Donald Trump has grown his wealth at a much slower rate over the last 27 years than many of his billionaire peers.

Inspired by this report we found in The New York Times comparing Trump's wealth to a handful of other billionaires and the stock market as a whole, we took a look at how the net worths of the extremely elite club of 56 people on the Forbes 400 list in both 1988 and 2014 have changed over the last 27 years.

Former Oracle CEO Larry Ellison had the biggest increase in net worth between the two Forbes rankings, from just $330 million in 1988 to his 2015 fortune of $48.7 billion, the third highest in the world. Ellison's wealth increased by an incredible 14,658% over that time period.

Meanwhile, Forbes estimated that Trump's net worth in 1988 was $1 billion, growing to about $4 billion in 2015 — a comparatively meager 300% increase. Of course, Trump has disputed Forbes' estimates of his current wealth, claiming to be worth over "TEN BILLION DOLLARS." 

However, even if we accept this value, the associated 900% increase would still be quite a bit lower than that of many of his peers.

Here's the change in net worth for each of the 56 people we found on both the 1988 and 2014 rankings, with Trump marked in red and with the S&P 500's dividend and split-adjusted increase included for comparison:

SEE ALSO: POWER RANKINGS: Here's who has the best chance at being our next president

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NOW WATCH: How much Donald Trump makes in speaking fees compared to everyone else

Over the past 51 years, Nike cofounder Phil Knight built the company from an idea he had in grad school into one of the biggest companies in the world. 

With a net worth of $21.6 billion, he's also one of the world's richest self-made billionaires. 

Knight might be stepping down as the brand's longtime chairman this year, but his legacy will live on. 

Here's a look back at how Knight's marketing prowess and relentless spirit have driven Nike from a selling a single running shoe to being synonymous with athletic gear. 

SEE ALSO: How IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad became one of the richest self-made billionaires

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Phil Knight was born on February 24, 1938. He ran track at the University of Oregon and graduated in 1959 with a degree in journalism. After serving in the Army for a year, he went back to school to earn his MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

Source: Stanford

Knight first came up with the idea for Blue Ribbon Sports — the company that later became Nike — during his time at Stanford. He teamed up with his college track coach from Oregon, Bill Bowerman, and they each put in $500 to get the company off the ground.

Source: Complex

BRS' strategy was to import Japanese sneakers called Onitsuka Tigers and sell them at higher price points in the US, making a profit on the markup. When Bowerman came up his own design for what became the brand’s signature rubber-waffled sole in 1971, BRS stayed in the Asian market and got the shoes produced there for much cheaper than competitors like Adidas, which operated out of Germany.

Source: Complex, The Oregonian

NOW WATCH: These college majors lead to the highest starting salaries

How much wealth can a one-day plunge in the Chinese market wipe away? A lot: The world’s richest 400 people lost a collective $124 billion Monday.

Chinese stocks continued to tumble Tuesday morning as that market hit its lowest point since last December.

But stock markets in the U.S. and Europe were rebounding in early trading, after China’s central bank cut interest rates and freed up its banks to lend more money. By mid-morning, the Dow Jones Index had already reclaimed about half of what it lost Monday.

But Monday’s steep drop in China hit the portfolios of the world’s richest people hard. Some 24 billionaires each lost more than $1 billion of their wealth. Asia’s richest person Wang Jianlin lost $3.6 billion, the most of any billionaire in the world.

China’s crash spread to the West’s wealthiest, too. Microsoft founder Bill Gates lost $3.2 billion, and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos saw $2.6 billion wiped from his wealth. Investor Warren Buffett lost $2.6 billion, and co-founder of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg suffered $1.7 billion-dollar loss from his accounts.

Only three out of the world’s wealthiest 200 people saw gains Monday, according to data collected by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index: Saudi Arabian businessman Alwaleed Al Saud, Uniqlo founder Tadashi Yanai and Czech businessman Petr Kellner.

SEE ALSO: This hedge fund crushed it when the market tanked — and they are betting for more

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News flash — billionaires are smarter than you or I.

That's the takeaway from a new study released by Duke University analyzing the ultra-wealthy and connected attendees of the Davos World Economic Forum.

The research flies in the face of the popular image of whiz-kids dropping out of college and building a billion-dollar business from the back of their garage.

"The U.S. media has used billionaires Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg as examples illustrating why completing college is not necessary for success, when in fact they are the exception to the rule," study author Jonathan Wai writes.

The study shows "the importance of education and cognitive ability in being able to attain a position in the global elite." About a third of billionaires went to elite schools around the world, with a large number attaining degrees in STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The study also suggests that the modern uber-wealthy work hard to get and stay there.

"As (former WSJ reporter Robert) Frank puts it: 'The idle rich are being replaced by the workaholic wealthy,'" Wai writes.

"I think we should deeply consider the implications when a select group of scary smart people also tend to hold a disproportionate share of global wealth and power,"Wai told CNBC. "We depend on these people to make wise decisions for all of us. "

The results mirror a study published last year by Wealth-X that maps out which of the world's universities produce the most billionaires and "ultra high net wealth" individuals — that is, those with $30 million or more in assets. The vast majority of the fortunes made by these wealthy alumni had been self-made.

Here are the universities ranked by the most billionaire alumni, according to Wealth-X. But a billionaire count does not a university make. Those merely boasting alumni with "ultra high net wealth," or UHNW, of $30 million or more are also noted, along with the percentage of self-made wealth:

1. Harvard University

Number of billionaire alumni: 52

Total billionaire wealth: $205 billion

Number of UHNW alumni: 2,964

Total UHNW wealth: $622 billion

Self-made wealth: 74%

2. University of Pennsylvania

Number of billionaire alumni: 28

Total billionaire wealth: $112 billion

Number of UHNW alumni: 1,502

Total UHNW wealth: $242 billion

Self-made wealth: 69%

3. Stanford University

Number of billionaire alumni: 27

Total billionaire wealth: $76 billion

Number of UHNW alumni: 1,174

Total UHNW wealth: $171 billion

Self-made wealth: 71%

4. New York University

Number of billionaire alumni: 17

Total billionaire wealth: $68 billion

Number of UHNW alumni: 828

Total UHNW wealth: $110 billion

Self-made wealth: 74%

5. Columbia University

Number of billionaire alumni: 15

Total billionaire wealth: $96 billion

Number of UHNW alumni: 889

Total UHNW wealth: $116 billion

Self-made wealth: 66%

6. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Number of billionaire alumni: 15

Total billionaire wealth: $114 billion

Number of UHNW alumni: 581

Total UHNW wealth: $172 billion

Self-made wealth: 65%

7. Cornell University

Number of billionaire alumni: 14

Total billionaire wealth: $35 billion

Number of UHNW alumni: 528

Total UHNW wealth: $60 billion

Self-made wealth: 66%

8. University of Southern California

Number of billionaire alumni: 14

Total billionaire wealth: $32 billion

Number of UHNW alumni: 374

Total UHNW wealth: $66 billion

Self-made wealth: 55%

9. Yale University

Number of billionaire alumni: 13

Total billionaire wealth: $77 billion

Number of UHNW alumni: 568

Total UHNW wealth: $125 billion

Self-made wealth: 63%

10. University of Cambridge

Number of billionaire alumni: 11

Total billionaire wealth: $48 billion

Number of UHNW alumni: 361

Total UHNW wealth: $93 billion

Self-made wealth: 70%

SEE ALSO: I Made $15 Million Before I Was 30, And It Wasn't As Awesome As You'd Think

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Wang Sicong, the son of the richest man in China, did an incredibly frank interview with the BBC for its three-part documentary on Chinese youth.

We caught the interview via Shanghaiist.

He said that for people in his generation, escaping China's strict political system "would be suicide."

"Your parents would kill you," he said. "There's no way of succeeding outside the system."

Wang's father is Wang Jianlin, founder of the Chinese retail and real-estate conglomerate Dalian Wanda. He is estimated to be worth $31.5 billion.

Wang Sicong has his own professional online-gaming team, and in his interview he explained why the hobby was so popular in China: It allows people to escape that system.

For young people, living in the system doesn't just mean loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party and all of its teachings — it means an incredibly fierce competition to get into top schools in China and around the world. Young people study around the clock under intense pressure.

"The state chooses what's mainstream and you have to conform to that," he said from his luxurious high-rise apartment. "If your ideals are not mainstream, then you're wrong.

"Of course, everyone has their own ideas, so what they do is they put on a mask and they go through life with a mask. Why is online gaming so popular in China? Because once you go online you can take off that mask and say what you really think."

His tone isn't angry. It is resigned.

"I think at some point, you just accept it," he said, arguing that that acceptance was why protests are not prevalent in China.

Watch Wang's interview below.

SEE ALSO: The unbelievable things some Chinese students are doing to get into US colleges

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We all know Warren Buffett, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos.

Other billionaires, though, are less well known and even secretive.

Despite their business exploits and the famous brands that made them rich, many of these icons try to avoid the limelight.

Most will know the 10 companies and famous products below, but many people have never heard of the ultra-billionaires behind them.

These wealth estimates are based on Forbes listings as of August 8, 2015.

1. John, Jacqueline, and Forrest (Jr.) Mars ($76.8 billion)

The three siblings — grandchildren of founder Frank Mars — serve on the board of directors of Mars. This iconic brand includes world-recognized chocolates such as Snickers bars and M&Ms.

Referred to as a "fortress of silence" and compared to the CIA, Mars continues to keep most dealings close to the vest, and the siblings relish privacy, with the brothers avoiding public photos.

2. Amancio Ortega ($73.3 billion)

The founder of Inditex, Ortega is the world's second-wealthiest person. He obtained much of his wealth from Zara, which he started in 1975. He has since grown the clothing company into one of the largest fashion retailers in the world. He keeps such a low profile that despite being born in 1936, it wasn't until 1999 that the first photograph of him was published. It is believed that he has granted only three interviews ever to journalists.

3. Bernard Arnault ($40.4 billion)

As the CEO of Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), he leads one of the largest luxury companies in the world. LVMH includes 70 brands, including notable labels such as Christian Dior, Dom Perignon, and Bulgari. While well known is France, he has significantly less name recognition in the U.S.

4. Jorge Paulo Lemann ($24.8 billion)

As a co-founder of 3G Capital, Lemann has acquired an interest in a trove of instantly recognizable brands, including Budweiser, Burger King, and Heinz. The five-time Brazilian national tennis champion is largely unknown in the U.S. Despite often remaining behind the scenes, his business exploits and bold moves are legendary.

5. Stephan Persson ($23.7 billion)

Sweden's richest person, Persson is chairman of the clothing chain H&M. He ran the company, which his father founded, from 1982 until 1998. His son is the current CEO. Persson has many large properties throughout the world, but he continues to live in his native Sweden and largely remain out of the spotlight.

6. Maria Franca Fissolo ($23.3 billion)

Fissolo is the widow of Michele Ferrero, who passed away earlier this year. He led the Ferrero Group, which is perhaps most famous for Nutella and Tic Tac. Like her husband, who avoided interviews and prized secrecy, she avoids being in the limelight.

7. Alain and Gerard Wertheimer ($20 billion)

The brothers, who own the French luxury brand Chanel, keep a low profile in an industry that is dominated by outsize personalities. They keep their personal and financial profiles so low that at one point, industry observers underestimated their wealth by nearly $10 billion.

8. Dietrich Mateschitz ($11.5 billion)

For millions of people looking for a burst of energy, Mateschitz's Red Bull is the answer. Described as one of the successful entrepreneurs of our generation, Mateschitz created a whole new category for energy drinks when he released Red Bull in 1987. Though he has a flair for adventure, he keeps an exceedingly low profile and has even been described as reclusive.

9. Johann Rupert ($7.1 billion)

Most have not heard of Compagnie Financière Richemont, but the company counts well-known brands such as Cartier and Montblanc as part of its portfolio. More headlines go to Rupert's fellow South African countryman Elon Musk, but Rupert is the most powerful businessman there, and has recently used his platform to raise concern about income inequality.

10. Les Wexner ($7 billion)

If you're looking for something sexy to wear (or give), odds are that at some point your attire has been influenced by Wexner. He has been the driving force behind famous brands including Victoria's Secret, Express, and Abercrombie & Fitch. He is presently the longest-serving Fortune 500 CEO.

He is well known in his home state of Ohio, but remains low key. For instance, his office is across the street from a garbage dump, he rarely speaks to the press, and he keeps many aspects of his life private, including not allowing interior photos of his 315-foot yacht.

SEE ALSO: The 15 most billionaire-dense countries

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We all know there's a huge concentration of tech power in Silicon Valley, but that's not the only place where tech money has spread. The tech industry has made billionaires all over the world. 

This year's list of the 100 richest tech billionaires from around the globe, compiled by Forbes, lists people who live in places from Singapore to Brazil — with 20 in China.

Data analyst Jody Sieradzki at Dadaviz has created a chart that shows how many of the world's top tech billionaires are from each country. No surprise that that the United States leads the field by a large margin. 

SEE ALSO: The 15 richest people in tech

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Netflix is one of the greatest underdog success stories at the crossroads of technology and television.

What started as a DVD-by-mail rental service has now spawned a slew of award-winning original television series, made available over 100 million hours of content, and virtually redefined what it means to watch, and create, TV in 2015. 

While CEO and founder Reed Hastings is a prominent member of the Silicon Valley tech community, he's largely elusive to the general public.

Scroll through to learn about the man who built the $47 billion online streaming service.

SEE ALSO: The 15 best movies on Netflix you've probably never heard of

SEE ALSO: 11 tips to make you a Netflix master

Reed Hastings was born in Boston, Massachusetts on October 8, 1960, to Joan and Wilmot Hastings. His father was a lawyer who later worked for the Nixon Administration.

Source: Vanity Fair

Hastings attended Bowdoin College where he earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics and ran the Outing Club where he organized climbing and canoeing trips.

Source: Vanity Fair, Fortune

After college, he joined the Peace Corps to teach high school math for two years in Swaziland, an experience he's called "a combination of service and adventure."

Source: Inc. Magazine, Vanity Fair

Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris is willing to spend $100 million on an island for refugees to start their own country.

Produced by Adam Banicki

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How was your summer vacation?

Probably not as extravagant as the vacations taken by some of the biggest names in tech.

Tech millionaires and billionaires vacation a bit differently from normal people.

From massive island retreats to superyachts, these tech executives' summer getaways take luxury vacations to the next level. 

SEE ALSO: What the 'Rich Kids of Instagram' did this summer

Google's Larry Page has his own superyacht called "Senses," which he bought from New Zealand businessman Sir Douglas Myers for $45 million in 2011.

Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen cosponsored a massive fair — the Seattle Art Fair — to get more tech billionaires interested in collecting art.

"To live with these pieces of art is truly amazing," Allen said to Bloomberg."I feel that you should share some of the works to give the public a chance to see them."

In May, Allen invited scores of movie stars, musicians, and supermodels aboard his 414-foot yacht, "Octopus," for a Bollywood-themed bash, during the Cannes International Film Festival.

Source.

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Budweiser maker Anheuser-Busch InBev wants to buy Miller maker SABMiller, in what could be one of the top six corporate takeovers in history.

It would create a merged group with a value of around $275 billion.

And one Brazilian billionaire is behind it all.

Remember Jorge Lemann?

He's the head of private equity firm 3G Capital, which has done deals with Kraft, Heinz, and Burger King.

In 1999, Lemann and two partners created AmBev, a master company of all the brewers they had acquired.

Then in 2004 AmBev bought Belgian brewer Interbrew to create InBev. Then InBev bought US-based Anheuser-Busch for $52 billion in 2008.

Now Anheuser-Busch InBev is bidding for SAB Miller.

3G has interests that extend far beyond the beer industry. Lemann's firm also worked with Warren Buffett to orchestrate the Kraft-Heinz merger earlier this year.

His private-equity firm has since wasted little time in shaking up the upper ranks of the newly-combined company, and has a reputation for savage cost-cutting.

Now the fifth-largest food company in the world, Kraft Heinz is also a potential suitor to buy Mondelez International, which activist investor Bill Ackman has targeted. Ackman is an investor in 3G's funds.

Not bad, Jorge. Here's more on the Brazilian billionaire's life and career.

Lemann was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1939. His father was a Swiss businessman who immigrated to Brazil in the 1920s.

He left Brazil to attend Harvard University, earning his bachelor's in economics in 1961. Lemann still has a great relationship with Harvard, helping Brazilian students study there and setting up scholarships.

After Harvard, Lemann's life was a mixed bag. He trained at Credit Suisse for a while and worked as a journalist at Brazil's third-oldest paper, Jornal do Brasil.

Mark Cuban always seems to come out on top.

He sold his first company, MicroSolutions, for $6 million. He did even better with his next company, Broadcast.com, which he sold to Yahoo for almost $6 billion.

Almost immediately after, Cuban sold all of his Yahoo stock, netting $2 billion in cash for himself. Weeks later, the market crashed.

Since then, Cuban has continued to work and invest. He owns the Dallas Mavericks and a cable channel. Plus he's all over the media — taking bites out of would-be entrepreneurs on ABC's pitch show "Shark Tank" and lighting up the conference circuit.

Cuban is known for saying what other people only think. Here are some of our favorite quotes.

Nicholas Carlson and Drake Baer contributed to an earlier version of this article.

SEE ALSO: 15 Stephen Hawking quotes that reveal how a genius thinks

On making a billion dollars

"The billion was, 'I can't f------ believe it.' Literally, I was sitting in front of a computer, naked, hitting the refresh because we were close — waiting until my net worth hit that billion when the stock price got to a certain point, and then I kinda screamed and jumped around and then got dressed."

Business Insider, August 2014

On preparation

"If you're prepared, and you know what it takes, it's not a risk. You just have to figure out how to get there. There is always a way to get there."

Inc., 2015

On his approach to each day

"My dad says it over and over, 'Today's the youngest you're ever going to be. You've got to live like it. You've got to live young every day.' And that's what I try to do."

Business Insider, March 2014

These are the wealthiest people in the world under 35. Some of the faces you'll recognize, while some you may not.

Produced by Eames Yates. Original Reporting by Tanza Loudenback.

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"Why don't billionaires just stop making money, and instead start spending it, such as by traveling around the world?" originally appeared as a question on Quora. Below we are republishing an answer from Andrew Lynch, Publishing Manager at Book In A Box.

Your question is based on a false premise.

Elon Musk doesn't sit down at his desk every day and think, "Have I made enough money to quit and travel the world yet?"

Warren Buffett doesn't get to Berkshire Hathaway head office in the morning and check his portfolio and say, "Can I afford to pay off my mortgage and live off dividends for the rest of my life?"

The answer, obviously, is yes. Elon could retire tomorrow. Warren hasn't had to show up to work for 50 years. But they do anyway. Why?

Because money isn't money when you're a billionaire. It's just points on a scorecard.

When you're a billionaire, your problems don't go away, but your money problems do. You never need to worry about credit card debt, paying the mortgage, putting money into your 401(k) or anything like that.

You're focused on bigger things.

You're focused on questions like:

• Is my business the best it can be?
• Does anyone in my industry have a better business than me? If so, why?
• Does anyone in any other industry have a better business than me? If so, why?
• What impact have I made on the world?
• Do I have a legacy that will outlast me?
• Have I done the best in terms of investing and re-investing my wealth as I could have?
• How much wealth should I give away to charitable causes?

So Elon isn't focusing on whether he has enough to retire on. He's wondering whether humanity will become an interplanetary species.

Warren isn't sat in front of a spreadsheet, calculating if he can afford to live off dividend income for the rest of his life. He's wondering if he truly is the best allocator of capital of all time, whether his deployment of capital has led to the greatest good, and how he should give away his money when he dies.

In both cases, these billionaires aren't thinking, "Do I need more money? Should I quit working?" They're thinking, "Have I made the most positive impact on the world that I could have?"

And in both cases, Elon and Warren care much more about building something fantastic than they do about cashing out and traveling the world. They prefer work to relaxation.

Which, coincidentally, is the fastest way to get rich. Don't focus on how much money you're earning. Focus on what impact you're having, and how much value you're creating for other people. As Zig Ziglar said, "You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want."

SEE ALSO: I work in Silicon Valley for a 6-figure household income, but I don't have nearly as much money as you think

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There's no doubt that having a degree can open certain doors for you in life, but that's not to say that without one you can't break into the 1%.

Though many of today's most successful business people are alumni of Ivy League or Russell Group institutions, there are a surprising number of billionaires who never even graduated university - about 35%, in fact. 

Below are Europe's most successful billionaires that never got a degree.

(Net worth figures according to Forbes)

11. Sir Alan Sugar — £1 billion ($1.54 billion)

Age/From: 68, UK.

How he made his money: Consumer electronics. Founder of Amstrad, which makes Sky Digital boxes.

What he did instead of university: Sugar grew up on a council estate in London and dropped out of education when he was just 14. He then went on to work for the Ministry of Education as a statistician for a brief period before selling electronics and car aerials from the back of a van he bought for £50. He has been very vocal about his opinion of higher education, branding university "a waste of time."

10. John Caudwell — £1.7 billion ($2.7 billion)

Age/From : 62, UK.

How he made his money: Telecoms. Founded British phone retailer Phones 4 U.

What he did instead of university: Caudwell was 15 when he left education, and he spent his younger years as a second-hand car dealer. It wasn't until 1987, aged 35, shortly after the first mobile phones became commercially available, that he and his brother ventured into the telecoms market and founded the business that would eventually build them their fortune.

9. Ingvar Kampgrad — £2.2 billion ($3.4 billion)

Age/From: 89, Sweden.

How he made his money: Founder of IKEA.

What he did instead of university: Kampgrad showed entrepreneurial spirit from a young age, selling matchsticks to his neighbours as a child from his bike. At 17, his dad gave him a small cash reward for his school studies which he used to create IKEA. He chose business over education and five years later, he added furniture to IKEA's product portfolio. 

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump trashed Forbes in an interview for a larger piece the magazine published Tuesday on the real-estate magnate's net worth.

Forbes' Randall Lane wrote that he interviewed more than 80 sources and devoted "unprecedented resources" to looking at Trump's assets. After that process, he concluded that Trump's net worth was $4.5 billion. 

Though it's a sizable sum, Trump has repeatedly touted his net worth as more than $10 billion. 

"I'm running for president," Trump told Forbes. "I'm worth much more than you have me down [for]. I don't look good, to be honest. I mean, I look better if I'm worth $10 billion than if I’m worth $4 billion."

He further dismissed Forbes as "bankrupt" and incompetent. 

"You're gonna look bad," Trump added.

"And look, all I can say is Forbes is a bankrupt magazine, doesn't know what they're talking about. That's all I'm gonna say. 'Cause it's embarrassing to me."

Trump has repeatedly feuded with people who have valued his net worth lower than he does over the years. In July, he accused billionaire media mogul Michael Bloomberg of being jealous after Bloomberg's news service estimated his net worth was just $2.9 billion. 

Lane's article for Forbes extensively chronicled Trump's alleged "fibbing" over his net worth, and the developer has apparently never been happy with the numbers assigned to him in the magazine's regular accounting of the richest of the rich. 

And Trump said he believes that Forbes has a long history of trying to take him down a peg.

"I think you're trying to make me as poor as possible," Trump told the outlet, adding that there's a "respected magazine that's coming out" that will give him an $11.5 billion valuation.

Lane seemed baffled by it all: 

My overarching question for Trump is a simple one: Does he think FORBES uses a different methodology to value him than it uses for every other real estate titan on The Forbes 400? "Yes, I do," he responds. "Yes, I do."

Really? Why? “Because I'm famous, and they're not. Because when [Richard] LeFrak had dinner at Joe’s Stone Crab, he calls me up and he says, 'Could you help me get a reservation?'"

Check out the full Forbes magazine profile of Trump's wealth >

SEE ALSO: Donald Trump's team: He's worth even more than $10 billion

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In the 1957 DeWitt Clinton High School yearbook, Ralph Lauren wrote "millionaire" as one of his life goals.

On Tuesday, the fashion legend announced he would step down as CEO from his iconic brand Polo Ralph Lauren.

He will stay with the company as its executive chairman and chief creative officer.

Lauren has an estimated net worth of $6 billion.

Long before he became a fashion icon, he was Ralph Lipschitz, the youngest son of Jewish immigrant parents living in the Bronx.

Growing up, he learned to escape his family's poverty by going to the movies and immersing himself in the fictional plot lines.

"He would literally fall into the fantasies of the movies of that era," Michael Gross, author of "Genuine Authentic: The Real Life of Ralph Lauren,"told Bloomberg. "He truly did project himself into the scenes in which men like Gary Cooper and Cary Grant were playing. He sees the characters that populate his dreams and visions, and that vision — that ability to step into a fantasy world — Ralph brought to the fashion business."

He further detached from his humble origins in his late teens when he chose to change his name from Lipschitz to Lauren after enduring years of teasing and bullying.

Later, after a short stint in the army, Lauren moved back to New York City and started working as a clerk at Brooks Brothers.

Then a transformative experience — his first polo match — helped to shape his perspective and activate his entrepreneurial spirit. "We were exposed to fabulous things,"recalled Warren Helstein, the friend that took him to the polo match. "The silver, the leather, the horses, the tall slinky blondes with the big hats, and the high society that we really weren't knowledgeable of."

The event inspired him to start developing a high-class, elegant brand, which would eventually become Polo Ralph Lauren.

Having only a high school diploma and a few business classes under his belt, the decision to start his own company was the first of many risks Lauren would take in his legendary career.

The next was designing wide, colorful neckties at a time when narrow and plain was the norm.

The radical approach won over Bloomingdale's — and loads of customers. He sold $500,000 worth of ties in one year.

Despite such quick success, Lauren relentlessly expanded his company. "Ralph doesn't sit on his laurels for one minute," Lauren's protégé John Varvatos told Bloomberg. "You can enjoy the moment, but you have to keep things going — and you can't be a one-trick pony."

When it came to new design ideas, Lauren kept it simple. He envisioned clothing that he would want to wear: clothing fit for a movie star.

"What you thought Cary Grant was wearing, you could not walk into a store and buy,"he told Charlie Rose in 1993. "The things that I made, you could not buy. You could not find them anywhere."

Lauren took the company public in 1997. It was a decision he grappled with — he was unsure if he wanted shareholders and a board in the picture — but eventually came to terms with. He also ensured he would still control most of the voting power.

The wide-eyed kid who dreamed of becoming a millionaire now, at age 75, enjoys the spoils of his success, with homes in Jamaica, Long Island, Bedford, and Manhattan, as well as a 17,000-acre ranch in Colorado.

He also boasts one of the world's most valuable car collections. "Others collect art, but for me owning a rare and magnificently designed car offers a different kind of experience," he told Architectural Digest. "In the end you can enjoy both the beauty of the machine and the journey it takes you on."

Lauren shows no sign of losing steam. Despite stepping down as CEO, he has no plans of leaving his namesake company.

"When they start designing things I can't understand, I'll quit,"Lauren told The New York Times of his decision. "But I don't feel like I'm stepping back now."

SEE ALSO: To avoid outlandish rent prices, one San Francisco woman moved onto a 136-square-foot sailboat

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Forbes has released its annual "Richest People In America" list.

The Forbes 400 always includes the biggest names in the hedge fund space. We counted 33 hedge fund managers this year.

Fund managers Bill Ackman of Pershing Square and David Tepper of Appaloosa Management saw their net worth increase significantly in the past year. Steve Cohen saw a $1.3 billion jump in his personal fortune.

There were two newcomers to the list. Quant fund managers David Siegel and John Overdeck, cofounders of the $28 billion Two Sigma Investments, each has an estimated net worth of $2.8 billion. Two Sigma crushed it in 2014, with one of the funds ending the year up 57.55% and another one of the funds returning 25.56%, according to Forbes.

The 85-year-old George Soros is still king, though, with an estimated net worth of $24.5 billion.

On the flip side, numerous billionaire fund managers in the US didn't make the cut. Folks like Baupost Group's Seth Klarman and Discovery Capital's Rob Citrone, who are worth 10 figures, weren't quite rich enough. 

David Einhorn

Rank: 375

Net worth: $1.8 billion

Age: 46

Fund: Greenlight Capital

Source: Forbes

Louis Bacon

Rank: 375

Net worth: $1.8 billion

Age: 57

Fund: Moore Capital Management 

Source: Forbes

Marc Lasry

Rank: 358

Net worth: $1.9 billion

Age: 55

Fund: Avenue Capital 

Source: Forbes

Tesla CEO Elon Musk threw a huge party to reveal the electric car company's newest vehicle: the Model X. Thousands of Tesla owners and potential buyers came out to get a peek at the $132,000 SUV. Almost everything Musk said during his presentation, including remarks about the car's air filter, was met with thunderous applause. 

We talked to some of the partygoers about what makes Elon Musk one of the most dynamic figures in the world of science, tech and innovation.

Produced by Graham Flanagan. Camera by Justin Gmoser.

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The opportunity to build a mansion on an 11-acre property at the intersection of three of Los Angeles' most exclusive neighborhoods — Bel Air, Beverly Hills, and Holmby Hills — is up for grabs for a whopping $115 million. 

Dubbed "The Park Bel Air," the hilltop property will include three separate homes. According to Bloomberg, buyers can either purchase one lot for $45 million or have the developer build a mansion based on their designs. Those homes would range from 56,000 to 61,000 square feet and cost upwards of $115 million. The White House, for comparison, has 55,000 square feet of living space. 

The three homes at The Park Bel Air would also offer privacy as well as panoramic views of the city, canyon, and Pacific Ocean. 

The estates are being developed by Domvs London and financed by Junius Real Estate Partners, an investment arm of JP Morgan. 

"Estates of this caliber in Los Angeles rarely come to market, let alone a collection of three in old Bel Air presented as thoughtfully as Park Bel Air," Kurt Rappaport, cofounder and owner of luxury real estate brokerage Westside Estate Agency, said in a press release announcing the project. "No one should be surprised to see the trend for prime property sales above $50 million in the Platinum Triangle continue." 

If any of the three homes sells for more than $115 million, it would be a record for the area. In December 2014, Minecraft creator Markus Persson paid a record $70 million for a spec home in Beverly Hills. 

Film producer Nile Niami is currently developing a home in Bel Air that's set to be priced at an astronomical $500 million. 

The Park Bel Air project, on the other hand, gives ultra-wealthy buyers the chance to build out their mega-mansions to the exact specifications they want. 

"We're providing ultra-high net worth buyers with a bespoke lifestyle choice in which every aspect of their estate can be thoughtfully curated," Jon O'Brien, founder and CEO of Domvs London, said in the press release. 

SEE ALSO: We can finally peek inside the home of the world's second-richest man

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