The vast majority of the world's nearly two thousand billionaires are entirely self-made, according to Forbes' annual list of the world's billionaires.
So how did they get their start on the road to that vast wealth? For the latest in Reuters' "First Jobs" series, we went out and asked a few of them exactly that:
James Dyson: Inventor and founder of the Dyson company
Estimated net worth on Forbes' 2016 list: $4 billion
First job: Engineer
"In my last year at the Royal College of Art, I met Jeremy Fry, chairman of the engineering company Rotork. He invited me to his home for dinner, and that's where it all began. I wanted him to invest in a building I had designed for a theater in London. He said, 'I'm not going to give you any money, but I'll give you a few jobs.'
"Under his wing I worked on my first engineering project, the Sea Truck, a high-speed amphibious landing craft. We built the first prototype together. He pointed me to the welding gear and said, 'Go do it.' I'd never used any welding gear, but I did it.
"He let me make mistakes and learn things myself. After we finished the prototype, I said, 'Now what?' He said, 'We make it.' And then? 'We sell it.' It was simple as that."
Jim Goodnight: Co-founder & CEO, SAS
Estimated net worth: $8 billion
First job: Hardware store