How are these unfamiliar names? Anyone who even passively keeps up with the news knows the names Carlos Slim, Laxmi Mittal, and Mukesh Ambani for years. Carlos Slim has been the richest guy in Mexico for ages, very well known in the States by anyone who keeps up with business news especially telecom. Laxmi Mittal has long been one of the richest guys in the UK, he became most notorious a couple years ago when he threw a wedding for his daugther that cost something like $60 million. The Ambani's in India are huge, anyone that follows global business news has known their name for ages.

I don't know if one can blame him. Goes on to show how insular the US stock market has been.

I'm a fan of your blog but... where are the unfamiliar names? All the names you mention are of people well known worldwide.

Neil. This is the same guy that invested in the financials at the very top. Why should you be surprised he does not know these people.

That has got to be the fastest $42.1 billion ever made (if the story is true)! :)

I'm sure there are several readers who were not very familiar with some of these "new" names to the top five list. Thank you for the post, despite the neg feedback you've gotten here.

Dave Allen - thank you... I'm sure your extreme knowledge is generating extreme wealth for yourself & hopefully having a profoundly positive impact on those less fortunate than you in this world. Keep up the good work.

This post hit a nerve somehow, but I don't see why.

Anyway, I'd also like to triple my networth in 7 months!

Admittedly I'm familiar with these names as well, but, I can see why a lot of people wouldn't recognize them. Regardless, that's just an insane amount of wealth to have....

He was also name the first Indian Trillionaire in June of 2007!

Its funny how if anyone posts something critical people backlash. If someone has a public blog up there is going to be criticism, otherwise it would probably be pretty stupid. I can understand the negative posts, those names are fairly common to anyone who is even mildly aware of what is going on in the world. Granted to the average bloke who never reads the paper and the only news they watch is about Britney Spears escapades maybe they wouldn't know any names other than Bill Gates. But I doubt MM is targeting his blog to those people. Think about the people who would read a blog about personal finance - don't you think they would all be aware of such common names of the world's richest people? I used to read this blog pretty regularly, but over the past year or so it has become less about personal finance news and advice and more about MM's personal finance with the occasional irrelevant story thrown in.

To: Odd Behavior,

Definition of personal finance.

Personal finance is the application of the principles of finance to the monetary decisions of an individual or family unit.

Holy ChowMunga Batman! That's about the fastest tripple bagger I've ever heard of. Especially impressive when your talking about $63 Billion! Wow!

The Indian names I think are the only unknowns on the list to the majority of people.

Where did everyone go on this page? No Feb update?? Maybe the market wiped you out?

Why all the criticism?

I've been a full-time trader for years and I haven't heard of Mukesh Ambani. So what? I'm only interested in my own wealth, not other people's.

Why all the criticism?

I've been a full-time trader for years and I haven't heard of Mukesh Ambani. So what? I'm only interested in my own wealth, not other people's.