International

They say that money doesn't buy you happiness - which is probably true, although being rich definitely helps. But one billionaire is on record as saying that he was happiest before he was loaded.

Jack Ma, founder and CEO of the e-commerce group Alibaba, has admitted that he was most satisfied when he was barely making any money just after he graduated from university. Know the feeling, mate.

Ma, who became the richest man in China after Alibaba's initial public offering (IPO) raised a record $25bn for the company, praised his first job as an English teacher at a local university after he graduated in 1988, calling it 'the best life I had'.

This was despite the job in his hometown of Hangzhou, China paying him a mere $12 a month, according to a documentary about his life, Crocodile in the Yangtze.

"If you have less than $1 million, you know how to spend the money," he said in a 2015 speech at the Economics Club of New York, according to Business Insider.

" [At] $1 billion, that's not your money...The money I have today is a responsibility. It's the trust of people on me."