It is difficult to determine definitively who holds the most physical cash in the world, as net worth for the ultra-wealthy is predominantly tied up in assets like stocks and property, not liquid cash. For public entities (companies), the Japanese financial group Mitsubishi UFJ Financial has the largest cash reserves.
Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is number one, with $797 billion (£588bn) cash on hand, equivalent to the GDP of Taiwan. Hot on its heels is Germany's Allianz, the world's largest insurance firm. It's currently sitting on $696 billion (£513bn).
The pyramid shows that: half of the world's net wealth belongs to the top 1%, top 10% of adults hold 85%, while the bottom 90% hold the remaining 15% of the world's total wealth, top 30% of adults hold 97% of the total wealth.
By 2035, some predict there will be at least five trillionaires in the world, but no one has reached that yet. A trillionaire is someone who has accumulated a net worth of at least one trillion of their local currency.
The world's 10 richest families
Yes, Kim Kardashian is generally considered richer than Taylor Swift, though both are billionaires, with Kardashian often leading due to her successful businesses like SKIMS, while Swift's wealth comes from music, tours (like The Eras Tour), and films. Recent reports (late 2025) place Kardashian's net worth around $1.9 billion, slightly ahead of Swift's $1.6 billion, though these figures fluctuate.
Consistent with the findings of our Inequality in Australia 2020 report, wealth is still very unequally distributed in 2021-22. The highest 10% of households by wealth has an average of $6.1 million or 46% of all wealth. The next 30% have an average of $1.7 million or 38% of all wealth.
Individuals in the top 10% earn at least six figures annually. In some areas, those in the top 1% must make over $1 million per year, while in others, the threshold is lower. Both the earnings and wealth of top earners have increased in recent decades.
Nationwide, it takes an income of $787,712 to be in the top 1% of earners. The median U.S. income is approximately $75,000, with half of Americans earning less. Earning over $1 million annually is required to join the top 1% in three states.
In 2022, the Musk Foundation awarded, as in the previous year, – a total of $160 million in donations. $10 million of this went to "The Foundation", a new foundation set up by Elon Musk, which is preparing to establish a school in Austin, the Texas Institute of Technology and Science.
Encyclopedia Britannica states that he is "widely considered to be the wealthiest person in history". The Catalan Atlas (1375 AD) describes Mansa Musa as 'the richest man in the region', but makes no mention of him being 'the richest in the world' or 'the richest in history'.
NVIDIA is the largest company in the world, with a market cap of $4.56 trillion. NVIDIA is followed by Apple ($3.95 trillion), Alphabet ($3.83 trillion), Microsoft ($3.53 trillion), and Amazon ($2.49 trillion). Except for Berkshire Hathaway, all of the top 10 market cap companies are part of the technology sector.
Here are a few reasons why:
Cash is the worst performing asset class – over long periods it has underperformed all other major asset classes. You're losing money when you leave cash sitting in a bank account. This is because you cannot keep up with inflation.
But there are 1.5 million people across the country who still use physical money for the majority of their purchases, and efforts are underway to protect them. RBA assistant governor Brad Jones said solidifying cash's place in the payments ecosystem will depend on one thing — Australians using it.
The richest country by GDP (PPP) per capita is often cited as Singapore, followed closely by Luxembourg, depending on the specific report and year, with Singapore leading in 2025 estimates with around $156,000-$157,000 per person, while Luxembourg is a strong contender just below that, highlighting small, finance-heavy economies as wealthiest per person.
Key Points. Australia is a high income country, with the 12th highest average income in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This is partly due to Australians working harder, with the 5th highest hours worked per capita in the OECD.
If we instead turn to the median – the exact middle number in a range – we find a typical income for employed Australians is closer to $1,425 per week, or roughly $74,100 annually (based on ABS data from August 2025).
While exact real-time figures vary, recent analyses suggest hundreds of thousands of Australians hold over $1 million in superannuation, though it's a minority, with estimates from around 2021 pointing to over 400,000 people, a number that has grown significantly due to investment returns, though many still don't reach this milestone. About 2.5% of the population held >$1 million in super as of mid-2021 (around 417,000 people), with forecasts indicating a larger number, while projections suggest over 10% of women and 15% of men retiring by 2060 could reach this goal, and recent studies highlight that a large majority (around 94%) of retirees don't hit $1 million.
No, Australia is not 90% white; while a large majority identify with European ancestry (around 76-80% in recent years), a significant and growing portion identifies as Asian, African, Middle Eastern, or Indigenous, making it a highly multicultural nation with diverse ethnic backgrounds, not overwhelmingly white. Recent census data shows European ancestry (English, Irish, etc.) makes up a large chunk, but Asian ancestries are also substantial, with over 17% Asian population and around 3.8% identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, per the 2021 census data from Wikipedia.
The richest family in Australia is generally considered the Rinehart family, primarily through Gina Rinehart, who leads the mining giant Hancock Prospecting, consistently topping lists with wealth estimated in the tens of billions (e.g., ~$38B-$50B+ in recent years), followed by other prominent families like the Pratts (manufacturing) and Forrests (mining/commodities).
No, Oprah Winfrey is currently richer than Taylor Swift, with Oprah's net worth estimated around $3.1-$3.2 billion compared to Taylor Swift's $1.6 billion as of mid-2025, though Swift's wealth has surged due to her Eras Tour, placing her as the richest female musician but still behind Winfrey's overall media empire wealth.
Yes, Arnold Schwarzenegger is a billionaire', is a billionaire, with Forbes estimating his net worth at around $1.2 billion in 2025, earned through successful careers in bodybuilding, blockbuster movies (like Terminator), real estate, and smart business investments, including early stakes in companies like Google and Starbucks, as well as following advice from Warren Buffett.
Based on Forbes, American singer Taylor Swift is the wealthiest female musician, with a net worth of US$1.6 billion as of 2024. Barbadian singer Rihanna became the first female musician to attain a billionaire status in 2021, with a net worth of $1.7 billion at that time.