The easiest way to own a huge amount of money is to be born into wealth. Inheriting or being gifted wealth from a rich relative isn't the same thing as earning it, but as long as all the cash ends up in your bank account, who cares? Amanda Hearst certainly doesn't; she's the first heiress on our list, and she won't be the last.
Hearst is the great-granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst. He was the Rupert Murdoch of his day, making huge amounts of money in media. The money has passed down through the generations and left this Hearst with $2bn, but she's not sitting back on it. She has a career of her own, editing 'Marie Claire' and 'Town & Country,' as well as opening fashion outlet 'Maison de Mode'; a retail brand with a social conscience