Today, Hurun Report released the names of the Top Two Richest Individuals from the 2009 Hurun Rich List, a ranking of the 1000 richest individuals in China.

Wang Chuanfu of BYD is the richest man in China with wealth of US$5.1 billion, followed by Zhang Yin of Nine Dragons Paper with wealth of US$4.9 billion.

The number of known US Dollar billionaires in China has grown to 130, up from 101 in 2008. The full list is to be released later in October.

One of Australia’s richest men, Clive Palmer, has drawn criticism for buying his teenage daughter a yacht worth AU$5.3m.

Child experts say that giving multi-million dollar gifts to teenagers is dangerous because it gives them unrealistic expectations about money.

Psychologist Renee Mill says that whilst it is commonplace for many wealthy parents to give expensive gifts like this, it amounts to irresponsible parenting.

The world’s wealthy are getting poorer and poorer at an alarming rate.

The number of millionaire households in the world dropped from 11 million in 2007 to 9 million last year, a fall of almost 18%, according to The Boston Consulting Group.

In North America the number was even higher, a 22 percent drop. Global wealth overall has also declined dramatically.

Morgan Stanley is set to launch wealth management services for the super-rich in India, Reuters reports.

It’s going to be India’s most exclusive super-rich club, with membership restricted to those with a minimum investible surplus of $1 billion.

Why India? India is the world’s second fastest growing economy and according it has the second largest number of billionaires in Asia after China.

Three boats previously owned by jailed financier Bernard Madoff, that was sentenced in June to 150 years in prison, will be auctioned off in Fort Lauderdale on November 17.

Among the boats to be sold are a 55-foot, 1969 Rybovich luxury fishing boat called Bull that’s said to be worth about $2.2 million and Little Bull, a 24-foot center-console boat.

“We anticipate strong interest in the auction,” Matt Amata, vice president of National Liquidators, said in a statement Wednesday.

Yann Samuelides, 35, millionaire banker and managing director of Goldman Sachs, offered an escort girl £500,000 to leave her pensioner husband, the court was told.

He became so infatuated with the Slovakian escort girl, 28-year-old Alzbeta Holmokova, that he wanted to make her his wife.