1. Stay in School (or Don't)
Fourteen percent of the billionaires on the Forbes 400 list never finished college (some never even started). And, these aren't necessarily the bottom-of-the-barrel billionaires on the list. It's hard to top characters like: Bill Gates, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT); Steve Jobs, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL); Michael Dell, Dell (NASDAQ: DELL); Larry Ellison, Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) and Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook.

If you did go to college, don't fear. The financiers on the Forbes 400 list boast degrees from some of the most impressive schools in the United States. In this category, half have graduate degrees. Of those with MBAs, 70% earned them from one of three Ivy League institutions: Harvard, Columbia or the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton School of Business).

2. Work for a Fantastic Business (or Start Your Own)
Clearly, Gates, Jobs and Zuckerberg didn't engineer their economic ascents by working for "the man." Jumpstarting your own fortunes remains a decent way to make the Forbes 400 list – it's certainly better than hoping for a lifetime of small but boast-able promotions. Yet, you can still become a billionaire and satisfy your inner clock-puncher. At least 11 current and recent billionaire financial industry professionals have worked at Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) at some point in their careers (usually early).

3. Screw Up (Big-Time)
A professional setback can do wonders for your career – though making a career of failing's probably not the smartest way to proceed. A number of the Forbes 400 billionaires cultivated an acute fear of failure by experiencing it. They see it as vital to success, because you need to know what failure is and what it can do to you.

You may know the stove is hot. Stick your hand on it once, though, and you'll have a lesson to take with you for the rest of your life.

4. Have the Right Parents
Of course, the best way to become wealthy is to start wealthy – i.e., be born to it. There are other ways, however, that having the "right" parents can influence future success. Many have parents who owned small businesses, which meant a childhood of seeing both the rewards and difficulties of entrepreneurship.

5. Have the Right Parents, Part II (Math Skills)
Whether you drop out of school or persevere through top programs for advanced degrees – as both, or neither – can make you extremely wealthy, a high aptitude for mathematics is helpful. But, it's even more important that your parents be number-savvy. Among the folks listed on the Forbes 400, some of the most common professions for their parents were engineer and accountant.

6. Join a Club That Would Never Have You as a Member
For the Yalies on the Forbes 400, getting your ticket punched at Skull and Bones adds a few zeroes to net worth. Stephen Schwarzman, co-founder of Blackstone (NYSE: BX) and Frederick Smith, who started FedEx (NYSE: FDX), passed through the secret society.

7. Channel Your Inner Scorpio
Most of the billionaires on the Forbes list were born in the fall. If you have a December birth date, your odds drop.