“Stay in school” is advice that is often handed out, but some of the richest people in the world actually dropped out of education – often also overcoming childhood poverty and personal tragedy – ahead of amassing their fortunes. Here are five billionaires who quit their studies before earning more money than they could have ever dreamed of. 1. Li Ka-shing – US$35.4 billion The richest person in Hong Kong fled China with his family when he was only 12 years old, per Forbes . His father died two years later, and he dropped out of high school at age 16 to work in a plastics factory – now he’s the world’s 42nd wealthiest billionaire, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index. His diverse portfolio includes real estate, but one of the best decisions Ka-shing made was to invest in Facebook in 2007 – and, according to Forbes , he says the decision only took five minutes. He also invested in Siri and Spotify. 5 ways Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz’s wedding will outdo his parents’ “The burden of poverty and this bitter taste of helplessness and isolation sort of branded on my heart forever the questions that still drive me,” the senior adviser of CK Hutchison Holdings revealed, per Forbes . 2. Roman Abramovich – US$13.3 billion Abramovich, 55, was orphaned as a three-year-old child when his mother died from blood poisoning and his dad passed away after an accident on a construction site. He dropped out of university and served in the Russian army – where he sold stolen oil, according to Bleacher Report – before getting into politics and becoming the governor of a poverty-stricken region. An earlier investment in perfume – an illegal item at the time – earned him his initial money, according to Gentleman’s Journal, but when he acquired privatised Russian oil assets after the fall of the Soviet Union, according to The Washington Post , Abramovich really got wealthy. Now the Russian-born businessman is the 142nd richest person in the world, with a net worth of US$13.3 billion, according to Forbes . He owns homes in the US, the Caribbean, France, the UK and Russia. He gained Israeli citizenship after UK visa issues in part because of alleged links to Russian president Vladimir Putin , according to The Guardian. In February 2022, Abramovich put the care of Chelsea Football Club in the hands of the team’s charitable foundation as Nato countries began to enforce sanctions against Russia, according to a statement on the club’s website. 3. Jan Koum – US$9.9 billion WhatsApp founder Koum was born in Kyiv, Ukraine to a construction worker father and stay-at-home mother, according to Wired. He moved to California with his mother when he was 16 years old and swept floors to make ends meet, per Forbes . 6 facts about A$AP Rocky, father to Rihanna’s first child After teaching himself about computer networking, reported Forbes , and scoring a job at Yahoo!, he dropped out of university. Both of his parents died before he left Yahoo! after nine years to start the world’s biggest mobile messaging app, as he felt passionate about privacy. Koum only owned WhatsApp for five years though as Facebook bought the encrypted messaging service for US$22 billion in 2014. The deal was finalised in an abandoned building where he used to collect food stamps as a teenager, according to Forbes . 4. Oprah Winfrey – US$3 billion The American television host-turned-media mogul endured a childhood of extreme poverty and abuse by family members, at one point having to wear a potato sack as clothing, per The Guardian. Things only started to look up when she fled to live with her father at the age of 14. Winfrey landed a scholarship to attend Tennessee State University but left early, aged 19, to work in the media, according to the American Academy of Achievement. By 20 she was hosting Chicago AM , which was renamed the Oprah Winfrey Show years later. The star capitalised on her success by founding Harpo Productions and producing shows including Dr Phil . As well as launching a magazine and the Oprah Winfrey Network, she has acted in films including 1985’s The Colour Purple , which earned her a best supporting actress Oscar nomination. 5 things to know about Thai billionaire Nualphan Lamsam 5. Guy Laliberté – US$1.4 billion Laliberté left his Canada home at age 14 to explore his fascination with travel and in 1978, at 19 years old, he dropped out of school. He spent nights sleeping on park benches in foreign countries and made money by swallowing fire and putting together a troupe of performers. Laliberté is now the 11th richest man in Canada thanks to his global Cirque du Soleil shows, which he started in the 1980s. By 1993, Cirque du Soleil was earning US$30million annually – and he need not worry about going back to school, as Laval gave him an honorary degree in 2008. Want more stories like this? Follow STYLE on Facebook , Instagram , YouTube and Twitter .