American society seems to be moving closer to gender equality in some ways, but among high-net-worth individuals there are worrying signs. The sectors of the economy with the youngest high earners are internet ventures, information-technology services, hedge funds and sports and entertainment. Those with the oldest are legal services, nonprofit and social organization and education. Women are especially well-represented in those last two -- nonprofits and education -- and also media, and they are poorly represented in hedge funds and technology. For instance, the male-female ratio for the high earners in hedge funds is 46 to 1, compared with 5.4 to 1 in education. That pattern suggests that the future dynamism of the American economy, at least for the very high earners, may end up favoring male-dominated areas and thus favoring men over women.

The researchers also measure social connectedness for high-net-worth individuals, as reflected by the number of known associates or connections listed in the Wealth-X database. From the global pool, those who show the most interest in building social networks are self-made women, Americans and self-made American billionaires. African-Americans rate especially highly, and Democrats are much better connected than Republicans. Those who have inherited money are the least interested in large networks, perhaps because they do not pick up connections through business activity.

There’s more to the rich than their money.

This article was provided by Bloomberg News.

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