Slim’s fortune grew by a massive $18.5 billion from 2009 to a whopping $53.3 billion, enough to unseat Mr. Gates. Warren Buffet is at third.

It’s been a tough year for many billionaires but check out who’s trailing Buffet in the top 5 list – Indians Mukesh Ambani and Lakshmi Mittal.

It’s a bit disconcerting though that the world’s top billionaires come from places where poverty is rampant. The US is still home to most of the world’s billionaires. Europe comes second but the Asia Pacfic comes at a very close third.

1. Carlos Slim – $53.3 bn
2. Bill Gates – $53 bn
3. Warren Buffet – $47 bn
4. Mukesh Ambani – $29 bn
5. Lakshmi Mittal – $28.7 bn

That’s probably one thing that I learned after a couple of years trying to implement my financial plan. In a perfect environment I should’ve saved up enough to start paying for a house and a car but for quite a lot of months I find myself channeling part of my savings to replenish my emergency fund.

Car needs repairs. House needs repairs. Medication for the seasonal bouts of illness. There are certainly times when I feel that luck just isn’t on my side. The important thing is that I’ve never let these setbacks throw me off entirely with my financial plan.

My savings are still untouched. My emergency fund replenished. My plans to acquire assets are simply taking a bit more time than planned. But I am not broke.

There’s no reason to throw good money after losing good money. I know a few people who’ve said “F*ck it!” to their savings plans after they were forced to spend on something unexpected.

While it does feel good to just buy yourself something to counter that feeling of “My money’s all going elsewhere other than to me,” binge spending as a way to cope is the worst thing you can do when implementing a financial plan.

Setbacks happen to everyone. If you think that the Joneses are doing much better, statistics would say that they really aren’t. Your neighbor might be driving a much newer car than you but chances are he’s still in the hole paying for it.

So don’t get permanently sidetracked when you get to spend money on emergencies. Emergencies happen and just sort things out the best way you can so you can get back saving for that first million.

My position regarding college loans isn’t really that firm, really. Every person’s case and circumstance is different from the other but debt is one of the financial killers out there and it doesn’t really make sense to place yourself tens of thousands of dollar in debt even before you earn your first real paycheck.

The recession has even made it more complex since the amount of job losses and unemployed made it even more tricky. A great number of borrowers find themselves still without jobs after graduation. With loans unpaid, they’re sinking into a deeper hole.

1. You don’t really need college to succeed… In my book, no amount of classroom learning can ever swap for life smarts and determination. I think we’ve already got too many Bill Gateses and Steve Jobses who can attest that a college degree is necessary to earn the big bucks.

2. …But learning it helps. Still, I have to press on the issue. You can’t mess with the statistics that tell you that college degree holders get more over a lifetime of earning than high school graduate counterparts.

3.Go for affordable education. If going to a more expensive college is not an option given your finances, then opt for a more affordable one. You can go to a state college or university. Or if even that will be a strain, then go to a community college.

4. Time things properly. You can always get better education anytime. You can opt for a BA degree now from a cheaper institution and take additional classes to supplement your learning with things relevant to your work. Drowning yourself in debt and interest for years after you graduate doesn’t really seem to be a sensible thing to do nowadays.

But what if you’re one of the better credit card users who escape certain fees and interest rates by paying the full amount on your statement every month? Do you still lose out on money? Chances are, you do. The yearly membership fee is one expense that you have to deal with and there maybe other fees that they can sneak up on you.

Still, you need not deal with such a fee. For the past year, I’ve been monitoring my use of the credit card and amazingly, I was able to break even on everything. That means I didn’t pay a single cent more than the things I purchased. Here’s what I did to “break even” with my credit card.

1. Use it only when buying items where prices for both cash and card purchases are the same. There are times when you would be able to ask for discounts on cash purchases since you take away the burden of the interchange fee from the store so they’re just happy to give you a part of it back as discount. But there are times when you don’t. I make sure that I only whip out my card when buying groceries or in restaurants.

2. Pay full and on time. Oftentimes, credit card companies impose fees to punish those who don’t pay. No need to expose myself to sky-high interest rates and late fees so I make sure that my statement is paid in full before the due date.

3. My credit card allows me to get points which I can redeem for rewards. I called up my credit card provider and asked if the accumulated points can be used to waive my yearly membership fee. Amazingly, they obliged. So they just docked my points and I didn’t even have to pay a single cent out of pocket.

By keeping to these three simple things, I was able to spend only on things that I actually bought and consumed. Did the credit card company make money? Yes, they did but not exactly from me but from the merchant. The real perks for my credit card use – I don’t have to carry that much cash around to buy stuff and my credit rating’s really good.

In the case of Lego, it’s about marketing and looking for ways to capitalize on hype. Their cash cow – the Star Wars franchise and their Lego City line.

Both produc lines helped Lego see a growth in their 2009 profits. Pre-tax profits rose a huge 55.9% from the previous year or an equivalent of $530 million.

Lego has also farmed out its production internationally with plants in Mexico, Czech Republic and Hungary. Not bad for a firm that started out in a carpenter’s workshop.

Source: CNN