Who are the big players?

How much money do you have? Can we one day be considered to be part of the elite, the top 1% in the world of wealth?

Well I wouldn't say it is impossible. So what are the ways you could make it into the elite?

• Stocks & Shares / Trading
• Winning the Lottery
• Climbing up the corporate ladder
• Property
• Going on the grind

I'm sure there are more feasible ways of doing it but it wouldn't say it is easy.

So who are the elite? Well, recently Brookfield and the Qatar Investment Authority had teamed up to launch an audacious £2.6bn bid to buy Songbird’s Canary Wharf portfolio: 34 office buildings and 300 shops and restaurants, serving the east London finance district’s 105,000 daily workers. The bid has been accepted as well. In the UK, Qatar already owns Harrods, Chelsea Barracks and the Shard, Europe's tallest skyscraper. Now they are taking over Canary Wharf as well. Just imagine the shear mass of these numbers. If you think £2.6bn is a lot try this on for size.

Apple announced their last quarter financial figures. They stand at a shocking $18bn (£11.6bn) in net profit, they also have $142bn (£93bn) in net cash reserves. What do these figures mean? Apple has enough cash reserves to float the US dollar. Crazy isn't it.

Here's another example: The wealthiest man in Asia; Li Ka-Shing is on the verge of purchasing O2 for a staggering £10bn. Amazing right? Well he already owns the Three network, this would mean a massive monopolising force in the mobile courier market as O2 and Three combined would stand for 40% of the market against their competitors of EE, Vodafone and some others.

Well, unless you play big you will never reach that target; but let’s be realistic it won’t be possible for most of us but we can dream.

Buildings of Wealth