Anyone who's ever had any aspirations to be rich or be more financially secure would be wondering how the fantastically rich - that is, those who routinely make the rich lists year in and year out - accumulated all that wealth.

Not everyone has the luck or acuity to be wealthy, but perhaps finding out how wealth is created could give us working folk ideas that we can apply to improve our lot in life.

Based on last year's global billionaires list, it would seem that making money work for you is more efficient than working for your money. Investments produced 143 billionaires, the most out of all industries, in the Forbes list last year.

But if there's one thing that can be learned by the diversity of the people featured in that list, it's that being rich can come from anything.

As Teresa Amabile, a Harvard Business School professor and co-author of The Progress Principle, told the magazine, inspiration may be key. She cites success stories like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Steve Wozniak, who she says were driven by passion.

She told Forbes: "I am confident in saying that they are more productive and creative when they are working on something that they find meaning in, that there's a sense of purpose, that they're contributing to something they value, when they're in an environment that allows them to make progress."

Take a look at the top ten industries that produced the most billionaires, as well as the top two billionaires for that industry.

The industries that made these billionaires wealthy Click on thumbnail to view. Source: Forbes

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