STREET DOGS

WANT to know your chances of being rich? Ask yourself: what’s your sign? If you are a Virgo, Forbes did some research back in 2006 that should be good news for you. More people on its billionaires list that year were Virgos than any other zodiac sign. “So far, we have confirmed the birth dates for 613 of our 793 billionaires,” said the magazine. “Of those, more than 70, or roughly 12%, were born between August 23 and September 22, making this earth sign the most common among billionaires.”

It’s a bit ironic that top honours for the maledominated billionaires list should be symbolised by a virgin, but according to astrologer Michael Lutin it isn’t too surprising. Virgos are known to be hardworking, determined, detail-oriented and analytical. They are driven more by their desire to achieve excellence than by the pursuit of riches.

The good news for the rest of us is that Forbes found billionaires born under all 12 zodiac signs. The next in line were the aggressive Aries and idealistic Aquarians, who both accounted for 8% billionaires.

Scorpio had the bragging rights as the sign of the world’s richest man at the time, Microsoft’s Bill Gates. “The goal of Scorpio is to make you do what they want you to do, whether you want to do it or not,” Lutin said then. “People hate Windows, but they buy it.” That might still be true. The least common sign among billionaires? Sagittarius, which represents just 6% of the world’s wealthiest. Folks born under this sign are sometimes described as unorganised or even sloppy, and more focused on the big picture than on little details. Counting on their luck and the grace of God, adventurous Sagittarians can act like “tourists in the marketplace”, explained astrologer David Railey.

Michel Pireu — e-mail: pireum@streetdogs.co.za