Want to be fabulously wealthy? Here's the degree you'll need

Want to be a millionaire? You'd better have an MBA then. Photo / 123RF

Want to be a millionaire? You'd better have an MBA then.

Research into the degrees most likely to produce millionaires has found - perhaps unsurprisingly - that those with a master's degree in business administration are most likely to become wealthy.

Of those who took an MBA, 12.1 per cent became millionaires, according to a worldwide survey of graduates conducted by Spear's Magazine and wealth consultancy company WealthInsight.

This made it the most lucrative degree, but engineering was not far from the top: 10.7 per cent of the subject's graduates are millionaires, according to the survey. Its definition of "millionaire" was "individuals with net assets of US$1 million or more excluding their primary residences."

Engineers can take heart from an earlier study this year saying that theirs is in fact the most lucrative degree: 22 per cent of the world's wealthiest people, according to Approved Index, studied engineering at university.

In the millionaire survey, Economics completed the top three (8.2 per cent), with business studies (5.9 per cent) and law (4.7 per cent) the next-most lucrative subjects.

At the very bottom of the 20-subject table were biology, psychology, and philosophy (all 0.6 per cent). History was 16th, underscoring a trend of traditionally academic subjects doing badly, though politics (1.3 per cent) fared a little better, placing 11th in the table.

Oliver Williams, Head of WealthInsight, said: "Wealthy individuals are often entrepreneurs and innovators who benefit from degrees that encourage new and smart thinking.

"It is therefore no surprise to see that a high number of scientific and financial degrees are studied by millionaires: Numerical degrees are a particular advantage when it comes to amassing a personal fortune.

"With the exception of the MBA and Business Studies, few of these degrees materialise as outright vocational pursuits. Most engineering graduates, for example, are not engineers but entrepreneurs. The same goes for most law and accountancy graduates who make their wealth in professions outside their degrees."