2007 Forbes 400

The World's financial elite have become more elite over the last few years. It wasn't very long ago when you could get in the Forbes 400 with less than a billion dollars. Not anymore, the poorest guy on the list is worth $1.3 billion.

Here are a few other interesting facts:

* "The collective net worth of the nation's mightiest plutocrats rose $290 billion to $1.54 trillion."

* "Nearly half of the 45 new members made their fortunes in hedge funds and private equity. "

* "The biggest gainer this year was Kirk Kerkorian, who padded his fortune by $9 billion as shares of his MGM Mirage (nyse: MGM - news - people ) casino outfit rose 135% over the past year. "

* "The youngest member of the Forbes 400 this year is 33-year-old John Arnold, a former Enron trader who now runs hedge fund Centaurus Energy and has amassed a $1.5 billion fortune."

* Number 1 remains Bill Gates (who was temporarily displaced by Carlos Slim for a few months)

* "The oldest member of the list is potato king John Simplot, who is 98 years old and worth $3.6 billion."

* "Seven members of last year's list have died."

* Fifty people couldn't keep up and either lost a significant amount of wealth, couldn't keep up with the higher threshold, or were surpassed by others.

I always enjoy Forbes annual list because if gives cause for ponder and cause to always hope about next year. Enjoy Forbes's interesting slide show.

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