Gen Z’s financial icons revealed: Taylor Swift beats Warren Buffett, and Bill Gates tops the list

• Gen-Zers weighed in on who they look to as examples of financial success in an October survey.
• The young people named pop-stars and billionaire business magnates in their top 3 public figures.
• Three of the world’s richest men lead the list.

College students turned to a decidedly old-school figure when they were asked who they most looked up to as a financial success story: Microsoft founder — and 68-year-old — Bill Gates.

They’re looking to the tech and entertainment industries for financial inspiration, a recent survey revealed. Last month, Insider sister company Morning Brew and Generation Lab spoke to nearly 1,000 college students across the US. They asked students to name three people who most embodied financial success.

Perhaps no big surprise that three of the world’s four richest people take the top spots as the best examples of financial success.

But, Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, isn’t leading the pack this time. Instead, the Tesla CEO came in third. It’s been one year since Musk purchased Twitter and transformed it into the X app we know today. Since then, the former Twitter has lost nearly $70 million a day in market value.

Gates, who topped the list, is worth about $126 billion, according to Bloomberg calculations, making him the fourth-richest person in the world.

College students said these people are the embodiments of financial success

1. Bill Gates – 50%

2. Jeff Bezos – 40%

3. Elon Musk – 35%

4. Taylor Swift – 26%

5. Warren Buffett – 24%

6. Mark Zuckerberg – 22%

7. Oprah Winfrey – 16%

8. Beyoncé – 14%

9. Lebron James – 11%

10. Ryan Reynolds – 11%

11. Rihanna – 10%

12. Donald Trump – 9%

13. Kim Kardashian West – 9%

14. Michael Bloomberg – 6%

15. Jay-Z – 5%

16. Martha Stewart – 5%

17. Kylie Jenner – 4%

18. George Soros – 2%

19. Jim Cramer – 1%

20. Howard Schultz – 1%

In the later years of his career, Gates is more known for his philanthropic and familial endeavors, but he once competed with colleagues to get as little sleep as possible. At the time, Gates said he viewed sleep as lazy.

Jeff Bezos, the man behind Amazon, may have surpassed Gates in wealth, but he’s No. 2 on the college students’ list. In recent years, Bezos is snapping up properties to add to his massive real estate portfolio. And Bezos recently announced he’s moving to Miami.

Meanwhile, Taylor Swift is officially entering her billionaire era after her record-breaking Eras tour, so it’s no surprise she made the cut. Swift even beat out multi-billionaires and industry giants Mark Zuckerberg and Warren Buffett for her place at fourth.

And she’s not the only musician who’s inspiring young people with her wealth. Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Jay-Z were all named in more than one person’s top three financial icons.

In fact, the list consists mostly of public figures who were famous before they became entrepreneurs. Other honorable mentions include NBA star Lebron James, actor Ryan Reynolds, and media icon Oprah Winfrey.