March 5, 2012; Source: Washington Post

In case you want to see where your dream billionaire donor ranks in relationship to other unbearably rich people, you can now go to the new Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The day’s rankings will be published promptly at 5:30 p.m. each day. This Washington Post article marvels at the degree of change that can be seen over one 24-hour period.

One of us might smart, for instance, if we were to lose $478 million in one day, as Carlos Slim recently did, yet the Mexican media mogul is still at the top of the list, followed by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, whose fortune looks quite meager in comparison. Previous to this daily update, we have all had to make do with Forbes’ yearly listing of billionaires. –Ruth McCambridge