No hedge funder made more money last year than Bridgewater Associates founder Raymond Dalio — he made $3.9 billion.
Not bad for the son of a jazz musician from Jackson Heights, Queens.
Most of the time we imagine powerful Wall Streeters growing up in the lap of luxury, going to boarding school and attending Ivy League Universities.
But it isn't always like that, there are a handful of other Wall Streeters who started their lives in either impoverished or very humble conditions before they made their journey to the top of the financial world.
We've compiled a list of these Wall Streeters with a rags to riches tale to tell. Some of them might surprise you.
Ray Dalio
Ray Dalio grew up in Jackson Heights, Queens. His father was a jazz musician.
He bought his first stock (Northeast Airlines) in the 1960s with money earned working as a golf caddy. He was just 12 years old, and the shares eventually tripled in value.
He attended Long Island University in 1967. After that, he clerked at the NYSE before attending Harvard Business School.
He worked at Dominick and Dominick LLC and then Shearson Hayden Stone before founding his hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates in his NYC apartment in 1973. Now it's the largest hedge fund in the world.
John Stumpf
John Stumpf shared a room with his brothers until he was married — enough said, right?
Well there's more. He grew up on a dairy and poultry farm in Minnesota. He had bad grades and high school and his parents had no money so he ended up working as a bread maker after he graduated.
He finally got into St. Cloud University and worked as a repossession agent at First Bank in St. Paul, Minnesota. That's what lead him to getting his MBA at the University of Minnesota.
Now he's the CEO of Wells Fargo.
Source: LA Times,
Jon Corzine
Disgraced former MF Global chief executive Jon Corzine touted his humble beginnings during political campaigns for office.
Corzine grew up on a small family farm in Illinois.
His father farmed the land and sold insurance and his mother taught elementary school.
He later became the chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs.
When he left Goldman he was believed to have a net worth of $350 million.
After his stint at Goldman, he was a U.S. senator and the governor of New Jersey.
Then he became the CEO of MF Global, which recently filed for bankruptcy.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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