• Multiple celebrities have come out this year, including Sophia Bush.
• Many have said they hope their visibility will help others who identify as LGBTQ+.
• Here are 16 stars who have opened up about their sexuality or gender identity this year. 

We are halfway through 2024, and 16 celebrities have spoken about their sexuality and gender identity for the first time.

In the last few years, some critics have questioned whether stars still need to announce they are coming out, as wider society becomes more accepting of the LGBTQ+ community.

But Renée Rapp, Deshawn Radden, and other stars have said they hope that talking about their journeys could help any fans struggling with their LGBTQ+ identity.

Sophia Bush wrote in an essay for Glamour in April that she thought it was especially important to be vocal about her sexuality after she saw that state legislators had introduced more than 500 anti-LGBTQ bills in 2023.

Here are 16 stars who have come out in 2024 and what they have said about their journey.

Julia Fox

On July 8, Julia Fox appeared to come out as a lesbian on TikTok, a year and a half after she said she wanted to explore her "gay bone."

On Monday, Fox shared a clip by the comedian Gracin, who theorized that women who are mean to their boyfriends are lesbians who haven't figured out their sexuality yet.

Fox then says: "Hey, that was me. I was that lesbian. So sorry, boys. Won't happen again."

This is the first time Fox has spoken about her sexuality since her appearance on the "Ziwe" talk show in November 2022, when she said she had been thinking about dating women.

"Because I do think maybe I have some. I have a gay bone and I need to explore that a little bit more," Fox said. "Like maybe my ex-boyfriends weren't wrong when they were calling me a lesbian and complaining that I never wanted to have sex with them."

Fox also told the "The Drew Barrymore Show" in October 2023 that she had "sworn off men."

Sophia Bush

In October 2023, multiple outlets reported that Sophia Bush was dating soccer player Ashlyn Harris. This news came shortly after Harris and her ex-wife Ali Krieger filed for divorce, so some fans called Harris a cheater and accused Bush of being a "homewrecker."

Harris denied the cheating allegations in a statement in November 2023.

In April, Bush came out as queer in an essay for Glamour's cover story about her recent divorce and how her relationship with Harris began.

In the essay, Bush wrote that she hated the idea of "having to come out in 2024" but thought it was important with the increase of legislation against the anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.

"I think I've always known that my sexuality exists on a spectrum," Bush wrote. "Right now I think the word that best defines it is queer. I can't say it without smiling, actually. And that feels pretty great."

Bush added later that coming out publicly was a weight off her shoulders.

"I finally feel like I can breathe. I don't think I can explain how profound that is," Bush said. "I can feel my legs and feet. I can feel my feet in my shoes right now. It makes me want to cry and laugh at the same time."

In the essay, Bush said she caught feelings for Harris after they supported each other during their respective divorce proceedings. She also said she was hurt when people began criticizing the relationship.

"It's painful to be doing deep work and have it picked apart by clueless strangers," Bush said. "Just because I didn't want to process my realizations in real time on social media and spell them out for the world doesn't mean the journey wasn't long and thoughtful and exhaustive."

Reneé Rapp

For years, Reneé Rapp has identified as bisexual. However, in the early months of 2024, she began to identify as a lesbian.

In January, she said on Andy Cohen's SiriusXM radio show: "I don't think I like boys." Later that month, when she appeared in a sketch on "Saturday Night Live," she was referred to as a "little lesbian intern."

In February, she told The Hollywood Reporter that she is a lesbian. She said her journey with her sexuality was similar to that of her "Sex Lives of College Girls" character, Leighton Murray.

"It is so interesting that at the time I wasn't even aware that what I was experiencing in my own personal life was actually exactly what I was doing onscreen," Rapp said. "I was in a relationship with a man, incredibly confused, unsure of myself, feeling so insecure in my acting."

Rapp added later that she had only recently started referring to herself as a lesbian.

"I've only recently been in a relationship where I'm like, 'Yeah, I'm a lesbian for sure,'" she said. "It's also been the most rewarding, validating, scary, and exciting experience ever."

In June, Rapp told Them that she was nervous about publicly coming out on "Saturday Night Live" because some of her friends responded negatively.

"I stayed off my phone for a couple days because I was so fucking terrified and felt so shitty but then it was just, like, a thing, and it felt good," Rapp said of what she did after appearing on "SNL."

Madame LaQueer

In January, PinkNews reported that "Ru Paul's Drag Race" season four contestant Madame LaQueer came out a trans on her Instagram story and changed her stage name to Madame Cassandra Uzumaki LaQueer.

A day later, LaQueer told Entertainment Weekly that she spontaneously decided to come out after liking how she looked in the mirror after trimming her eyebrows.

She said that she realized she was trans in 2006 but had struggled to come to terms with it and experience a "12-year long depression." LaQuuer said she eventually decided to accept her trans identity after having a conversation with Jade Jolie, another "Drag Race" contestant who came out in October 2023.

"It came out in the conversation, and she knew everything I was going to say. She clocked it quickly, and it just made sense. Like, girl, it's now or never," LaQueer said.

LaQueer added that she hoped coming out would help others who have struggled to accept their identity.

"It's never too late to come out and live your true experience and be yourself and be authentic. There's nothing like feeling loved in your own skin," she said.

Amanda Tori Meating

A week later, another "Ru Paul's Drag Race" star came out as trans.

Amanda Tori Meating, who starred in the most recent season of "Drag Race," told Entertainment Weekly's "Quick Drag" podcast that appearing on the reality show earlier this year helped her figure out her gender identity.

She identified as nonbinary for four years before appearing on "Drag Race," but she said it didn't feel right. Meating said when she started to consider that she was trans, her former husband was not OK with it, partly causing their divorce.

"It wasn't at all supported by my partner, and it ended up being a big part of why I had to leave, because he didn't want to be with a trans person," Meating said. "I was in a bad place about it, mentally, for a while, but you get to a point where you're like, I have to do what's right for me, and that involved getting out of that."

Meating added that hearing people calling her Amanda or using she/her pronouns for her made her feel "a bit more comfortable in the reformation of my identity."

"That experience helped push me out of the nest a little bit and crack the egg," she said, adding that she refers to herself as a "t-girl" because she doesn't feel ready to call herself a transwoman.

Bethany Antonia

"House of the Dragon" star Bethany Antonia came out as gay while responding to racist trolls.

Multiple media outlets reported in late April that Antonia shared a racist DM she had received on her Instagram story.

"'N**** you look like a piece of shit," the message read. "It's a miracle they even included you in the trailer. But we don't care. I hope you accidentally die on set."

Below the DM, Antonia captioned the post: "Wait till they find out I'm gay too."

Many fans shared posts supporting Antonia after the story went viral.

Bruce Joel Rubin

Bruce Joel Rubin, the 81-year-old screenwriter behind "Ghost," came out as gay while promoting his memoir "It's Only a Movie."

Rubin told The Guardian in May that he's known he is gay since childhood. Rubin said he had told his wife, Blanche, and children long before he came out.

"I don't like that I was closeted for so long but it would just have confused people," Rubin said, before adding. "I didn't want to leave this world with any secrets.'"

Rubin said he told his wife Blanche that he was gay when they first met but that he enjoyed sex with women. Rubin said Blanche did not mind, and they married two years later.

"Clearly, I held back my sexuality. My sexual life was always very internalized. Of course, one wants orgasmic life, but I had orgasms with Blanche. She and I had a good sex life," Rubin said.

He added: "And I'll tell you something you'll find out: when you hit your 80s and you think your libido is gone, it comes flying back. So big! Male beauty for me is overwhelmingly powerful. Just seeing someone in the supermarket, I feel this explosive joy."

Colin Grafton

"Dancing On Ice" UK star Colin Grafton came out during an interview with PinkNews in February.

Grafton, who is a former US Olympic skater, told PinkNews that he has never hidden his sexuality but has never felt the need to announce it.

"I told my closest friends, I told the people around me and I eventually told my parents. I was maybe 24 when all that happened," Grafton said. "I know there's a lot of curiosity about my sexual orientation and my love life, but I never actually came out to the public."

He added: "If I'm honest, I never really felt the need to announce it before but the reason I am saying this now is because I want to show that there is representation in any way I can."

Zoe Lister-Jones

In February, actor Zoe Lister-Jones came out as queer while on the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards red carpet alongside her new partner Sammi Cohen, the director of "You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah."

"I'm here, I'm queer, I have some fear but I'm working through it," Lister-Jones told The Hollywood Reporter.

Lister-Jones also praised the Spirit Awards for having genderless award categories.

"All award shows should follow in their footsteps and make categories genderless," she said. "I'm dating a nonbinary person. I'm friends with so many nonbinary people. And I think that without really shifting the paradigm in a larger way, it's closing a lot of doors for really important voices."

Grace Wilson

Grace Wilson was Australia's first professional football player to come out as nonbinary.

Wilson, a goalkeeper for Adelaide United and Young Matildas, spoke to Holly Ransom, Australia's Pride Cup chair, about their gender identity in a video published on Adelaide United's YouTube page on March 1.

In the video, Wilson said they realized they were nonbinary in 2022 after shaving their hair for charity. Later in the video, Wilson said they decided to reveal their gender identity because they wanted people to refer to them in the way they were comfortable with.

"I didn't really realize kind of how angry I was getting at people for when they were misgendering me and they didn't know because I didn't tell them," Wilson said.

They added: "So I've decided that I can't live like that anymore. I want to be fully myself. I want to fully embrace this, and I want other people to be able to refer to me in ways that I'm comfortable with."

Matt Terry

In late March, Matt Terry, the winner of "X Factor" UK season 13, said he is part of the LGBTQ+ community in an interview with Gay Times to promote a new song.

The new song, "His Car," was about Terry's previous relationship with a man and how he kept their romance a secret.

"I said to him, 'You're not allowed to tell anyone about this' and he loved me enough to do so," Terry said. "Six, seven, years later, I realize that's not something we should be doing, and it's not something you should ask somebody. It's such a regret of mine, and I'm just really sorry."

In 2016, while Terry was competing in "X Factor" UK, multiple tabloids began speculating about his sexuality.

Terry said this period was "fucking hard" because he hadn't come out yet to his friends or family.

"The press, and people around me in the music industry, were asking me for an answer I could've give, because it wasn't an area I'd explored yet. I'd never been with a man at this point," Terry added, saying this made him step back from the industry for a few years.

Terry said he is currently in a relationship with a man and is "very proud" of his sexuality.

Sean Gunn

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Sean Gunn, an Olympic swimmer for Zimbabwe, publicly came out during an interview with Outsports, published on March 22.

Gunn said he realized he was gay while studying at the University of Kentucky and was supported by his peers.

"I think in my head I built it up for so long, and I was terrified that the way they acted or treated me would be different," Gunn said. "But I was really lucky that everyone was so amazing and wanted me to be the happiest version of myself."

He added that he came out to his family and friends back home later.

"As someone who did struggle with coming out and only did come out at 27 to my family, it makes me so happy to be surrounded by friends and family and so much love, and am really grateful for them all," Gunn said.

Jessica Gunning

"Baby Reindeer" star Jessica Gunning publicly came out as "a big old gay" during an appearance on the "Reign with Josh Smith" podcast in June.

Gunning said she came out to her parents in November 2022 after realizing she was gay at age 36.

"That was a mega, mega thing for me. I'm surrounded by gays, all my friends are gay, and so it wasn't that I was repressing anything," Gunning said. "It was just that I didn't think I could be, and I still can't articulate it in the best way."

She added: "But yeah, I realized I was a big old gay, and I was like, 'That's what it's been. That's what it is.' That was a massive moment where everything clicked, and I made sense for myself then."

Gunning said that realizing she was gay was "the most liberating thing," and she slept well after telling her parents.

Bulk Bronson

https://t.co/i7WPptfF7a pic.twitter.com/aBeLqbLTCA

— Bulk Bronson (@bearbronsonBC) June 3, 2024

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

On June 3, WWE wrestler Joe Fitzpatrick, also known as "Dirty Bulk" Bronson, came out as bisexual in a social media post.

Fitzpatrick's fiancée, Gabby Forza, took part in a trend where people post a picture of themselves and the flag that indicates their sexuality. She explained that she identified as bi/pansexual & queer.

Fitzpatrick responded to the tweet with a picture of himself and the bisexual flag.

After receiving much support from his fans and friends, Fitzpatrick shared a statement on social media a day later.

"I've been left speechless by the endless phone calls, texts, DM's, replies from faithful fans, my close friends, our scumbag, and so many others I've had new interactions with," Fitzpatrick wrote.

"Between the social media response — and just now getting off a 55-minute phone call with my parents that was overflowing with so much love & uplifting support — I could run through a brick wall right now from how grateful I feel," he added.

Fitzpatrick said he felt ready to come out after his fiancée and friends inspired him.

"I feel like the luckiest guy in the world today. I love every single one of you for making me feel this way," he said. "Thank you. Happy Pride."

Maren Morris

On Sunday, Maren Morris, a Grammy-winning country singer, came out as bisexual in an Instagram post.

"Happy to be the B in LGBTQ+," Morris captioned a slideshow of pictures from her sold-out concert in Phoenix.

Deshawn Radden

Deshawn Radden came out as queer on June 10 when he appeared on the "Survivor"-focused podcast, "The Pride has Spoken."

On the podcast, Radden, the runner-up in "Survivor" season 41, was interviewed by one of his costars Evvie Jagoda, who identifies as queer and nonbinary/transmasc.

Radden told Jagoda that they taught them the term "queer," and Radden realized this term fit him more than straight or gay.

"You spoke power into the word because when I was growing up, queer was a very derogatory term for people," Radden said. "So just watching you and you owning your title as you know a queer person was very, very influential to me."

Radden said he came out to his family in 2021 at age 25 but was unsure whether he should make a public statement, so he didn't bring it up while on "Survivor."

Radden said he first realized he was different when he was four or five but was constantly told that being gay or acting like a woman was bad.

He added that before he realized he was queer, he felt a lot of "anguish almost every single day" and turned to "substance abuse" to cope.

Later the same day, Radden said he was a "queer black man" in an Instagram post.

"As of today, I look to do 2 things: 1. No longer live in duality, but in truth & oneness 2. Be an example that God loves each of us and can/will use anyone," Radden wrote. "To anyone who may struggle reconciling parts of your identity with your faith, this is my advice: Experience God, on your own, through genuine relationship and see what happens. Love!"

• Tanushree Srivastava moved to Nottingham, England, in 2021 to pursue her master's degree. 
• Srivastava was surprised by how much she enjoyed living in the smaller, student city.
• She eventually relocated to London for better job opportunities after graduating.  

I moved to Nottingham in 2021 from India to pursue my master's degree at Nottingham Trent University. I'd dreamed of studying in London and didn't expect much from the smaller English city.

I thought Nottingham would just be one stop on my career journey, but it became my home away from home.

Beginning life in the UK

I arrived in the UK for the first time in 2021 as an international student. England felt so different from home. The weather in September was chilly, and lush green parks were everywhere around my accommodation.

I had pre-booked a studio apartment in Nottingham city center with my friend, another international student at Nottingham Trent University.

This studio was part of private student accommodation located in the city center and was cheaper and more spacious than the university's offering. We viewed and booked the accommodation remotely through an online student rental agency.

Our shared studio cost around £197 a week, about $1,000 a month, including bills. My friend and I split the expenses, so it was a good deal.

When I successfully moved all my stuff to my studio, we had to quarantine according to the UK's COVID-19 protocols.

Differences living in Nottingham compared to India

My first visit outside my accommodation was to a grocery store. I was shocked by the prices as I mentally converted them into my home country's currency. Everything was very expensive.

I bought an ice cream for £6 or 600 rupees, the most expensive I'd ever purchased.

I didn't experience a cultural shock when I moved to the UK, as I have always watched movies and documentaries about life abroad. But I loved absorbing the new experiences.

Back in my home country, I was affected by the extra-busy lifestyle of a metropolitan city, including the crowds, pollution, and other factors. I always craved fresh air and open spaces.

Nottingham is a bustling city, but there is always easy access to green spaces.

There are many parks and gardens and a path near the River Trent. Even universities like Nottingham Trent and the University of Nottingham have huge gardens and greenery for students.

I'm a big foodie and struggled to find good Indian food options, as the dishes and cuisines were very different from what I was accustomed to. After days of exploration and research, I found some amazing spots for my favorite Indian dishes.

Another difference I noticed was how multicultural Nottingham was. During orientation, I met so many people from countries all over. Everything from their language to their food preferences varied.

Nottingham is charmingly historic and artsy

Despite arriving in the city during the COVID and staying in quarantine for the first 10 days, I quickly found myself enchanted by the city's charm.

On my first stroll around the "Old Market Square," or the city center, I bought some clothes from White Rose, a vintage chain people in Nottingham love. Then, I had a coffee break at Cafe Nero and further explored the Lace Market, one of Nottingham's oldest areas, and its history.

Walking around the city and visiting various artsy shops, thrift stores, and exhibitions became my favorite activity.

One of the best parts of living in Nottingham was the commitment to its status as a "student city." Museums, cafés, shops, and markets often had student discounts. On arrival as a university student, you're introduced to many apps and offers by student ambassadors or advertisements posted around. I loved the apps Unidays and Student Beans. They had discounts on almost everything.

The city has a youthful energy. There was a big venue called Rock City for clubbing and the Nottingham Bowl for bowling and arcade games, which were £4 per game for students on Thursdays.

Moving to London

As much as I adored Nottingham, I eventually faced a harsh reality: its limited job market.

As a student in Nottingham, I gained many life experiences, including buying groceries, managing my budget, and making new friends. But while the city provided ample opportunities for personal growth and exploration, it couldn't compete with London's career prospects.

I started a part time job as a warehouse operative at a luxury brand while I was a student and took a few internships to enhance my résumé.

After graduating in September 2022, I applied for a post-study work visa, which allows international students to work or apply for jobs for two more years after finishing their courses.

I applied for the graduate visa in December 2022, which cost me around £2,000. This extension allowed me to work toward my dream of settling in the UK.

Finding a full-time job in the creative industry in Nottingham was hard. My income from part-time roles was insufficient and didn't help me pursue my career goals in writing and editing.

The decision to move to London was tough as I had no definite job position lined up, but I felt there were no more opportunities to pursue in Nottingham. Even though my cost of living doubled, moving to London was worth a chance.

The risk paid off and I landed a journalism internship based in London.

Nottingham will always be special to me

My time in Nottingham was transformative. I will always love the city and consider it home. I still love visiting my friends back there and cherish a weekend's worth of bowling and great food.

• BYD is ramping up its quest for global electric vehicle dominance. 
• The Chinese EV maker has struck a deal to build a $1 billion factory in Turkey.
• It could provide BYD with a route around the EU's punishing tariffs on Chinese EV makers.

BYD is ramping up its quest for global EV dominance.

The Chinese EV giant, which briefly overtook Elon Musk's company as the world's top seller of EVs last year, has struck a deal to build a $1 billion factory in Turkey.

According to a statement shared on X by Turkey's minister of industry and technology, Mehmet Fatih, the factory is slated to begin production by the end of 2026 and will have capacity to produce around 150,000 vehicles a year.

Business Insider contacted BYD for comment but didn't immediately hear back.

It's BYD's second planned factory in Europe and could provide the company with a route around the punishing tariffs the European Union imposed on Chinese EV firms last month.

Turkey is part of the EU's Customs Union, and any BYD cars manufactured there could avoid the 17.4% additional tariff the EU slapped on BYD vehicles imported from China.

BYD and its rivals are walking a fine line as they rapidly expand globally, even as Western governments launch crackdowns to try and protect their own auto industries from a wave of cheap Chinese imports.

Building factories and moving production locally may be one way to circumvent tough trade restrictions, though it's possible new rules will be established to prevent this. Plans by Chinese EV giants BYD, MG, and Chery to build factories in Mexico have sparked concern among US officials over fears they could be used as a "backdoor" into the US market.

Philip Nothard, insight and strategy director at automotive consultancy Cox Automotive, told Business Insider that BYD's latest move was proof of the Chinese carmaker's ambitious plans for international and European investment.

"Although tariffs may create slight bumps in the road, the likes of BYD, Chery, and others have a strategy that means they can react swiftly to any challenges," he said.

"These moves are as much about supply chains, local resource efficiencies, and international growth as they are about tariffs," Nothard added.

BYD's growing presence in Europe is another potential headache for Elon Musk.

Tesla, which has a gigafactory in Germany, counts Europe as one of its most important markets — but the automaker, which imports certain models to Europe from China, has also been hit by the EU's China crackdown and warned earlier this year that prices of the Model 3 in Europe could rise as a result.

Tesla is locked in a global struggle for sales with BYD, with a recent report from auto research firm Counterpoint indicating that Tesla is set to be overtaken by its Chinese rival as the world's largest seller of EVs later this year.

• A Ryanair flight turned around soon after takeoff after an argument escalated.
• One passenger told The Sun that a man had asked to switch seats to sit with his family. 
• The incident led to an overnight delay with passengers booked into hotels.

A Ryanair flight had to turn around after an argument broke out soon after takeoff.

The journey to London from Agadir, Morocco was only airborne for about half an hour before turning back to Marrakesh, per Flightradar24.

"We were only in the air for 36 minutes before we had to do an unexpected landing," an unnamed passenger told The Sun.

"It was like the flight from hell," they added. "And it all escalated from that one passenger wanting to change seats."

The newspaper reported that a man asked another passenger to move so he could sit with his wife and young children. It added that the woman refused and the man started threatening her.

Video footage obtained by The Sun shows passengers shouting at each other while the cabin crew tries to calm them down. One man can be heard saying: "I will whack your jaw."

Debates over whether a passenger should switch seats to accommodate a family are not unheard of, but they rarely escalate like this.

Unruly passenger incidents have reached new heights since the pandemic. Statistics from the Federal Aviation Administration show 2024 is set to continue a pattern of fewer incidents — but still more than 2020.

Another passenger fell ill during the flight, a Ryanair spokesperson said in a statement shared with Business Insider. Upon landing, airport medics determined they weren't fit to fly, but they, "refused to disembark and became abusive towards crew."

The statement added that it took two hours to get the disruptive passengers to deplane with the help of military police. As a result, the Ryanair crew reached their maximum working time and the flight had to be delayed until the following day — with passengers booked into hotels, the spokesperson said.

"We sincerely apologize to passengers for this diversion and subsequent delay caused by a small group of disruptive passengers, which was out of Ryanair's control," they added.

• Mukesh Ambani is worth $121 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
• The world's 11th-richest person controls India's Reliance Industries.
• The Ambanis live in a 27-story skyscraper in Mumbai thought to have cost $1 billion.

Mukesh Ambani, the richest person in India and 11th-richest person in the world, is kicking off pre-wedding celebrations for his son Anant this weekend. 

Mukesh Ambani is worth $121 billion per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

He's the owner and chairman of Reliance Industries, a massive conglomerate that includes telecom arm Jio Platforms, which has been thriving due to a "flurry" of  investments in recent years, per Fortune.

The Ambanis made headlines in 2018 for throwing one of the most lavish wedding celebrations ever for Isha Ambani and Anand Piramal. It included a private Beyoncé concert and celebrity guests including Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas, Hillary Clinton, and Arianna Huffington.

In March the family is staging an extravagant three-day pre-wedding celebration for Anant, Mukesh Ambani's youngest son. Tech heavyweights such as Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg were among the 1,200 guests attending the festivities, The Guardian reported. Rihanna performed at one of the celebrations. 

The Ambani family home in Mumbai is a 27-story skyscraper that cost an estimated $1 billion to build.

Here's a look at the Ambani family's fortune, relationships, friends, and lavish lifestyles.

Katie Warren contributed to an earlier version of this story.

The Ambanis are one of Asia's richest families.

The family patriarch, Mukesh Ambani, has an estimated net worth of $121 billion, making him the 11th-richest person in the world, according to Bloomberg. 

The Indian family's massive wealth began with Dhirubhai Ambani, who founded Reliance Industries to manufacture fabrics and textiles.

Source: Bloomberg, Fortune

Reliance Industries is worth nearly $260 billion, and is one of the most valuable companies in India.

Source: Bloomberg, Fortune

Dhirubhai died in 2002 at age 69 without a will, leaving his company to be run by his sons Mukesh and Anil.

Source: Bloomberg

A bitter succession battle between the two brothers followed their father's death and resulted in a rivalrous relationship between Mukesh and Anil.

Ultimately, Mukesh was left in charge of the majority of Reliance.

In 2005, the brothers agreed to split control, with Mukesh overseeing oil and gas operations.

Anil took over construction, telecommunications, asset management, entertainment and power generation businesses.

Anil Ambani is chairman of Reliance Group but has only a fraction of his older brother's wealth.

Bloomberg reported that 2018 saw Anil's businesses suffer from "legal and liquidity challenges."

Indian media reported in September 2018 that Anil's "cash-strapped" Reliance Communications will quit the telecom business and turn to real estate.

In early 2020, Anil told a UK court that his net worth was in fact "zero" and that he was bankrupt.

Mukesh Ambani is married to Nita Ambani.

Nita is the chair of Reliance Foundation, the company's charitable organization.

She's also involved with the company's sports ventures as well as marketing and branding strategy for Reliance Jio Infocomm, Reliance's mobile network operator.

Nita and Mukesh have three children, with the youngest Anant, 29

Then there are 32-year-old twins Isha and Akash Ambani.

Akash is a board member at Reliance Jio. Both he and his twin sister studied at Ivy League universities in the US, Akash at Brown University …

Akash is married to his high school sweetheart, Shloka Mehta, the daughter of a well-known diamond merchant. Mehta reportedly studied at Princeton University and the London School of Economics.

Source: Forbes, South China Morning Post

They were married in Mumbai in March 2019.

Akash's twin sister, Isha, is on the board of Reliance Retail, and is a co-director for the telecoms arm Jio.

She previously worked at management consulting firm McKinsey in New York.

Source: Business Insider

Isha married Anand Piramal in December 2018.

Source: Business Insider

The pre-wedding celebrations included a private concert by Beyoncé.

A post shared by Beyoncé (@beyonce)Dec 9, 2018 at 11:47am PST

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Source: Business Insider

The wedding ceremony was held at the Ambani residence in Mumbai.

Source: Business Insider

An estimated 600 guests attended the extravagant wedding, which some reports said cost about $100 million. A Reliance spokesman said it cost no more than $15 million.

Source: Forbes

Vintage cars carried guests during the wedding procession.

Brothers Akash and Anant rode in on horseback.

The celebration included dance performances and sightings of many high-profile guests …

… including former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton with her longtime aide, Huma Abedin

… actor Priyanka Chopra and her husband, Nick Jonas …

The Ambanis family live in a 27-story skyscraper in Mumbai that cost an estimated $1 billion called Antilia, named after a mythical Atlantic island.

Source: Business Insider

Antilia includes swimming pools, ballrooms, a garden that spans three floors, six floors of parking, and three helipads. A staff of 600 run the home.

Source: Business Insider

Trees surrounding the skyscraper were decorated for Isha's wedding.

Source: Business Insider

Isha and her husband moved into a bungalow in Mumbai called Gulita.

Source: Reuters

Mukesh Ambani's three children are all involved in the family business, but succession plans remain unclear.

Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant threw more glitzy pre-wedding parties in June.

The couple and a large group of their guests went on a luxury cruise that stopped over in Cannes, France and Portofino, Italy. They took over a plaza where Italian singer Andrea Bocelli performed, the Hindustan Times reported. 

Pop star Katy Perry performed some of her hits, including "Firework," in Cannes. Other video clips shared online show the Backstreet Boys and Pitbull took to the stage as part of the pre-wedding festivities.

The couple's wedding is expected to be held from July 12 to 14.

Last weekend the couple held a "sangeet" ceremony, which is usually a part of a wedding celebration and includes musical performances.

BBC News reported that Justin Bieber flew to Mumbai to perform for guests. 

• A Gen Xer in Texas went to college in his 40s because he wasn't happy with his truck driving job.
• He said a college education hasn't helped him find work and saddled him with over $100,000 in debt.
• Recent college graduates have had a harder time finding jobs in recent years. 

In 2018, at age 40, Kenneth Ferraro decided to pursue a college degree for the first time. It didn't go according to plan.

Ferraro, who's based in Texas, had worked as a truck driver for decades, he told Business Insider via email. While the job provided a stable income, he said he long desired a different career — and he thought going back to school was the best way to make this a reality.

"I traveled across the country, worked long hours, and was more than a little burned out," he said. "This was not a career I had chosen, but like many people, I happened into it. Going to college out of high school was not financially possible."

Ferraro began his studies by attending a local community college part-time, but he said he enjoyed the experience so much that he quit his truck driving job to focus on school. After completing his associate degree, he went on to pursue a bachelor's degree in political science from New York University.

"I knew it would be financially crippling, but I believed the prestigious credential would bolster my employment opportunities after graduation," he said.

However, despite applying for countless jobs over the past few years, Ferraro's had little luck. He said the only role he's been able to land is a delivery driver position for a large beverage company — and he's stuck with over $100,000 in student loan debt.

"After all my hard work and sacrifice, the only work that I have been able to secure is the same type of work that I have been doing my whole life," he said. "My education and dedication to bettering myself have cost me financially and emotionally."

The US male unemployment rate is low compared to past decades, but Ferraro is among the men who have struggled to find work or have stopped looking altogether. In 1950, about 97% of American men ages 25 to 54 had a job or were actively looking for one, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As of June, this figure had fallen to about 89%.

Among the several explanations for this trend is that in recent decades, it's become difficult for some men to land a well-paying job without a college degree — a development that's contributed to some men leaving the labor force. These challenges persist today for men even as more companies have started hiring candidates without a degree.

The perceived benefits of a college degree have led more Americans to go back to school later in life. About 34% of college undergraduates and 44% of community college enrollees are age 25 or older, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

But as Ferraro and many recent college graduates can attest to, having a degree doesn't guarantee success in the job market. Last November, the unemployment rate of US college graduates between the ages of 22 and 27 was 5% compared to the 3.7% overall US unemployment rate. That was the most the "recent graduate" unemployment rate had exceeded the overall rate in the over three decades of New York Fed data. Factor in the cost of college and pursuing a degree might not be worth it for some people.

Ferraro shared the biggest challenges he's faced in his job search, including why he thinks having a college degree has sometimes worked against him.

Being an older college graduate could make it hard to land certain types of jobs

Ferraro always knew that pursuing a new career wouldn't be easy. At age 42, he was happy to spend six months interning for a local congressperson.

However, Ferraro's struggles to find a full-time government job left him frustrated. While having a college degree improved his credentials, he thinks his age has held him back in the job market.

Ferraro recalled applying for an entry-level position in the office of a government official, a role he thought would be the "perfect" job for him to kick-start his new career.

The early stages of the interview process seemed promising, but he said things changed when he had an in-person interview.

"As soon as the hiring manager saw me, his whole demeanor changed," Ferraro said. "He ran through the questions and never truly engaged with me."

A few weeks later, Ferraro learned that he was no longer being considered for the role. The only explanation that made sense to him was that the hiring manager wasn't interested in candidates as old as him.

"A man in his forties, who is the perfect candidate on paper, willing to work, willing to learn, and willing to apply himself to any task, is still a man in his 40s," he said. "Therefore, not a valid candidate."

Ferraro needed an income, and after struggling to land jobs in his field of study, he reluctantly decided to expand his search to the truck driver jobs he'd hoped to escape.

But despite his decades of prior experience, Ferraro said he struggled to land an interview for driving jobs — a development that baffled him. But then he had an idea: What if he removed his college education from his résume when he applied?

"I did not start receiving interviews until I removed the education section on my application," he said. "My degree was holding me back."

Despite Ferraro's challenges, truck drivers have generally been in high demand in recent years, in part due to the e-commerce boom tied to the pandemic. But as online shopping trends have begun to normalize, some drivers have had a harder time finding work.

Ferraro eventually landed a job similar to the one he had before his schooling began in 2018, but he said he's earning about 20% less per hour than he used to. He said his employer prioritizes experience at the company over experience in the broader trucking industry.

As things stand, Ferraro said he regrets going to college. However, he still hopes that his education will eventually help him secure an entry-level government role.

After working as a driver during the day, he said he attends graduate school at night. He's working toward his master's in public administration and is continuing to apply for jobs.

"This situation is very frustrating," he said. "It feels like I am putting in so much effort, without any return."

Have you given up looking for work or are you struggling to find a job? Have you gone back to college later in life? If so, reach out to this reporter at jzinkula@businessinsider.com.

When I was flying back from London a few weeks ago, I slipped into a rabbit hole I haven't tunneled out of since. I knew what I had paid for my seat, how many miles I had used for the indulgence of an upgrade. But I had no idea if the woman across the aisle had spent only a few points, as I had, or paid the more than $10,000 the airline could charge for the same trip. To book a flight has long been to play a game where only the airline knows the rules, with countless booking codes, loyalty programs, and fare changes that weaponize your data against your wallet. But after I landed, I kept seeing the same rigged game everywhere: in every Uber ride, every Amazon order, every trip to the supermarket. All these businesses now know so much about me that they can see a number blinking above my head: the exact price I'd be willing to pay in a given moment. Your own number is blinking above your head right now.

In the algorithmic age, pricing variability is increasingly creeping into digital commerce, with charges going up and down in real time.

What's far more disturbing is the rise of personalized pricing, digital retailers' practice of exploiting your own data to charge the precise price you're willing to pay, which might be different from what the guy next to you would pay. Personalized pricing not only bakes in bias and can drive inflation but creates a world where you never know when your apps are ripping you off.

Now, when I'm on the verge of paying for anything on my phone or laptop, I second-guess whether I'd be paying less if I were using someone else's account.

I still remember the low-grade shock I felt a decade ago when I learned that price discrimination is often perfectly legal in the United States. In law school, my antitrust professor introduced us to the obscure Depression-era Robinson-Patman Antidiscrimination Act by quickly highlighting that this law very much failed to live up to its title. Under the long-standing law, companies can face ruinous penalties for price discrimination only if they're discriminating against other businesses. If a wholesaler overcharged a store, the store could take it to court, but there was nothing then (or now) to stop the store from doing the same thing to its customers. That is, store owners have more price protections than their customers. If a store generally charges some customers more than others because of their gender, race, or other legally protected characteristics, that's certainly illegal. But when companies want to shake down each customer for the most they're individually willing to pay, they're free to engage in highway robbery.

I say low-grade shock because at the time personalized pricing discrimination was far less widespread and harmful than it is today. Sure, coupon culture let companies sell the same product in the same store at the same time at different prices — but it gave customers agency. Price-sensitive shoppers took the time to scour for clippings, and less thrifty ones paid full freight. Coupons, loyalty cards, seasonal discounts — a lot of traditional price discrimination lets individual shoppers choose which price group they want to fall into.

But algorithmic price discrimination takes away that choice. And the methods to extract data to sort people into pricing groups are more invasive than you may realize. Take your latest Uber trip. When you ordered that car, you probably knew that the distance you were going and the time of day were price factors, as we've grown begrudgingly accustomed to the cold, extractive efficiency of surge pricing. But did you think about plugging in your phone before ordering the ride? If you did, it might have saved you a few bucks, because your battery level is allegedly one of the factors Uber uses to price your trip, a charge that Uber vigorously denies. If the allegations against Uber are true, it's easy to see a rationale: Those with less battery left are more desperate, and those whose phones are minutes away from dying won't hesitate to pay nearly any price to get a car before they're stranded.

As The American Prospect recently detailed, this type of individualized pricing is proliferating across nearly every sector of the economy (streaming, fast food, and even dating apps), and it can be surprising which variables will get you charged more. In the 2010s, retailers relied on somewhat crude data to perfect pricing. Customers might've paid more for a flight they booked on a Mac (versus a PC) or paid a higher rate for test prep in ZIP codes with larger Asian communities. But in recent years companies have moved from neighborhood-level price discrimination to individualized pricing.

Retailers like Amazon know so, so much about what you buy, both on its platform and off. And you have no way of knowing when your choices are changing what you pay. In 2018, it was headline news that Amazon adjusted prices 2.5 million times a day. Given Amazon's growth and the growth of AI, the number is likely an order of magnitude higher today. For retailers like Walmart, it's not enough to use our shopping history. In February, the retail behemoth agreed to buy the smart-TV maker Vizio for more than $2 billion, potentially giving Walmart a windfall of intimate consumer data. Smart TVs not only monitor what we watch with Orwellian precision but track other nearby devices with ultrasonic beacons, and can even listen in to what we say in the privacy of our own homes. Vizio specifically has been fined millions of dollars over allegations that it illegally spied on customers.

Not only do retailers know what you've bought and how much money you make, but often they know where you are, how your day is going, and what your mood is like, all of which can be neatly synthesized by AI neural networks to calculate how much you'd pay for a given item in a given moment.

Your age, gender, and sexual orientation might determine what the AI decides you need to pay for love.

No area of commerce is too personal to be off-limits. Dating apps are harvesting our romantic lives for data, but some openly brag about doing so to increase profitability. And many of those that don't disclose using personalized pricing still do it. Tinder rarely talks about its pricing technology, but Mozilla and Consumers International recently found that the dating app used dozens of variables to radically adjust pricing for users. Your age, gender, and sexual orientation might determine what the AI decides you need to pay for love.

Left unchecked, personalized pricing will have pernicious effects across society. Nikolas Guggenberger, an assistant professor at the University of Houston Law Center, says that "hidden algorithmic price discrimination can undermine public trust in price-building mechanisms and thus undermine the marketplace." AI pricing also means that those who are the most desperate and most vulnerable will often pay the most. Even worse, people could be penalized because of their race, age, or class. Take the phone-battery allegation. Older people are more than twice as likely than younger users to have a phone that's at least three years old. Since older smartphones tend to have lower battery life, older people could end up paying more than younger people for the same Uber rides.

"Algorithmic price discrimination can basically automate usury," Guggenberger says. "If your battery is about to die and you are out in the country, a ride-sharing app may drastically raise your 'personalized price.'"

So much of AI pricing acts as a regressive tax, charging those with the most the least. For people in underserved areas, with fewer stores, fewer alternatives, there's often no choice but to click "buy now," even when it hurts. As the law professor and consumer watchdog Zephyr Teachout told The American Prospect, we shouldn't think of this practice as something as innocuous-sounding as personalized pricing — instead, she calls it surveillance pricing.

We know how to prove human discrimination. If a store in a majority-Black neighborhood charges more than its counterpart in a majority-white neighborhood, testers can go to each store, record the prices, and bring a lawsuit. This sort of testing has been at the core of consumer protections for most of a century. But how do you prove when an algorithm discriminates? There are no stores to visit, no price tags to compare, just millions of screens siloed in people's pockets. The result can be a Catch-22, where you can get enough data to prove the discrimination only by suing a company, but you can't sue the company without first having the data. We could see the rise of a perverse, bizarro legal world where companies using bias-prone AI to adjust prices in secret face less legal scrutiny than brick-and-mortar stores.

My hope is that this situation is so bleak, the potential for abuse so clear, that not even our dysfunctional democracy will accept it. Our lawmakers have been so slow to rein in the harms of novel technology, even when it becomes clear, for example, that it's undermining our democracy. But even in these polarized times, AI pickpocketing may be one of those rare issues that can unite us in outrage.

Albert Fox Cahn is the founder and executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, or STOP, a New York-based civil-rights and privacy group.

• I was a single mom for seven years and learned to shop on a budget.
• I've since remarried, but I still use the skills I learned during that time when I grocery shop.
• I make sure to buy healthy food for my family without overspending.

As a single mom, I had to learn how to make my income work for my son and me. When it came to buying groceries, I was determined to prepare healthy meals for us without having to go broke in the process.

I have since remarried, but on a recent trip to the grocery store with my son, as he watched the self-checkout process closely, he asked, "Mom, how did you buy so much food for so little money?" That's when I noticed that I still retain a knack for shopping smart, both in terms of health and our budget.

While I now have a partner to split the costs of living with, our grocery bill has the potential to soar as food prices seem to rise weekly. After the mortgage, the cost of our monthly groceries is our next highest bill, so I've continued to use the skills I developed as a single mom when it comes to shopping for our food. Here's how I avoid sacrificing the health of our diet while maintaining our budget.

I shop for our groceries at multiple stores

When I first started comparing prices across different stores, I kept a notebook where I would jot down the prices of certain items I bought regularly, such as milk or peanut butter. Since then, I have memorized these prices and can tell you how much the same item costs at three different stores.

While shopping around at multiple stores might seem inconvenient and can take time, depending on whether you need to get all your shopping done the same day, it also saves me a lot of money. If I know I can get something for much less at another store we're going to soon anyway, I'll wait.

I've embraced meal planning on the spot

When shopping, I take advantage of sales and plan our meals for the week based on what's priced lowest. With meat, in particular, I buy what's on sale and then plan our dinners around that main dish. I do the same with vegetables. While certain produce items, like fresh carrots, are always affordable, other things, like asparagus, are not.

I typically rely on produce that's always within our grocery budget, but when something we can't normally afford is on sale, I jump on the opportunity. This helps me switch up our dinners so that our meals don't feel monotonous, and we're also benefiting from eating a variety of foods.

With bulk items, I don't make assumptions

I have found that buying in bulk isn't always the best deal. If I have the choice between buying a six-pack or a 12-pack of the same item, I figure out the price-per-unit in each pack. Most of the time, I actually find that I wouldn't save enough money per item to make choosing the larger pack a better choice.

In fact, once I got in the habit of doing this, I found that the bulk packages may even cost more. Also, buying in bulk can make the bill soar beyond what we should be spending that week, so if it isn't a really good deal, I opt for the practical pack in terms of both budget and our storage at home.

Because I know I'm saving money, I also feel OK buying occasional treats

When I'm saving money overall, I can afford a few treats or higher-priced items. My son and I really love salmon, but it's rarely on sale. It's too pricey to buy every week, but I try to get it at least once a month.

Since it isn't something we get to have regularly, my son and I appreciate it and enjoy it even more. There are also seasonal items that we love, like cherries or spaghetti squash, but since they're on the expensive end, I try to only buy them when they're in season and at a lower price.

I know which foods I can rely on

I've grown to learn which foods are always affordable, nutritious, and enjoyable for my family. For example, bananas are always inexpensive, and they're good in so many ways, whether on the go as a snack with some peanut butter or thrown into a smoothie. There was a time in our life when my budget was particularly tight, and we ate a lot of baby carrots, frozen peas, canned black beans, and apples. For meat, bone-in chicken drums and thighs are the least expensive kind and can be elevated when roasted in the oven with some seasoning.

Most importantly, I still focus on buying what I know my family will enjoy eating. If something is cheap but we don't love it, then to me, that's just a waste of money. From being forced to work within a tight budget for so long without wanting to sacrifice our health and pleasure around food, I still analyze which items we love that are most affordable and know when it's appropriate to spend a little more.

• China's largest online sales have consistently raked in billions of dollars.
• Now though, they seem to be losing their luster. 
• Consumer confidence is shaky, with high unemployment and a real estate crisis dragging the economy down.

China's biggest sales, which have historically raked in billions of dollars, appear to finally be losing their chokehold on the Chinese market.

These sales, characterized by steep discounts, have offered all sorts of retail products, from iPhones to designer bags, at fractions of their original prices. And consumers usually bite.

This year, they've started to hold off on going all in on big spending.

The 2024 run of the 618 sale, held by e-commerce giant JD.com and other online retailers like Alibaba Group's Tmall and Pinduoduo, suffered its first dip in sales in eight years, retail data provider Syntun estimated.

The shopping festival, which, scale-wise, compares only to the November 11 Singles' Day festival, brought in $102.3 billion worth of sales this year.

This was a 7% drop compared to 2023, when the 618 sales raked in about $109 billion. The data provider told CNBC in June that this was the first dip in 618's sales since it started monitoring the event in 2016.

One reason for the dip in sales is that the Chinese have tightened their purse strings.

Chinese e-commerce giants try to lure in customers with attractive sales

Historically, e-commerce has accounted for a hefty chunk of China's retail spending.

In 2023, online retail sales nationwide reached $2.12 trillion, accounting for 27.6% of the total retail sales of consumer goods in the country, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

But with a sinking number of buyers, the e-commerce giants of China are increasingly using massive discounts to woo customers to their sales.

For example, Alibaba recently offered a 50% discount on Lululemon clothing, and JD.com sold Apple iPhones with discounts as high as 20%.

The platforms also hold multiple sales throughout the year, from the Lunar New Year to Christmas, instead of concentrating them all on Singles' Day or the 618 sale day.

But the Chinese are just spending less

China's post-pandemic economy being slow to recover may have more to do with internal, rather than external factors.

The country has reported sluggish domestic demand, with its official Purchasing Managers' Index — which represents larger companies and state-owned enterprises — contracting for the second straight month in June.

One reason for this is low consumer confidence and people being more discerning about their purchases, Allison Malmsten, a director at Daxue Consulting, told Business Insider.

"Consumer confidence is lower; people are more selective on what they spend money on and, therefore, will buy things because they need them, not because of a flashy discount," she said.

With an excess of sales all year round, these annual mega sales are also gradually losing their luster, according to Yaling Jiang, a China consumer research expert behind the newsletter "Following the Yuan."

"The excess of sales events, which caused marketing fatigue, isn't new," she said to BI.

But the shift in consumer behavior is deeper than just marketing fatigue, as the Chinese are "becoming rational, increasingly focusing on cost-effectiveness and necessity," she said.

Economic factors at play

And if people are spending less, that's because they're also not making big bucks in China's post-pandemic economy.

"The economic downturn is making them want to avoid paying premiums as much as possible, and uncertainty about the future makes them want to save for a rainy day," China consumer expert Jiang told BI.

China's youth unemployment rate stood at 14.9% as of December, according to China's National Bureau of Statistics.

And the average per capita income in China in the first quarter of 2024 was $905, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Another reason consumer confidence is low is due to China's real estate crisis, which is set to get much worse.

In May, new home prices suffered their biggest fall in nearly a decade. Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that new home prices in 70 major Chinese cities were down 0.7% from April.

"Traditionally, Chinese consumers view real estate investment as an anchor and what gives them a great sense of security," Jiang told BI. "Since the downfall of Evergrande and other giants, sentiment has changed drastically, with a growing consensus that property values will continue to decline."

• Chad Willardson left Merrill Lynch in 2011 to start Pacific Capital, a wealth management firm.
• Industry changes post-Great Recession and corporate bureaucracy drove him away from Wall Street.
• Now he runs multiple businesses and doesn't regret leaving the comforts of corporate life.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Chad Willardson, a 45-year-old entrepreneur, investor, and author in Orange County, California. It has been edited for length and clarity.

In 2011, I left my job at Merrill Lynch after nine years to start Pacific Capital, a wealth management firm for entrepreneurs with at least $10 million to invest.

It was not easy to leave the comfort of my corner office, corporate perks, and awards and recognition at a big Wall Street bank. I was a high performer and earned over $1 million a year by my late 20s.

However the changes in our industry after the Great Recession changed much of our day-to-day work. The bureaucracy and slow-moving corporate mothership eventually frustrated me to the point that I questioned how long I could keep working there.

At the time, I was being recruited by other top banks

I considered going somewhere like Morgan Stanley, UBS, or Goldman Sachs, which offered major signing bonuses. It would've been a lot of money for me at the time, but trading one corporate Wall Street uniform for another one across the street didn't feel like the right long-term move.

I was tired of wearing a suit and tie and being told what the big company wanted to push on us. It was time for a drastic change. I felt like I needed to take a bigger leap and start my own thing, but I had no idea how to start a business.

I packed up my stuff and walked out with my assistant on a Monday morning. It felt like a major risk as a married 32-year-old with a big mortgage and a growing family. I didn't know how I would make it — I was just determined that I eventually would. My wife was also very nervous, but she believed in me.

I was under a lot of pressure when I started my business

I signed a lease on an office, hired a few employees, and had many expenses with zero revenue. I used my savings, borrowed against my house, and opened up a business credit card — I scrambled to figure it all out.

I spent all my time contacting potential clients via phone calls, emails, and postcards, walking business to business, and posting on social media — just like I had done in 2003 when I started as a rookie at Merrill Lynch.

The big advantage I found of being on this side of the industry was I could completely design the services around my ideal clients rather than trying to find clients to fit into the box of what a big corporation wanted. I started by targeting entrepreneurs with at least $1 million to invest.

I was profitable by the middle of 2012. I now have a team of 20 full-time employees and four part-time employees. One major upside of entrepreneurship I underestimated was the opportunity to build a great culture and teamwork within the firm.

There's no such thing as an average workday for me anymore

I now have an entrepreneurial coaching business. I also cofounded a sports complex in Southern California in 2019 and a fintech company dedicated to helping kids and teens gain financial education in 2021.

Every day is unique. I travel a ton, both for work and pleasure, so I work from wherever my family is. I don't go to the office much anymore, though most of my team chooses to go into the office. My team and I also fly all over to see clients and potential clients.

Try to start your entrepreneurial journey as a side hustle before making the full leap

Starting Pacific Capital as a side hustle wasn't possible for me because the securities brokerage business is a very strict industry that almost allows zero other activities besides your full-time employment. But in most situations, starting your business as a side hustle is possible. This approach allows you to validate your business idea, understand your market, and build a customer base with less financial risk.

I also recommend you identify your niche and leverage your current skills and passions to solve a specific set of problems for that niche. My target market is a very small subset of the population, and specializing in this market gives us a very distinct advantage over most financial advisors who are generalists.

Once you have a target market, build your online presence. I've consistently engaged on LinkedIn for years, and it's paid off. I've hired more than a dozen people through LinkedIn and have attracted new business there, too.

Your people are your most important asset. One of my biggest mistakes was holding on to a toxic employee in a key position for too long because he was very intelligent. I tried to justify the damage to the team culture and chemistry because he was talented. Be very careful with who you hire because that will make or break your future.

I've grown my net worth to over $50 million by taking risks

One key trait of successful entrepreneurs is going all in on opportunities when most people are paralyzed by fear. For example, when real estate was in a downturn from 2007 to 2009, I aggressively borrowed to invest in underpriced properties.

My personal real-estate portfolio grew to include everything from duplexes and apartment complexes to skilled nursing facilities and car washes.

Follow the wise counsel of Warren Buffett: "Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful." My biggest leaps in net worth have always come when I took big chances while others stood still.

Entrepreneurship is not the only path to success

To become wealthy, you invest your income into assets that will grow in value over time and eventually pay you an income or a large lump sum. You don't have to be an entrepreneur.

What you don't see behind the scenes of entrepreneurship is a ton of failure, doubt, and hard times. There's a reason most businesses fail within the first five years. You must be fully invested and committed to succeed because it will likely take longer, require more sacrifice, and cost more money than expected.

I have zero regrets about leaving Merrill Lynch to become an entrepreneur. Had I stayed at a big Wall Street bank, I never would've been able to start my other businesses. I also don't wish I left sooner because I needed those nine years to learn and prepare. I believe I left at just the right time.