The world’s richest man is Jeff Bezos, worth some $182 billion as of this writing, even after losing an estimated $38 billion in his divorce. But the phrase “as of this writing” is pretty crucial because his net worth fluctuates daily.
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That’s because Bezos is among a class of billionaires known as centibillionaires, or those with a net worth of at least $100 billion. In Bezos’ case, he owes his centibillionaire status to his whopping 54 million-plus share stake in Amazon, amounting to over 10% of the company.
Given how volatile stock markets can be, however, Bezos, along with many of his wealthy colleagues, is always just one bad trading day from having billions of dollars shaved off of his net worth. On Sep. 3, 2020 alone, 10 individuals lost more than $1 billion each, and as you’ll see below, some days have been even worse.
For the average investor, this should serve as an important cautionary tale about the importance of a diverse portfolio: when you have all your eggs in one basket, you live and die with that basket. This is why any financial advisor worth their salt will tell you it’s so important to use mutual funds and/or ETFs to spread your investments out across hundreds — even thousands – of different stocks in addition to investing in bonds and other types of securities as well.
Look at billionaires whose net worths have taken a massive tumble in a single day.
Last updated: March 17, 2021
