Forbes 400

Forbes released its list of the 400 richest people in America last week, and with the financial successes of Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman bubbling up as hot-button topics during this election season, we were curious as to which politicians — current, former, or aspiring — made the cut this year. So just who are the nine richest politicians? Hint: the aforementioned campaigners didn't even come close!

9. Meg Whitman. Worth a reported $1.7 billion, the former CEO of eBay spent $144 million of her own money on her bid for the California gubernatorial seat in 2010. Though she lost the election to Jerry Brown, she won the top spot at Hewlett-Packard just a year later.
8. Glen Taylor. After a nine-year stint as a Minnesota state senator in the '80s, Republican Glen Taylor plunked down a chunk of his fortune made from his days in the printing industry to buy the majority ownership of the Minnesota Timberwolves professional basketball team. He is reportedly worth $1.7 billion today.
7. Jeff Greene. Real estate helped this mogul earn his billionaire status, and in 2010 he put his money where his mouth is by running as a Democrat for US Senate. Ultimately, he lost the primary election to Kendrick Meek, but his present-day $2.2 billion valuation isn't too shabby.

For the six richest politicians, just keep reading.

The magazine cover of the special Forbes 400 list issue will feature a very strange pairing — Jay-Z and Warren Buffett. What does the hip-hop mogul have in common with the second richest man in the world? I watched a video of their hour-long chat, which revealed that they're actually two unlikely peas in a pod.

• Legendary kings: Both have had long-lasting careers in their field. As Forbes editor-in-chief Steve Forbes puts it, being 40 in the hip-hop industry is almost like an equivalent to being 80 in the investing world. The two are kings of their industries and have outlived their successors.
• Love for the game: Buffett and Jay-Z didn't do it for the money. Their love of doing what they do came first, and the monetary success came later. Buffett started young, reading investment books that were lying around the house at the age of seven, and says he pratically "tap dances" to work every day because he enjoys it so much. Jay-Z records music without business in mind and it works in his favor because "at some point it has to be real when [the listeners] touch it, when they listen . . . something has to resonate with them that's real."
  

To see what else these two have in common, read on.