JK. ROWLING—EST. $1 BILLION

Here’s a lady who deserves every bit of money she’s made! Can you imagine that her billion-dollar idea was rejected more than a few times before some lucky publisher named Bloomsbury scooped it up, took a risk on it, and scored some gargantuan amount of money after? It’s probably the best investment they’ve made, like ever. Crazy, we know! She was jobless, penniless, and hopped from one cafe to the next to write Harry Potter, all while her daughter Jessica was sleeping on a pram beside her.

But as luck would have it, all her efforts paid off, and it paid off spectacularly so. JK Rowling is famous all over the world for her book Harry Potter. In the book, she creates a new magic world. She has earned billions of dollars in royalties so far in her film career, books and so on. In addition, JK Rowling also focused on philanthropy and donated at least $150 million to charities.