It's pretty hard to imagine the richest one per cent ever worrying about money. When you think about the lives of the seriously rich (multi-millionaire or billionaires that is) the idea that they could ever struggle financially, or even lose money at all, seems preposterous. When you have that many assets, that much property or those many investments, trust funds and savings, it's like you're the winning player in a global game of Monopoly. You're unbeatable. You can't be touched.

But the reality of life for the ultra-wealthy is a lot different. After all, you're now that much more of a target for the taxman and swindlers, and there are plenty of people out there who are only too happy to take that money off your hands. All it takes is a few poor decisions or an untrustworthy advisor, and suddenly it's like you've flushed your millions down the toilet. If you don't believe me, then prepare for some shocking news. Apparently this week has been financially catastrophic for the richest people in the world, particularly for Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who has officially lost more money than any other human being on the planet. Ouch; that's gotta bruise his ego a little bit, not to mention lighten his wallet.
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Financial reports indicate that the 500 richest people on the planet have managed to lose a combined total of a whopping $107 billion this week. This staggering sum equals more cash than the entire market capitalisation of the Goldman Sachs Group or Lockheed Martin. For once, as opposed to other economic crisis, it was the wealth of billionaires in the United States which suffered the most, (declining by a combined total of $34 billion) followed by Chinese tycoons, who lost around $16 billion.

Mark Zuckerberg suffered from the biggest financial loss of $3.2 billion, after large cap stocks disappointed the social media guru for the fourth day in a row. The Facebook chief executive officer's losses managed to outstrip those of Spain’s Amancio Ortega and Mexico’s Carlos Slim, who also both lost approximately $2.4 billion. Meanwhile, the estates  of Alphabet Inc.’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin also shrank by $2 billion, according to figures from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That's one hell of a bad week.

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Certain financial experts have blamed this colossal loss on United States president Donald Trump after set the stage for trade wars between nations, after slapping tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from overseas to encourage the growth of American-based industries.  Trump's policies of economic nationalism could have led to this monetary tightening, especially after the president European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker,  claimed that the the bloc is prepared to respond by targeting imports of  American products, such as Harley-Davidson motorbikes, Levi jeans and bourbon whiskey.

Although this loss seems pretty bad on paper, I wouldn't expect to see Zuckerberg begging for change on the streets anytime soon, since his estimated net worth is already around $70.9 billion. In the face of this figure, this week hasn't even touched him; but even so, it's scant encouragement for Facebook's 25,000 employees.

Elon Musk has reportedly now broken the world record for the largest loss of personal fortune in history after a bad year for his finances.

According to a report released by Guinness World Records, the Tesla CEO has seen a dramatic fall in his earnings as well as his overall net worth since 2021.

Using figures from Forbes, the report stated that the 51-year-old has lost approximately $182 billion since November 2021 although some other sources have suggested that it could actually be closer to $200 billion.

Though the exact figure is almost impossible to pin down, it was said that Musk’s total losses "far surpass the previous record of $58.6 billion" which was set by Japanese tech investor Masayoshi Son back in 2000.

So what was the reason for this decline?

Well, the outlet claimed Musk’s net worth dropped from a peak of $320bn in 2021 to $138bn as of January 2023, largely due to the "poor performance of Tesla’s stock."

The value of this said stock plummeted 65% in 2022, which in turn deeply affected Musk's overall rankings.

On December 30, after the annual market came to a close, Musk tweeted: "Long-term fundamentals are extremely strong. Short-term market madness is unpredictable" which seems to give an indication that the billionaire is well aware of his current misfortunes.

Despite this though, Tesla is still "the most valuable car company in the world", as per Guinness World Records, with a market cap of over $100 billion, which is larger than their competitor, Toyota.

Tesla's shares dipped last year. Credit: DPA Picture Alliance / Alamy

Things only got alarmingly worse in October 2022 when the South African entrepreneur bought Twitter for roughly $44 billion.

According to the Wall Street Journal, back in November, Musk stated that Twitter had suffered "a massive drop in revenue" and was losing $4 million a day.

The platform's main source of revenue depends on advertising, but when the 51-year-old acquired the platform, he tried to shift that to other means of fresh cash, but the financial health of the business is still fully undetermined.

Elon Musk still has an enviable net worth despite enormous losses. Credit: Alex Mateo / Alamy

Due to a combination of all these factors, Musk subsequently lost his title as World's Richest Person, handing it over to 73-year-old French billionaire Bernard Arnault.

Arnault is the founder of luxury goods conglomerate LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy) and has an estimated net worth of $190 billion.

But don't worry, Musk is still securely sitting in the number two spot so he won't be filing for bankruptcy any time soon. And if his investments see a little push in value over the next few months, he has a good chance at reclaiming the crown again.

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Bill Gates is estimated to become the world's first trillionaire. Oxfam proposed that it could happen in the next 25 years, meaning he would be 86 years old when he hits the 13 digits. Astonishingly, even though the founder of Microsoft is no longer working at the tech company, his net worth has still increased by $25 billion since retiring. The 62-year-old is currently the world's richest person, estimated to have a net worth of $87.9 billion right now. So what would he do if he was forced to live on only $2 per day, as nearly half of the world's population living in poverty does? Apparently, he'd get himself a nice little brood of chickens. "There's no single right answer, of course, and poverty looks different in different places," Gates wrote in a blog post. "But through my work with the foundation, I've met many people in poor countries who raise chickens, and I have learned a lot about the ins and outs of owning these birds. It's pretty clear to me that just about anyone who's living in extreme poverty is better off if they have chickens." He said that chickens are a worthwhile investment because they cost hardly anything to buy and take care of, plus you can eat them and their eggs. I mean, it's sensible and a healthy choice of protein, but still – could you really eat your own chickens? Well, if you're desperate – of course you can. Gate's business plan has been analysed by Chris Weller, a Tech Insider reporter, who agreed that owning chickens was a good investment for someone with low income. "Through research and trips to West Africa, Gates has found that after a period of three months, a typical owner of eight to 10 chickens can yield a flock of 40 chicks," Weller said. "With a sale price of $5 per chicken, which Gates notes is typical in West Africa, an owner can earn over $1,000 a year. The extreme-poverty line, meanwhile, hovers around $700 a year." The Microsoft founder stepped down as CEO of the company 17 years ago and later left his position as Chairman in 2008. But he hasn't just been rolling in his cash or sitting around hypothesising about things. Rather, he's spending a good chunk of his fortune on various projects at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. His idea to own chickens if he were to be living below the poverty line is for a good cause, with the foundation teaming up with the Heifer International charity that donates livestock to poor families around the world.  The idea is to help 30% of families in sub-Saharan Africa to raise chickens. [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BX0S4TmF6Er/?taken-by=thisisbillgates]] It's just one of few initiatives the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is supporting. Gates started the charitable foundation with his wife the year he left Microsoft and has been working on it full-time ever since. Between its inception and the end of 2016, they had given away an astonishing $41.3 billion towards things like malaria prevention in Mozambique, college costs for US students, and anti-smoking programs in China. While he's on track to being the world's first trillionaire, you can't say that he isn't putting a lot of his money to good causes. Good on you Bill. Now, I'm off to get some chickens and begin my route to being a trillionaire as well.

The CEO of crypto giant FTX lost the majority of his $16 billion fortune in a single day as his company came to the brink of collapse, CNN reports.

Sam Bankman-Fried's personal fortune dropped by 94% in 24 hours, marking the biggest one-day loss by a billionaire ever.

The loss comes just a year after the 30-year-old claimed his company would soon be big enough to buy investment banking giant Goldman Sachs.

Instead, FTX has had to rely on a bailout from rival Changpeng Zhao's Binance after their token plummeted by over 75% in the space of 24 hours. It is now worth just $5.

Credit: Sipa US / Alamy

Bankman-Fried's fall from grace comes after he spent years at the top of the crypto market. His personal wealth peaked at $26 billion earlier this year.

However, things started going downhill for the young billionaire over the summer, when his fortune declined by 66%. According to Bloomberg's Billionaire Index, he had a 53% stake in FTX worth around $6.2 billion, but the bulk of his wealth was invested in his crypto trading company, Alameda Research.

Remember when Akon announced the launch of his own cryptocurrency, Akoin?

Last Friday, things took a turn for the worse when it was revealed that a token issued by FTX - FTT - accounted for over $25 of Alameda Research's assets.

Not long after, Bankman-Fried's rival Zhao announced that his company would be liquidating its holdings of FTT. The news sent FTT's value crashing down, with the token plummeting by 80%.

Credit: REUTERS / Alamy

Amid the collapse, Zhao took to Twitter to gloat over his rival's downfall, and remind him that he should never have used his own company's cryptocurrency as collateral.

"Two big lessons: 1. Never use a token you created as collateral. 2. Don't borrow if you run a crypto business. Don't use capital 'efficiently'. Have a large reserve," he wrote.

Bankman-Fried, meanwhile, reassured customers that they would be "protected" amid Zhao's takeover of his company in a lengthy Twitter thread.

"It may take a bit to settle etc. - we apologize for that," he wrote, "But the important thing is that customers are protected."

"I know that there have been rumors in media of conflict between our two exchanges, however Binance has shown time and again that they are committed to a more decentralized global economy while working to improve industry relations with regulators. We are in the best of hands," Bankman-Fried added.

Zhao - who is already the richest man in the crypto market - will likely see his personal wealth increase as he assimilates FTX into his empire.

Featured Image Credit: Sipa US / Alamy

As the Crypto market plummets this week, investors have taken to Reddit to share their harrowing stories of financial loss.

Many are claiming to have lost their life savings amid a nightmare crash in which the price of some cryptocurrencies has dropped by over 99 percent.

One of the worst-hit digital coins is Terra (LUNA), which just last month was ranked in the top 10 most valuable cryptocurrencies in the world.

Investors first started getting cold feet in April, when it peaked a $119 before starting a steady decline down to $76. However, at the end of the month, LUNA looked like it might have recovered when its price climbed back up to $99.

Credit: Tero Vesalainen / Alamy

But unfortunately, the recovery was only short-lived. This week, the entire crypto market crashed and LUNA took a near-fatal hit, with its value plummeting to less than $1.

The coin lost 97.4 percent of its value within a day, per Decrypt.co, and those investors who had staked their luck on it saw their savings wiped out in a matter of hours.

Unsurprisingly, the drop has been a huge hit for many traders both financially and psychologically. After many took to the r/TerraLuna subreddit forum to share their losses and express their utter despair, a national helpline number was pinned to the thread to try and stop people from taking drastic actions.

One member shared their distress, writing: "I’ve lost all my life savings. Had bought Luna at $85, not sure what to do."

"Someone please advise what should I do next," they added in desperation.

"This seems unreal I can't believe this is happening I basically lost 60k overnight with what could have been considered a risk off asset 3 days ago," another wrote. "I can't do anything about it, can't sell, can't buy, I can just watch it burn. this is insane."

Credit: Reddit Credit: Reddit

Amidst the panic, the founder of Terra creators Terraform Labs Do Kwon took to Twitter to try and calm the community.

"I understand the last 72 hours have been extremely tough for all of you - know that I am resolved to work with every one of you to weather this crisis, and we will build our way out of this. Together," he wrote

"The Terra ecosystem is one of the most vibrant in the crypto industry, with hundreds of passionate teams building category-defining applications within. As long as these builders, TFL among them, continue to build - we will come out of this together," he added.

Featured Image Credit: Simon Belcher / Alamy