It’s hard to make the ranks of America’s very richest at any age, but it’s especially challenging for anyone under 40. Just look at the members of The Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest people in the U.S., who are 70 years old on average. Even those who do make fortunes early can’t always hold onto them.
That helps explain why there are only four Forbes 400 members under the age of 40, down from ten a year ago, as four drop out and another three age up. It’s the lowest number of under-40 billionaires on the list in at least two decades. They make up just 1% of the list.
Walmart heir Lukas Walton is now the youngest of all, at age 37. He inherited billions after his father, John Walton, died in a 2005 plane crash. Last year, Walton was only the fifth-youngest member on the list. Since then, Snapchat cofounders Bobby Murphy (age 35) and Evan Spiegel (33) have dropped from the ranks, as shares of Snap Inc. have fallen, and crypto moguls Sam Bankman-Fried (31) and Gary Wang (30) have gone down in flames, cratering from billionaires to basically bankrupt following the November 2022 collapse of their crypto exchange FTX and ensuing criminal fraud and conspiracy charges against them. Wang—who pleaded guilty to several wire fraud, commodities fraud and securities fraud charges in December—is now cooperating with prosecutors in their case against Bankman-Fried, who has maintained his innocence.
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