Andrew Beal

Andrew Beal is the founder and owner of Beal Financial Corporation, which owns Beal Bank and has assets of more than $8 billion.

The Texas banker is known for gobbling up distressed assets, including mortgages, bonds backed by commercial planes and IOUs to power plants.

He made a tidy sum during the Great Recession, scooping up beaten-down assets while the nation's biggest banks were being bailed out by taxpayers.

Born in Lansing, Mich., he scraped together cash early on fixing used televisions.

Beal, who dropped out of both Michigan State University and Baylor University, says he has subscribed to Forbes for over three decades.