The Box Office

10. Robert Downey Jr.
ACTOR
ESTIMATED 2010 EARNINGS: $31.5 MILLION (2009 rank: 28)
$15 million: Fee for starring in upcoming untitled Sherlock Holmes sequel
$12 million: Iron Man 2 (back-end, based on worldwide gross of $627 million, and share of DVD and pay-TV revenue)
$3.5 million: Sherlock Holmes (back-end, based on worldwide gross of $523 million, and share of DVD and pay-TV revenue)
$1 million: Older film revenue

9. Taylor Lautner
ACTOR
ESTIMATED 2010 EARNINGS: $33.5 million (2009 rank: —)
$12.5 million: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 1 (fee for co-starring in upcoming penultimate Twilight film)
$12.5 million: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 2 (fee for co-starring in upcoming final Twilight film)
$7.5 million: Abduction (fee for starring in upcoming John Singleton thriller)
$1 million: Older film revenue, mostly from Twilight franchise

8. Todd Phillips
WRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
ESTIMATED 2010 EARNINGS: $34 MILLION (2009 rank: 5)
$15 million: The Hangover Part II (fee for writing, producing, and directing)
$13 million: The Hangover (back-end for producing and directing; excludes $39 million earned in 2009)
$3 million: Due Date (back-end for producing and directing, based on worldwide gross of $200 million, as of December 31, 2010)
$2 million: Older film revenue
$1 million: Project X (fee for producing upcoming low-budget comedy)

7. Adam Sandler
ACTOR, PRODUCER, WRITER
ESTIMATED 2010 EARNINGS: $50 MILLION (2009 rank: 12)
$25 million: Just Go with It (fee for producing and starring in upcoming comedy opposite Jennifer Aniston)
$20 million: Jack and Jill (fee for producing and starring in upcoming comedy with Katie Holmes and Al Pacino)
$3 million: Grown Ups (back-end for starring and writing, based on worldwide gross of $271 million, plus share of DVD and pay-TV revenue)
$2 million: Older film revenue

6. Tim Burton
DIRECTOR
ESTIMATED 2010 EARNINGS: $53 MILLION (2009 rank: —)
$50 million: Alice in Wonderland (back-end for directing, based on worldwide gross of $1.02 billion, and share of DVD and pay-TV revenue)
$3 million: Older film revenue

5. Leonardo DiCaprio
ACTOR
ESTIMATED 2010 EARNINGS: $62 MILLION (2009 rank: —)
$59 million: Inception (back-end for starring in somewhat convoluted Christopher Nolan film)
$3 million: Back-end for starring in somewhat convoluted Martin Scorsese film Shutter Island, older film revenue

4. Christopher Nolan
WRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
ESTIMATED 2010 EARNINGS: $71.5 MILLION (2009 rank: —)
$69 million: Inception (back-end for writing, producing, and directing, based on worldwide gross of $823 million, and share of DVD and pay-TV revenue)
$2.5 million: Older film revenue

3. Steven Spielberg
DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
ESTIMATED 2010 EARNINGS: $80 MILLION (2009 rank: 2)
$50 million: Universal-theme-park royalties and consulting fees
$20 million: War Horse (fee for directing and producing upcoming World War I drama)
$10 million: Older film revenue

2. Johnny Depp
ACTOR
ESTIMATED 2010 EARNINGS: $100 MILLION (2009 rank: 21)
$40 million: Alice in Wonderland (back-end for starring in Tim Burton film, based on worldwide gross of $1.02 billion)
$35 million: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (up-front money for starring in next installment of Jerry Bruckheimer’s waterlogged but ludicrously profitable franchise)
$20 million: The Tourist (fee for co-starring in one of the year’s bigger flops alongside Angelina Jolie)
$5 million: Older film revenue

1. James Cameron
WRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
ESTIMATED 2010 EARNINGS: $257 MILLION (2009 rank: 4)
$248 million: Avatar (back-end for writing, producing, and directing, based on 2010 worldwide box-office gross of $1.95 billion, and share of DVD and pay-television revenue; excludes $50 million earned in 2009)
$5 million: Avatar (share of toy licensing, other revenue)
$4 million: Older film revenue (e.g., back-end and royalties from earlier projects, other payments)

Money goes to money

The Wall St Journal reports that World-wide, the number of wealthy individuals climbed to 9.5 million in 2006, an 8.3% increase from 2005 .

The number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals -- those with at least $30 million in investible assets -- increased by 11.3% to 94,970 .

The combined wealth of high-net-worth individuals world-wide increased to $37.2 trillion, up 11.4% from 2005.

In 2006, the U.S. population of high-net-worth individuals -- those with at least $1 million in investible assets, excluding their primary residences -- rose 9.4% to 2.92 million.

The population of high net-worth individuals in Europe increased by 6.4% in 2006

The high-net-worth population in Canada, rose by 6.9% in 2006

China's population of high-net - worth individuals rose by 7.8%

Russia's increased 15.5%

The highest growth in high-net-worth populations took place in Singapore and India, where the increases over 2005 were 21.2% and 20.5%, respectively.

How was the money all made ? Hard work and toil ?

Robert McCann, president of Merrill Lynch Global Private Client Group attributed the increased pace of wealth generation to gains in economic output and continued growth in the world's stock markets . More money went to real estate at the expense of alternative investments, such as hedge funds and foreign currencies, says Mr. McCann.

The report also found that high-net-worth individuals' passion for luxury is growing. Using data from Forbes's Cost of Living Extremely Well Index, it found that the cost of luxury goods and services rose nearly twice as fast in 2006 as the cost of everyday consumer products, signaling that demand for luxury goods is outpacing demand for everyday consumer items. Among "investments of passion," high net-worth individuals allocated the most money to luxury collectibles, including automobiles, boats and airplanes. They allocated 26% of their "investments of passion" dollars to luxury collectibles in 2006, 20% to art and 18% to jewelry, the report said.

Money ,Money , Money

picture courtesy of Capitalist Money Madness

Dr Philip Beresford, compiler of the annual Times Rich List which was published yesterday said:-

"The past decade of Labour government under Tony Blair has proved a golden age for the rich rarely seen in British history..."

'Nuff Said .