaires are college drop-outs. So, it is worth it to finish your degree program. However, we also noted that only one-third of billionaires come from the Ivy League. This vital statistic shows that influential entrepreneurs can come from any degree program style, regardless of the name on a college sweatshirt.
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Finally, we decided to finish at the beginning. We researched America’s leading billionaires’ first jobs and were pleasantly surprised by the humble beginnings of many of the superrich.
By far, the most frequent first job is a computer programmer – as was the case for Bill Gates, who would go on to start Microsoft and change computers forever. However, some are far less indicative of financial success. Two of America’s top billionaires kicked off their careers as lawn mowers, and others filled their first piggy banks as paperboys (Buffet), fry cooks (Bezos) and dishwashers (Dell).
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