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Grizzly Bulls’ Billionaires Index

⬅ # 597 Martha Ingram|# 599 Clemente Del Vecchio ➡

# 598 William Berkley 

$5.52B

Real Time Net Worth
as of 11/21/2024
$10.3M (0.19%)

# 598 William Berkley 

$5.52B

Real Time Net Worth
as of 11/21/2024
$10.3M (0.19%)
OccupationChair and CEO, W. R. Berkley
Source of WealthInsurance
Age78
ResidenceCoconut Grove, Florida
Marital StatusMarried
Children3
EducationMBA, Harvard University; BS, New York University
Age-Adjusted Net Worth$1.63B
William Berkley
William Berkley
United States
Net worth: $5.52B

Self-Made Score 

TAG Heuer Formula 1 Watch

Wealth History

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Biography

Overview

William R. Berkley, born in 1946, is the founder and current chairman of W. R. Berkley Corporation, a renowned commercial lines property & casualty insurance holding company.
He launched W.R. Berkley with a modest $2,500 while pursuing his MBA at Harvard in 1967, which later went public in 1974.
The company, operating in 60 countries, covers diverse assets from mobile surgery units to fine art, amassing $9.5 billion in sales in 2021.
Berkley stepped down as CEO in 2015, retaining 20% ownership, with his son, William Robert Berkley Jr., assuming the role of CEO and president.

Early Life and Education

Berkley was raised in North Jersey as the middle child of three boys, enduring the loss of his father in an airplane crash at age 11.
At 12, he began investing in stocks with earnings from lawn mowing.
He earned his undergraduate degree from New York University Stern School of Business in 1966, followed by an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1968.
During his Harvard years, he managed a $2 million mutual fund with a classmate, Paul Dean, operating from their campus apartment.

Career

In 1967, Berkley founded W. R. Berkley Corporation, later taking it public in November 1973 with a 23.8% ownership stake.
Transitioning to Executive Chairman in 2015, he passed the CEO position to his son, William Robert Berkley Jr.
He has chaired the board of New York University since 2014, his alma mater.

Personal Life

Berkley is married to Marjorie, his former secretary at the inception of his company, and they have three children.

W. R. Berkley

Company Details
W. R. Berkley Corporation, based in Greenwich, Connecticut, is a leading commercial lines property & casualty insurance holding company.
Operating globally, it provides commercial insurance in various regions and reinsurance in select markets.
Ranked 397th on the Fortune 500, the company has a diverse portfolio covering a wide array of assets.
Founded in 1967 by William R. Berkley, it became a public company via an IPO in November 1973, with the founder owning nearly a quarter of the company at the time.

Company History
Since its founding, W. R. Berkley Corporation has grown through strategic acquisitions and expansions.
In 1994, it acquired Key Risk Management Services Inc., followed by acquiring Signet Star's remaining interest in 1995.
In the same year, it also acquired MECC for $138 million, expanding its portfolio.
Further expansion occurred in August 2006 with the acquisition of Garnet Captive Services LLC, enhancing its presence in insurance brokerage and risk consulting.
In 2015, William R. Berkley's son, W. Robert Berkley Jr., assumed the role of President and CEO.

William Berkley's Wealth is Equivalent to:

4,247,883 Herman Miller Aeron Chairs

Herman Miller Aeron Chair

1,044,087 Gold Bars (50 gram)

24K Solid 50g Gold Ingot

56,395 Tiny Homes

Tiny House, Two Bedroom Solar Prefab Home

How long would it take you to become as rich as William Berkley?

If you started with $10,000 and invested an additional $500 each month at a 43.43% CAGR, it would take you 5 years to reach William Berkley's net worth of $5.52B.

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 58.67% compared to 23.91% for the S&P 500 benchmark.

Enter data in all but one field below, then calculate the missing value

William Berkley 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 William Berkley, Insurance 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.

Affiliate Disclosure: Some of the links on this page are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, we may earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. We only recommend products or services we believe will add value to our readers.

Edited by: Lee Bailey