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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Some billionaires have documented histories of poverty or serious hardship, but “self-made” does not necessarily mean someone began with nothing. Forbes’ own framework separates how a fortune was acquired from the hardship in a person’s upbringing—and its 2022 figures show that many self-made members of the Forbes 400 grew up with at least some economic advantages.
What “started with nothing” means—and what it leaves out
“Self-made” describes the source of a fortune, not a person’s entire starting position. Someone can build wealth rather than inherit it and still have benefited from family stability, education, community support, or other opportunities. “Started with nothing” is more specific: it suggests childhood poverty or substantial adversity, and should not be treated as a synonym.
Forbes’ 2022 self-made scorecard makes this distinction explicit. It assigns scores from 1 to 5 to inherited fortunes and scores from 6 to 10 to fortunes individuals built. Within the latter group, the higher scores indicate more difficult backgrounds; a score of 10 represents having lived under the poverty line or faced substantial adversity. This is Forbes’ classification, not a universal definition of self-made success. Forbes’ 2022 explanation of its scoring framework.
Examples of billionaires with documented hardship
Forbes’ April 2026 roundup describes people whose backgrounds included poverty or serious hardship. It is a curated selection, not a comprehensive list or a representative sample of all billionaires. These examples show different circumstances; they should not be read as a ranking of who suffered most. Forbes’ April 2026 roundup.
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- Oprah Winfrey: Forbes includes her among people whose lives involved serious hardship. The roundup’s inclusion supports that broad characterization, not a claim that every aspect of her childhood can be reduced to “nothing.”
- Jan Koum: Forbes also names Koum among its examples of a billionaire who faced hardship. His inclusion is evidence of a documented story, not proof that his experience represents a typical path to wealth.
- LeBron James: Forbes includes James in the roundup of people who started with serious adversity. His story is distinct from the business-founder examples because his fortune was accumulated through a career in professional basketball and related opportunities.
- Thomas Peterffy: Forbes names Peterffy as another example of a difficult starting point. The roundup is an editorial selection and does not establish a comparable measure of hardship across all the people it features.
- David Steward: Steward is among the people Forbes describes in its hardship roundup. The available reporting supports inclusion as an example, rather than a claim about the prevalence of such backgrounds among the wealthy.
- Harold Hamm: Forbes includes Hamm in its selection of people who faced significant adversity. As with the other entries, the existence of a hardship narrative does not mean that family, educational, or other support was absent.
- Dolly Parton: Forbes also features Parton among those with difficult beginnings. Her example underscores that the ways people later build wealth differ substantially, even when their early circumstances involved hardship.
Why a hardship story may still include help or opportunity
A family’s limited money does not necessarily mean a person had no support, and a dramatic migration story does not capture every resource that helped someone advance. Forbes’ profile of billionaire Alec Gores offers a clear illustration: it says his family arrived in the United States in 1968 with $40 and two suitcases, and that he began bagging groceries at 15. The same profile notes that his father had owned a small construction company, an uncle sponsored the family’s immigration, and his parents supported his education. Those details can coexist; they make “started with nothing” an incomplete shorthand rather than a precise biography. Forbes’ Alec Gores profile.
What the available numbers do—and do not—show
Forbes reported that 184 of the 275 people scoring 6–10 on the 2022 Forbes 400 self-made scale came from wealthy, upper-middle-class, or middle-class backgrounds. That figure is about the 2022 Forbes 400 cohort—not all billionaires worldwide—and it does not measure the precise share who experienced poverty. Forbes summarized the pattern this way: “Rags-to-riches success stories are rare; most of the super wealthy have always had at least some advantages in life.” Forbes’ 2022 Forbes 400 analysis.
In the same 2022 cohort, 28 people—7% of the Forbes 400—received a score of 10, which Forbes defined as having lived under the poverty line or faced substantial adversity. The score combines two descriptions of hardship and should not be interpreted as a count of people who all experienced poverty specifically. Forbes’ 2022 scoring discussion.
A Peterson Institute for International Economics paper analyzed Forbes list data spanning 1996–2015. That historical analysis cannot establish the current proportion of billionaires who grew up in poverty. Nor do older profiles or lists establish the named figures’ current net worths: wealth estimates change over time, and the figures here concern backgrounds rather than present-day rankings. Peterson Institute paper on billionaire characteristics and wealth origins.
How to read “rags-to-riches” biographies
Biographies can document remarkable movement from hardship to wealth, but individual stories do not show how likely that outcome is for others. When evaluating a claim that someone “started with nothing,” separate the person’s childhood resources from the way their fortune was later accumulated.
- Childhood material hardship: Look for specific information about poverty or deprivation rather than relying only on a headline.
- Family circumstances: Consider household stability, migration, and the resources relatives could provide.
- Education and early work: Note access to schooling, training, jobs, or other routes into opportunity.
- Support: Include family, institutional, and community help where it is documented; hardship and support are not mutually exclusive.
- Wealth-building mechanism: Distinguish a fortune built through a company, an athletic or entertainment career, or another route. Different paths are not directly comparable.
Forbes’ 2016 profiles and its 2008 Gores story are accounts from their publication periods, not current wealth estimates. A separate 2015 TIME roundup was secondary reporting credited to Business Insider. Older lists can offer biographical context, but their dates and editorial selection matter when interpreting them. TIME’s 2015 roundup, credited to Business Insider.
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