Biography & Early Wealth Journey

"Saudi princes and princesses, of whom there are thousands, are known for the stories of their fabulous wealth – and tendency to squander it."

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (FETHI BELAID/AFP/Getty Images)

The Al Saud family has a formal, budgeted system of monthly stipends that family members receive. The stipends are managed by the Ministry of Finance's Office of Decisions and Rules – which sounds like something out of Harry Potter, but is actually a kind of welfare office for members of the Saudi royal family. Back in 1996, stipends ran from $800 a month for "the lowliest member of the most remote branch of the family" to $200,000 – $270,000 ($327,000 to $441,000 inflation adjusted) a month for one of Abdul-Aziz Ibn Saud's surviving sons. Grandchildren received about $27,000 a month – that's equivalent to more than $44,000 a month ($528,000 annually) in 2019 dollars. Great-grandchildren received $13,000 a month ($21,000 a month) and great-great-grandchildren received $8,000 a month ($13,000).

Primary Income Streams & Multi-Million Contracts

Keep in mind that those figures are from 1996. They are sure to have increased since then but, of course, the House of Saud is incredibly secretive about its wealth and goings on, so there's no way of knowing how much these figures have increased over the last 23 years.