There’s a new celebrity sheriff in town and it’s no longer Oprah. Angelina Jolie is now the “World’s Most Powerful Celebrity” according to Forbes’ annual ranking of the world’s ultra famous – the “Celebrity 100 List”.

Angelina Jolie has been a roll with non-stop media attention and a string of several blockbuster movies.

Angelina made about $27 million in the past 12 months, driven by popular Hollywood movies including: “Kung Fu Panda”, “Wanted” and an upcoming spy thriller titled “Salt”.

It also helps that Jolie is married to Brad Pitt who is #9 on the “Celebrity 100 List”

Oprah Winfrey dropped to No. 2 on the list. The queen of media brought in $275 million over the last year, making her the list’s top earner.

Oprah continues to flourish with her popular day-time talk show “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and her monthly magazine “O”. Oprah also now has a three-year, $55 million deal with XM Satellite Radio.

To view the entire Forbes “Celebrity 100 List” – CLICK HERE

The world economic crisis has taken its toll on everybody, from the poor to the ultra-rich.

It’s time once again for Forbes to announce its list of the World’s Billionaires for 2009.

Amid the global recession, this year’s Forbes list of the World’s Billionaires is smaller and definitely poorer.  As a result, the very small club of billionaires from age 40 and younger, also got a whole lot smaller.

In Forbes’ 2008 list, the world’s 20 youngest plutocrats were all under the age of 36. Now in 2009, the billionaires age ranges from 25 to 40. The average age of the world’s 20 youngest billionaires is 35 this year, up from last year’s average of 32.

25-year-old German Prince Albert von Thurn und Taxis takes the award for the youngest billionaire in the world. Von Thurn und Taxis is worth $2.1 billion.

The list also includes former Yahoo! Chief Executive Jerry Yang.

See the complete list at Forbes

Despite a steep downturn in the U.S. housing market, the luxury home market remains strong in throughout the U.S.  A record breaking $175 million real estate sale in Colorado breaks a new national record for the highest value home ever sold. While the overall U. S. housing market has taken a downturn, wealthy home buyers continue to invest in homes at the very top of the market.

Evidence of the strength of the luxury home segment was revealed in late November with the sale of the Trinchera Ranch in Colorado for a record-setting $175 million. This sale breaks the U.S. residential sales record of $103 million set earlier this year in New York’s Hamptons.

Sellers of the Colorado property were the heirs of the late Malcolm Forbes, who acquired control of the historic Trinchera ranch in 1969. The buyer is billionaire hedge fund manager Louis Moore Bacon, who appears as number 286 on the Forbes list of the wealthiest Americans. Trinchera is the largest ranch in Colorado and its 171,400 acres contain five residences, as well as a Western style lodge with 16 bedrooms.

Although the Colorado sale set a U.S. sales record, it fell short of the world record residential purchase, also set this year, with Sheikh Hamad of Qatar’s acquisition of a penthouse condominium in London for £100 million – equivalent to about $200 million at the time of the sale.

“Although the vast Colorado ranch, the ocean front lot in the Hamptons, and the London penthouse condominium are not apples-to-apples comparisons, they are each indicative of the health of the very top of the world’s luxury home market,” said Laurie Moore-Moore, Founder of The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing, an international organization which tracks the luxury home market and trains luxury real estate agents.

“These sales illustrate the fact that there are more rich households than ever before and the world’s wealthiest have shifted more of their investment dollars out of alternative investments like commodities and into multiple residences.

Based on this year’s World Wealth Report from Merrill Lynch and CapGemini, the world’s über rich have invested 12% of their total portfolios in homes other than a primary residence,” said Moore-Moore. “In short, there is more money than ever competing for homes at the very top of the market. The luxury residential market is the good news story in real estate.”

Mike Montpetit, a real estate professional with Town & Country Realty and member of The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing, agrees. “In most markets across the country, the very top of the market remains healthy – luxury is the ‘sweet spot’ in real estate.”