The vital statistics of the vocational millionaires

The fifth City & Guilds Vocational Rich List reveals 60 millionaires each with a personal fortune of £10 million or more, showing that business is booming among the UK’s self-made stars.

Over the last five years, the 25 wealthiest ‘Rich Listers’ have tripled their fortunes from £2.7bn to £9.3bn, and they have £372 million banked away on average – in shares, property and other investments.

Compared to the first ever City & Guilds study, the Rich Listers’ individual fortunes have risen by approximately 250%. Compare that with the rise in the average UK salary over that five year period (12%) and it’s easy to see which one has the better rate of inflation! 

And with more than two-thirds of our gold-plated Rich Listers still in the same industry they took their qualifications in, there’s no reason why you can’t turn the hands-on route into a lifetime of success.

This year’s City & Guilds Rich Listers share some surprising traits.  Take a look and see if you have anything in common – you never know, you might already be on your way!

Is your fate written in the stars?

Fancy making a mint? Well it helps if you’re male, a Gemini…and preferably called John.

There are some other things our millionaires have in common:

• An impressive one in four of our millionaires are Geminis, but all is not lost if your star sign is Cancer - one sixth of the top 25 are Cancerians, including hair-care millionaire John Frieda.
  
• People born in the summer months seem to have the Midas touch - 12 of the UK’s top 25 vocational millionaires were born between May and August.

Don’t panic if that’s not you – there’s plenty of other people out there who have made their fortunes by doing work-related training and qualifications!

Read on to see if your name could make a difference…

What’s in a name?

We’re not superstitious, but prospective parents who want to give their kids the best start in life might want to bear in mind that this year’s top 60 vocational millionaires include eight Johns, three Bills and three Alan/Allans.

At the summit is none other than John Cauldwell, founder of Phones 4U, reigning at the top of the City & Guilds Vocational Rich List with an estimated personal kitty of £1.6 billion.  John single-handedly accounts for around one sixth of the total wealth of the UK’s top 25 vocational millionaires.  The telecoms magnate has been king of the City & Guilds Vocational Rich List for four out of its five years and since 2003 his wealth has almost doubled, from £840 million to £1.6 billion.

Expectant mums could favour the name Laurence instead.  The impressive rise of John Cauldwell’s closest rival, Laurence Graff of Graff Diamonds, proves there’s more to diamonds than just being a girl’s best friend..  Not only has he retained a constant top five presence in the City & Guilds Vocational Rich List for the past five years but he has increased his wealth tenfold, from £157 million to £1.5 billion and rising.

How about the royal seal of approval?

The sky’s the limit for this year’s City & Guilds’ Rich Listers. 

Newly-knighted Sir James Dyson is not the only millionaire to have been recognised by the Queen: Welsh technology tycoon Sir Terry Matthews and Dame Anita Roddick join him in the Top 25. 

Casting the net wider, 7 of the 60 top vocational millionaires have been knighted in the New Year’s Honours List. 

Your future’s in your hands

An impressive 90% of the top 25 millionaires on this year’s Vocational Rich List are entirely self-made. 

Even Jack Tordoff and Peter Dawson, the two vocational stars that inherited businesses, took on small family operations and turned them into more profitable businesses.  Peter is the eighth richest man on the list, and Jack squeezes into the top ten with a personal wealth of £210 million.

All this proves that work-related training and qualifications really do pay off.

If you fancy your chances and want to see your name in lights on a future Vocational Rich List, click here to find out more information about the careers mentioned on the list or about our other qualifications.