A career in technology or selling coffee are the attributes of Australia‘s richest 100 people under the age of 40, it was revealed on Wednesday, or being Peter Andre could also get you on the list.
The list of 100 Australians, compiled by business magazine BRW, showed that the endlessly advancing technology industry is producing our wealthiest under 40s and the largest concentration of Australia’s richest youth live overseas, with 28 of the 100 living outside Australia, usually in San Francisco.
When it came to gender split, the list did better than the Coalition cabinet, but only just – 93% of the nation’s richest youngsters are men.
Muesli mogul, founder of Carman’s Fine Foods Carolyn Creswell is the richest woman under 40 at number 34. She’s joined on the list by Erica Baxter, Miranda Kerr, Karrie Webb, technology executive Karen Cariss, Lilly Haikin of coffee chain Max Brenner chocolates and MyBudget’s Tammy May.
People are also still paying Peter Andre for things – he came in at number 82 with $21m. At 40 years of age, it’s his last year of eligibility.
Australia’s love affair with caffeine put former barista Phil Di Bella at number 15 with an estimated wealth of $83m. Di Bella sells his Di Bella coffee to 1200 cafes and restaurants around the country.
In 2012 Australians bought 2.1bn coffees outside of their home or office, a 300m cup increase on the previous year.
The largest proportion of rich listers come from the technology field, with 32%. Their dominance in the top ten was broken only by infrastructure magnate Mark Akroyd (number five) who supplies equipment to mining companies, and former Sportsbet owner Matthew Tripp, who sold the gaming company to Paddy Powers before buying into the Melbourne Storm NRL team.
Technology might be where most of the money is but sport delivered just as much longevity. The two fields of expertise each delivered half of the eight people who have made every list since BRW began counting people’s money 11 years ago.
Tennis starts Pat Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt, golfer Karrie Webb and footballer Harry Kewell have made a mint from their talents on the court, green or field.
The most shocking fall in wealth was reserved for former billionaire Nathan Tinkler. In two years, Tinkler went from Australia’s richest under-40 with an estimated fortune of $1.3bn, to not even making the top 100.
Tinkler’s 19% stake in the Whitehaven Coal company was seized by creditors in June to pay debts.