I have a buddy that's a wealth advisor with a high net worth (100M+) wealth management firm. Wealth preservation -- and really diversification -- is all ultra-high net worth folks care about. They buy lots of index funds.

I'm not sure if this is some prosperity gospel silly-ness, but I think folks reading this deserve a disclaimer: Buffett's college mentor was Benjamin Graham -- the father of value investing, Gates mom was friends with Buffett and set up Bill's first contract with IBM, Zuckerburg's parents offered each of their children the opportunity to go to Harvard or open a McDonald's franchise. Six of the top 1000 richest people have the last name Walton. Failure -- as most of the world know's it -- never exists for most folks in the Forbes list. They were always going to be very very comfortable. Putting too much stock in their success is like watching Skii-Ball at Chuckie Cheese to learn bowling.