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Grizzly Bulls’ Billionaires Index

⬅ # 42 Gianluigi Aponte|# 44 Gérard Wertheimer ➡

# 43 Thomas Peterffy 

$35.5B

Real Time Net Worth
as of 5/13/2024
$36.4M (0.10%)

# 43 Thomas Peterffy 

$35.5B

Real Time Net Worth
as of 5/13/2024
$36.4M (0.10%)
Source of WealthDiscount Brokerage
Age79
ResidencePalm Beach, Florida
Marital StatusDivorced
Children3
EducationDrop Out, New York University
Age-Adjusted Net Worth$9.82B
Thomas Peterffy
Thomas Peterffy
United States
Net worth: $35.5B

Self-Made Score 

Wealth History

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Biography

Timeline

Thomas Peterffy was born on September 30, 1944, in Budapest, Hungary.
He arrived in the U.S. in 1965 at the age of 21, joining his father in New York.
Initially penniless, his father gave him $100 and encouraged him to 'make something of himself.'
He began his U.S. career as an architectural draftsman and later transitioned to computer programming.
In 1977, he purchased a seat on the American Stock Exchange and contributed to developing the first electronic trading platform for securities.
Peterffy founded Interactive Brokers in 1993 after initially starting in market-making.
He served as the CEO until December 2019.
In March 2017, part of his market-making operation phased out due to competition from faster rivals.

Early Career and Interactive Brokers

Peterffy left engineering studies in Hungary to join his father in the U.S.
Started as an architectural draftsman, volunteered to program a computer, and transitioned to finance.
Bought a seat on the American Stock Exchange, traded equity options, and introduced handheld computers to the trading floor in the early 1980s.
His trading-related business evolved into Interactive Brokers, a major online discount brokerage firm.

Interactive Brokers Expansion

In 2021, Interactive Brokers moved its European headquarters to London and outsourced operations to continental centers.
Established a subsidiary, Interactive Brokers Central Europe Zrt., based in Budapest, Hungary.
Contributed to a $50 million investment fund for The Messenger, a news website launched in May 2023.
Thomas Peterffy now owns 75% of Interactive Brokers

Regulatory Influence and Political Views

In 1999, Peterffy influenced the SEC to link U.S. options markets electronically for better options prices.
Testified before the United States Senate Banking Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment on banking regulations.
During the 2012 U.S. presidential campaign, Peterffy created political ads supporting the Republican Party.

Personal Life

Divorced with three children, Peterffy is an avid equestrian, residing in Palm Beach, Florida.
In 2020, he sold his Connecticut estate for $21 million after originally listing it for $65 million in 2015.

How long would it take you to become as rich as Thomas Peterffy?

If you started with $10,000 and invested an additional $500 each month at a 44.01% CAGR, it would take you 5 years to reach Thomas Peterffy's net worth of $35.5B.

Is this realistic? It depends how closely the VIX-TA-Macro Advanced model performs to its history in the future. Since Grizzly Bulls launched on January 1, 2022, it's returned 40.45% compared to 10.08% for the S&P 500 benchmark.

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Thomas Peterffy is very wealthy, but what's stopping you from reaching that same level of success? As summarized in our five fundamental rules to wealth building, becoming wealthy in a modern capitalist economy is not complicated. There's actually only three variables:

  1. Your starting capital
  2. Your earnings after expenses
  3. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of your savings

Most people start with zero or very little, so if you weren't born into wealth, don't fret! The majority of the fortunate folks listed in our Grizzly Bulls’ Billionaires Index came from middle class or lower backgrounds. The most distinguishing characteristic of the group is their ability to consistently earn a high CAGR on their savings.

Every billionaire has a unique strategy to achieve high CAGR. For Thomas Peterffy, Discount Brokerage is the primary source. Whether you choose to invest your savings in your own businesses or the businesses of others is not as important. The salient piece of the puzzle is ensuring that your hard-earned savings are generating sufficient CAGR to reach your long term goals.

Most people simply invest their money in index funds and call it a day. There's nothing wrong with this approach, but it guarantees relative mediocrity. To achieve greatness, you need to invest your money to earn higher than average returns. In the long run, better investors will always finish ahead of better earners.

Source: Grizzly Bulls reporting

Methodology: Grizzly Bulls' Billionaires Index is a daily ranking of the world's billionaires and richest people. Grizzly Bulls strives to provide the most accurate net worth calculations available. We pull data from public equity markets, SEC filings, public real estate records, and other reputable sources.

The index is dynamic and updates daily at the close of U.S. stock market trading based on changes in the markets, economy, and updates to Grizzly Bulls' proprietary algorithm of personal wealth calculation. Stakes in public companies are tracked daily based on the relevant closing prices of the underlying securities. Additionally, stakes in private companies, cash, real estate, and other less easily valued assets are updated periodically through careful analysis of insider transactions, comparable public company sales / EBITDA multiples, etc.

Edited by: Lee Bailey