Forbes Magazine gets these questions a lot, and finallydecided it was time to go beyond the broad answers of smarts, ambition and luck by sorting through otheir database of  the ultra wealthy in search of trends.

Forbes analyzed everything from the billionaires’ parents’ professions… to where (or if) they went to school… their track records in the early stages of their careers… and other experiences that may have put them on the path to extreme wealth.

Their admittedly unscientific study of the 657 self-made billionaires yielded some interesting results.

Some of the most common professions among the parents of American billionaires (for whom Forbes  could find the information) were: engineer, accountant and small-business owner.

Those who became a billionaire by making  their fortunes from finance make up one of the most highly educated sub-groups: More than 55% of them have graduate degrees. Nearly 90% of those with M.B.A.s obtained their master’s degree from one of three Ivy League schools: Harvard, Columbia or U. Penn’s Wharton School of Business.

But you don’t have to go to college to become a billionaire. More than 20% of the self-made American moguls on the most recent list of the world’s billionaires never finished college. Many of them made their fortunes in the tech sector. Among them:  Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Michael Dell, Larry Ellison, (Oracle) and Theodore Waitt (Gateway).

Several ultra wealthy billionaires suffered a bitter professional setbacks early in their careers. Pharmaceutical tycoon R.J. Kirk’s first venture was a flop–an experience he regrets but appreciates. Failure early on is a necessary condition for success, though not a sufficient one, he told Forbes in 2007.

According to a statement read by Phil Falcone during a congressional hearing, his botched buyout of a company in Newark in the early 1990s taught him several valuable lessons that have had a profound impact upon my success as a hedge fund manager.

Want to become a billionaire. One place to start is to first learn to think like a millionaire. And YES, this IS possible.

Source: Forbes