Which celebrities know how to invest?

Have you ever wondered who among the glitterati are good at investing their money? 

Well among the very best is 90s R&B singer-songwriter Babyface (Kenneth Brian Edmonds) who, despite his youthful look, appears to be an old hand at handling cash.

He enjoys a whopping 134% return on his net worth ($250m), according to trading company Forex who commissioned a new study specifically on celebrity investment.

For those who don’t recall, Babyface sang the hit When Can I See You and must have been serenading his bank account because he has the highest return on investments of all the celebrities analysed. It also doesn’t hurt that the hitmaker invested a lot of time writing chart-topping songs for the likes of Madonna, Whitney Houston and Boyz II Men. So there’s that too.

Youtubers to celebrity chefs show us the money

The celebrity report cast a wide net across the superstar set and included actors, athletes, singers, social media moguls and rappers, among many others. It considered investments in various asset classes, including luxury property, business ventures, intellectual property, financial instruments and collectables.

The next big name on the list was TikTok star Chase Hudson (Huddy) with a 69% return on his net worth of $11 million. He also capitalises on real estate and luxury vehicles, including a 6-bedroom house in California valued at $9m.

Meanwhile, music legend Billy Joel has a net worth of $225m and has seen a 52% return on his net worth. The Piano Man has a real estate portfolio that includes a 14,000-square-foot mansion in New York and a Manhattan apartment. Easy money, you might say.

Beyond music and property, Joel's financial empire extends to his record label, publishing company and stocks, making him a genuine Big Shot.

Many of the top celebrities invest in shares actually, with the most successful ones beating the average return of America's S&P 500 over the past 20 years, as per Forex.

Among them, social media stars appear to work investments like thumbed-up make-up reviews. YouTubers are a must-see, generating a 14% return on their net worth on average, according to Forex. This is almost 7% higher return than comedians, who tend to have the lowest returns at 6.6% of their net worth, on average. 

Best athletes score more on field than off

Thank goodness for trophies and fawning fans because though athletes have the highest average net worth, this group generates a below-average return of just 9.8% on their money.

Generally speaking, singers seem to know their way around money better than most. Those most in tune with their moola on the Forex list include Nicki Minaj, Drake and Kanye West. 

Finally, Gordon Ramsey, Bella Poarch and Logan Paul also made the top end of the study, so while you might be considering property, learning about shares or parking some savings in a term deposit, you might also want to take up music, cheffing or more social media than usual. 

If you’re keen to improve your investment know-how, we have lots of handy guides, including this one on meeting your financial goals and this one on how to invest in property.