Seven Steps to Breaking Your Addiction

Most people make resolutions at the beginning of the year, only to break them before the month is over. Whether you want to stop drinking, quit smoking, gambling or simply spend less time on the computer, Dr. Phil has advice.

1) Acknowledge the purpose.
Why do you do it? You have to be able to answer that question. Is it to help you deal with anxiety and stress? It may be hard for you to admit that you have a drinking or smoking habit, but you can't change what you don't acknowledge. Dr. Phil says, "What purpose does the behavior serve for you? If you're an alcoholic, you're not just drinking because you're thirsty. Admit to yourself: 'I'm medicating myself for anxiety, depression and pain. It numbs me to life.'"

2) Think rational thoughts instead of denial. 
You understand at a conscious level, at an intellectual level that your addiction is unhealthy, yet you continue and this perplexes you. Dr. Phil points out, "If you're in denial about it, if you're minimizing it, if you're trivializing it, if you're conning yourself about it, then you'll never get where you need to be." If you can't get through the day without a shot of vodka, you may be medicating yourself for anxiety, depression or pain. You may need to count on others to help you think rationally. 

3) Use alternative coping skills. People don't break bad habits; they replace them with new ones. Recognize that you get a reward from smoking or drinking. Dr. Phil explains, "It calms you. It takes your anxiety away. It lifts your spirits. It numbs you to the pain of your life. If I take that away from you and then don't put anything in its place, then you're just there stripped of your coping mechanisms and you're going to go back to what you were doing before." Some alternative techniques to consider to replace your addiction are breathing exercises or relaxation techniques. 

4) Identify your danger zones.
A danger zone can be a particular time of day or your reaction to a particular circumstance. There are times that you're more prone to indulge in your habit than others. Recognize what those times are, and do something that is incompatible with the addiction you're trying to break. For example, if you have the urge to light up during your 3 p.m. break at work, take that time to do your breathing or relaxation exercises instead. Dr. Phil encourages, "If you get through that two or three moments of impulse, I promise you it will go away." You don't have to be strong and powerful all day long every day. You just need to recognize your danger zones, and do something incompatible with your addiction.

5) Make lifestyle changes."It's not willpower, it's programming," Dr. Phil says. You have to set your life up for success if you're going to break your addiction. If you're trying to stop smoking or drinking, try simple things like not carrying money for cigarette vending machines or cleaning your cupboards of alcoholic beverages. You may have to change the places you frequent, what you do for fun and whom you hang out with. If you are a computer junkie, remove the computer from your house. The best way to stop an addiction is to not have access to it.

6) Be accountable and have a support system.
Being accountable to someone means that that person will not only support you, but will give you the kick in the rear that you need when it gets tough and tell you the truth when you're kidding yourself. Get your family and friends involved in your efforts to kick the habit. If you're a smoker, print out these cards from Dr. Phil that warn your friends to refrain from indulging you. You can also find addiction support on the message boards at DrPhil.com. You need to find a community that supports you during this time and embraces your decision to be healthier. You may also need to seek treatment or check into a rehabilitative program.

7) Reward yourself.Overcoming an addiction can be very difficult, but it can be done. When you see yourself making progress, even baby steps, you have to motivate yourself to keep going. Give yourself credit. Reward yourself for every step you make, starting with admitting that you have a problem and asking for help.

Understanding Addiction

What Is Addiction?

Key Points

• Addiction involves craving for something intensely, loss of control over its use, and continuing involvement with it despite adverse consequences.
• Addiction changes the brain, first by subverting the way it registers pleasure and then by corrupting other normal drives such as learning and motivation.
• Although breaking an addiction is tough, it can be done.

The word “addiction” is derived from a Latin term for “enslaved by” or “bound to.” Anyone who has struggled to overcome an addiction—or has tried to help someone else to do so—understands why.

Addiction exerts a long and powerful influence on the brain that manifests in three distinct ways: craving for the object of addiction, loss of control over its use, and continuing involvement with it despite adverse consequences.

For many years, experts believed that only alcohol and powerful drugs could cause addiction. Neuroimaging technologies and more recent research, however, have shown that certain pleasurable activities, such as gambling, shopping, and sex, can also co-opt the brain.

Although a standard U.S. diagnostic manual (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition or DSM-IV) describes multiple addictions, each tied to a specific substance or activity, consensus is emerging that these may represent multiple expressions of a common underlying brain process.

New insights into a common problem

Nobody starts out intending to develop an addiction, but many people get caught in its snare. Consider the latest government statistics:

• Nearly 23 million Americans—almost one in 10—are addicted to alcohol or other drugs.
• More than two-thirds of people with addiction abuse alcohol.
• The top three drugs causing addiction are marijuana, opioid (narcotic) pain relievers, and cocaine.

In the 1930s, when researchers first began to investigate what caused addictive behavior, they believed that people who developed addictions were somehow morally flawed or lacking in willpower. Overcoming addiction, they thought, involved punishing miscreants or, alternately, encouraging them to muster the will to break a habit.

The scientific consensus has changed since then. Today we recognize addiction as a chronic disease that changes both brain structure and function. Just as cardiovascular disease damages the heart and diabetes impairs the pancreas, addiction hijacks the brain. This happens as the brain goes through a series of changes, beginning with recognition of pleasure and ending with a drive toward compulsive behavior.

Pleasure principle

The brain registers all pleasures in the same way, whether they originate with a psychoactive drug, a monetary reward, a sexual encounter, or a satisfying meal. In the brain, pleasure has a distinct signature: the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the nucleus accumbens, a cluster of nerve cells lying underneath the cerebral cortex (see illustration). Dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens is so consistently tied with pleasure that neuroscientists refer to the region as the brain’s pleasure center.

All drugs of abuse, from nicotine to heroin, cause a particularly powerful surge of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens. The likelihood that the use of a drug or participation in a rewarding activity will lead to addiction is directly linked to the speed with which it promotes dopamine release, the intensity of that release, and the reliability of that release.

Even taking the same drug through different methods of administration can influence how likely it is to lead to addiction. Smoking a drug or injecting it intravenously, as opposed to swallowing it as a pill, for example, generally produces a faster, stronger dopamine signal and is more likely to lead to drug misuse.

Brain's Reward Center

Addictive drugs provide a shortcut to the brain’s reward system by flooding the nucleus accumbens with dopamine. The hippocampus lays down memories of this rapid sense of satisfaction, and the amygdala creates a conditioned response to certain stimuli.

Learning process

Scientists once believed that the experience of pleasure alone was enough to prompt people to continue seeking an addictive substance or activity. But more recent research suggests that the situation is more complicated. Dopamine not only contributes to the experience of pleasure, but also plays a role in learning and memory—two key elements in the transition from liking something to becoming addicted to it.

According to the current theory about addiction, dopamine interacts with another neurotransmitter, glutamate, to take over the brain’s system of reward-related learning. This system has an important role in sustaining life because it links activities needed for human survival (such as eating and sex) with pleasure and reward.

The reward circuit in the brain includes areas involved with motivation and memory as well as with pleasure. Addictive substances and behaviors stimulate the same circuit—and then overload it.

Repeated exposure to an addictive substance or behavior causes nerve cells in the nucleus accumbens and the prefrontal cortex (the area of the brain involved in planning and executing tasks) to communicate in a way that couples liking something with wanting it, in turn driving us to go after it. That is, this process motivates us to take action to seek out the source of pleasure.

Do you have addiction?

Determining whether you have addiction isn’t completely straightforward. And admitting it isn’t easy, largely because of the stigma and shame associated with addiction. But acknowledging the problem is the first step toward recovery.

A “yes” answer to any of the following three questions suggests you might have a problem with addiction and should—at the very least—consult a health care provider for further evaluation and guidance.

• Do you use more of the substance or engage in the behavior more often than in the past?
• Do you have withdrawal symptoms when you don’t have the substance or engage in the behavior?
• Have you ever lied to anyone about your use of the substance 

Treating yeast infections and preventions

Yeast infections are most often treated with medicine that you put into your vagina. This medicine may be in cream or suppository form and many are available over-the-counter. Medicine in a pill form that you take by mouth is also available by prescription.

What Should I Do to Prevent Vaginal Yeast Infections?

To prevent yeast infections, you should:

• Wear loose clothing made from natural fibers (cotton, linen, silk).
• Avoid wearing tight pants.
• Don't douche. (Douching can kill bacteria that control fungus.)
• Limit the use of feminine deodorant.
• Limit the use of deodorant tampons or pads to the times when you need them.
• Change out of wet clothing, especially bathing suits, as soon as you can.
• Avoid frequent hot tub baths.
• Wash underwear in hot water.
• Eat a well-balanced diet.
• Eat yogurt.
• If you have diabetes, keep your blood sugar level as close to normal as possible.

Top 20 Lucrative Business in Nigeria That Makes Millions of Naira

1. Poultry Farming - This business is making average Nigerians rich over night. It is so lucrative that even outsiders are coming in to invest in the business. And why not? In a country of more than 150 million people, what do you expect? If you start with 1,000 birds and manage your poultry farm properly, when the turnover on investment begins to come, you will be making N30 million annually.

2. Cassava Production - Recently, people are beginning to turn their attention to this aspect of farming in Nigeria that have been neglected for years. Cassava derived foods are some of the most consumed in Nigeria. If you can invest in cultivating 50 - 100 Acre in a fertile area like Ondo State, your harvest will be great and the is there.

3. Import Used Cloth - Tokunbo market in Nigeria is very big and many people prefer to buy used items that are high quality than buy fake that will spoil tomorrow.The cost of buying and importing used cloths is low compared to the prices in the market here in Nigeria.

4. Sale of Furniture - Buying and selling of Locally make furniture is a goldmine. You don't need to be a carpenter to do this, just arrange for regular supply from reliable Carpenters while you display and sale in your showroom. It is a very big business in Nigeria as only few can afford the imported ones.

5. Snail Rearing - Snail farming is the choice Animal farming for many reasons. It is a low capital investment with high yield and the market is big. There are few people currently doing this - and most of them are doing in a very low scale. If someone invest heavily in Snail farming, he is sure to make good money in Millions with a year.

6. Rice Farming - Rice remains the most consumed food staple in Nigeria and Billions of dollars goes into importation of this product yearly from China and Thailand because the local farmer are unable to meet up the demand due to poor funding and limited knowledge. Anyone who have a million dollar to invest should get in touch and partner with me with 100% return. $1,000,000 = $2,000,000

7. Making of Fruit Juice - Nigerians drink fruit juice more than any other people. That's why companies like La Carcella and Chivita who came into the country as nobody are today making billions of naira annually. This business in capital intensive but if you can afford it, it well worth it.

8. Pure Water Production - You know how popular this is in Nigeria and how many that are dispensed daily. Though this business is capital intensive but well worth investing into especially if you can manage it properly with professionalism.

9. Oil and Gas Business - We are blessed and cursed with huge deposit of oil in our land which presents some of the finest business opportunity for Nigerians and Foreigners over the years. Owning and Petrol Filling Station, Supplying of Diesel, and Distribution of Kerosene. This are some the areas you can invest easily and make good money for yourselves.

10. Haulage Services -  The cost of taking a truck from one place to the other in Nigeria is between N20,000 to N200,000 per trip. Due to poor rail transport system, most of the Nigerian goods are transported through the road, making haulage business in Nigeria a viable one.

11. Hotel Business -This is probably the coolest money making opportunity in Nigeria. Invest in small scale hotel of just 10 suites and watch as the money flows in. This has nothing to do with tourism boom of any kind; there is just something in Nigerians system that make this business very lucrative - Nigerians are jolly people!

12. Fast Food Eatery - Eatery business is another goldmine though poor management can kill it death! If you are going into this business, be sure you must get everything right and don't forget it's a bit capital intensive and requires good management skills. But if you get everything right, free money is yours.


13. Importation of Tokunbo Spare Parts - If you are in USA, this business is good for you. Don't just keep importing exotic cars, gather tokunbo spare parts in container and ship down here. There is huge money in it.

14. Investing in Property - Property is appreciating everyday in Nigeria. Right now, Nigeria is one the countries in the world where landed property is most expensive. If you buy land now anywhere in Lagos, you are sure to make 100% profit within two years. You can buy and quickly resell and make profit or you buy, keep and sell later.

15. Dry Cleaning - Professional dry cleaners at affordable prices are scarce in Nigeria. What we have are professional Dry Cleaners whose service fees are extremely high or mediocre dry cleaners who can never keep with time. Give them cloths today and meet it unwashed after one week. This business is a money maker if you balance it up.

16. Professional Car Wash - This business is good too if you are in strategic location. You will get work none stop.

17. Sales of Building Materials - The rate at which new houses are springing up in Nigeria, you get to wonder why many people still complain of housing problem. Investing in building material is a good business and I can count some guys who are making millions almost daily in this business.

18.Transport Business - What we have in this sector are transport companies that are badly managed by local chiefs and touts. Invest in this business with good management and you will be wondering what hits you with bags of money.

19. Nursery and Primary School - School business has no rival among it's mate. My little kids school fees takes away close to a million naira per term just to learn ABC!

20. Investing in Internet Companies - This is a new crop of powerful investment that is creating Billionaires around the world including Nigeria. It's simple! You don't have to be a Tech person, all you need is look for creative online start up and invest in the idea. With 1 to 2 years you will be counting your profits in dollars.                                                                                                                                                                                                    BY: DARLINTON OMEH

Banana island Lagos ( world most expensive island)

Banana Island is an artificial island in Lagos State, Nigeria. It is located in the Lagos Lagoon and attached to the North-Eastern Ikoyi Island..

Exclusive Villas in Banana Island

If you never heard about the Island, now you know. Banana Island is Nigeria’s most extravagant and among the most expensive neighborhood in the world.

Ocean Parade Tower. Banana Island

 Banana Island is an artificial island built on reclaimed land in Ikoyi-Lagos. From an aerial view, the island is actually shaped like a banana, hence its name. Sitting on 1.6 million square meters, the sumptuous island is divided into about 535 plots ranging in size from 1,000 square meters and 3,000 square meters.

The Neighborhood

 Banana Island is a place of unrivaled opulence and grandeur. It’s an entirely different world from other parts of the country. It’s a gated community, and its inhabitants enjoy such luxuries as underground electrical systems and water supply networks, 24 hour-electricity supply (the only other place such privileged is the Nigerian President’s residence), extremely tight security, good road layout, a central sewage system and treatment plant and the well-cherished company of fellow wealthy folks.

The Nearby Eko Atlantic

 The island is the most expensive place in Nigeria and one of the most expensive in Africa to own a house. Property on Banana Island is dollar-denominated. The average cost of buying a three bedroom apartment is $2 million (#300 million). However, if you’re just looking to hang around the island for some time, and not to buy property, you can rent the same apartment for about $150,000 (#22 million) per annum. But there’s a clause: you must pay for an initial minimum term of 2 years – in advance. And there are no refunds. Ever! Also, the tenant is also mandated to pay a ‘service charge’ of $17,000 (#3 million) per annum

One of the Playgrounds

 A typical plot of land on the island usually goes for between $4 million (#600 million) and $6 million,(#900 million) and the cheapest building on the island costs upward of $8 million ( #1.2 billion) . But because of the ridiculous prices of property on the island, about 60% of the completed buildings are currently unoccupied.

Banana Island Luxury Apartments

All time richest men and their current worth

 There are some wealthy Figures omitted in this list, either because we couldn't get the reasonable estimate of their wealth or they simply don't fit in. The likes of The Rothschild familysaid to worth hundreds of billions or more but could not be included because this list is about individuals, not family. Muammar Gaddafi who is believed to worth over two hundred billion USD,Marcus Licinius Crassus, etc. Those who made the list truly deserves their place. These are the list 

10. Alan Rufus - Worth = $178.65 billion [Approximately] (c. 1040 – 1093).

Alan Rufus is a close companion of William the Conqueror. Like William the Conqueror, Alan Rufus died a very rich man; in adjusting his fortune to modern equivalents by accounting for inflation, he was worth approximately $178.65 billion, coming in part from the 250,000 acres ("the Land of Count Alan") conceded to him in Yorkshire in 1071 by the King for his cooperation in the invasion. This figure puts him as one of the richest people in human history.

Alan Rufus was a major employer of skilled labour to build abbeys, castles and manor-houses across Norman England, some of which remain in evidence today. As an example, the original manor house of Costessey Hall in Norfolk still stands on the north side of the river Tud in Costessey Park. Beneath Richmond Castle, Alan founded the beautiful town of Richmond, North Yorkshire.

9. Cornelius Vanderbilt - Worth = $185 Billion (May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877)

Cornelius Vanderbilt also known by the sobriquet Commodore, was an American industrialist and philanthropist who built his wealth in shipping and railroads. He was also the patriarch of the Vanderbilt family and one of the richest Americans in history. He provided the initial gift to found Vanderbilt University, which is named in his honor.

Vanderbilt was born in Staten Island, New York and began working on his father's ferry in New York Harbor as a boy, quitting school at the age of 11. At the age of 16 Vanderbilt decided to start his own ferry service. According to one version of events, he borrowed $100 from his mother to purchase a periauger (a shallow draft, two masted sailing vessel).

However, according to the version of the first published account of his life, published in the magazine Scientific American in 1853, the periauger belonged to his father and he received half the profit. He began his business by ferrying freight and passengers between Staten Island and Manhattan.

8. Henry Ford - Worth = $199 Billion (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947)

Henry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. Ford did not invent the automobile, but he developed and manufactured the first automobile that many middle class Americans could afford to buy. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry. As owner of the Ford Motor Company, he became one of the richest and best-known people in the world. He is credited with "Fordism": mass production of inexpensive goods coupled with high wages for workers.

Ford's philosophy was one of economic independence for the United States. His River Rouge Plant became the world's largest industrial complex, pursuing vertical integration to such an extent that it could produce its own steel. Ford's goal was to produce a vehicle from scratch without reliance on foreign trade. He believed in the global expansion of his company. He believed that international trade and cooperation led to international peace, and he used the assembly line process and production of the Model T to demonstrate it.

7. Jakob Fugger of the Lily - Worth = $221 Billion [Approximately] (6 Mar 1459 – 30 Dec 1525)

Known as Jakob Fugger the Rich or sometimes Jakob II. Fugger was a major merchant, mining entrepreneur and banker of Europe between ca. 1495-1525. He was a descendant of the Fugger merchant family located in the Free Imperial City of Augsburg, where he was also born and later also

The foundation of the family's wealth was created mainly by the textile trade with Italy. The company grew rapidly after the brothers Ulrich, Georg and Jakob began banking transactions with the House of Habsburg as well as the Roman Curia, and at the same time began mining operations in Tyrol, and from 1493 on the extraction of silver and copper in the present Czech Republic and Slovakia. As of 1525 they also had the right to mine quicksilver and cinnabar in Almadén. Elevated through marriage to Grand Burgher of Augsburg (German Großbürger zu Augsburg). Within a few decades he expanded the family firm to a business operating in all of Europe. He began his education with the age of 14 in Venice, which also remained his main residence until 1487. At the same time he was a cleric and held several prebendaries, even though he never lived in a monastery.

At his death on 30 December 1525 Jakob Fugger bequeathed to his nephew Anton Fugger company assets totaling 2,032,652 guilders. He is considered to be one of the richest persons of all time, and today he is well known as Jakob Fugger 'the Rich'. He is among the most well known Germans and arguably the most famous citizen of Augsburg. In 1967 a bust of him was placed in the Walhalla, a "hall of fame" near Regensburg that honors laudable and distinguished Germans.

6. Mir Osman Ali Khan - Worth = $230 billion (6 April 1886 – 24 February 1967)

He was the last Nizam (or ruler) of the Princely State of Hyderabad and of Berar. He ruled Hyderabad between 1911 and 1948, until it was merged into India. He was styled His Exalted Highness The Nizam of Hyderabad.

During his days as Nizam, he was reputed to be the richest man in the world, having a fortune estimated at US$2 billion in the early 1940s ($32.8 billion in today dollars) or 2 per cent of the US economy then. At that time the treasury of the newly independent Union government of India reported annual revenue of US$1 billion only. 

He was featured on the cover of TIME magazine, portrayed as such. The Nizam is widely believed to have remained as the richest man in South Asia until his death in 1967, though his fortunes fell to US$1 billion by then and became a subject of multiple legal disputes between bitterly fighting rival descendants. His wealth include a vast private treasury. Its coffers were said to contain £100m in gold and silver bullion, and a further £400m of jewels. 

Among them was the fabulously rare Jacob diamond, valued at some £100m (2008), and used by the Nizam as a paperweight. There were pearls, too – enough to pave Piccadilly – hundreds of race horses, thousands of uniforms, tonnes of royal regalia and Rolls-Royces by the dozen. Calculating his modern day worth by accounting for inflation, the Nizam was worth $236 billion, making him one of the wealthiest people to have ever lived.

5. Tsar Nicholas II of Russia - Worth = $300 Billion (18 May [O.S.] 6 May] 1868 – 17 July 1918)

Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, born in 1868 as Nikolai Alexandrovich into the House of Romanov, was the emperor of the Russian Empire from 1894 until the February Revolution of 1917. Around age 48 (in 1916) his wealth was valued at up to US$881 million, which equals US$290 billion in today's money. 

He is seen as the wealthiest monarch and head of state in history and further as the wealthiest saint as the Russian Orthodox Church declared him, his wife and his children martyrs after being murdered in 1918 by the Bolsheviks.

Under his rule, Russia was humiliatingly defeated in the Russo-Japanese War, which saw the almost total annihilation of the Russian Baltic Fleet at the Battle of Tsushima. The Anglo-Russian Entente, designed to counter German attempts to gain influence in the Middle East, ended the Great Game between Russia and the United Kingdom. As head of state, Nicholas approved the Russian mobilization of August 1914, which marked the beginning of Russia's involvement in World War I, a war in which 3.3 million Russians were killed

At the time of his death, his net worth was $900 million, which is the inflation adjusted equivalent to $300 billion in 2012 dollars, thus making him one of the richest monarchs in human history 

4. Andrew Carnegie - Worth = $310 Billion (November 25, 1835 – August 11, 1919)

Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, and emigrated to the United States with his parents in 1848. Carnegie started as a telegrapher and by the 1860s had investments in railroads, railroad sleeping cars, bridges and oil derricks. He built further wealth as a bond salesman raising money for American enterprise in Europe. He built Pittsburgh's Carnegie Steel Company, which he sold to J.P. Morgan in 1901 for $480 million, creating the U.S. Steel Corporation. 

Carnegie devoted the remainder of his life to large-scale philanthropy, with special emphasis on local libraries, world peace, education and scientific research.

With the fortune he made from business, he built Carnegie Hall, and founded the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Carnegie Institution for Science, Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, Carnegie Hero Fund, Carnegie Mellon University and the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, among others. His life has often been referred to as a true "rags to riches" story.

3. Mansa Musa I - Worth = $400 Billion (c. 1280 – c. 1337)

Mansa Musa, was the tenth Mansa, which translates as "King of Kings" or "Emperor", of the wealthy Malian Empire.

Musa made his pilgrimage in 1324, his procession reported to include 60,000 men, 12,000 slaves who each carried 4-lb. gold bars, heralds dressed in silks who bore gold staffs, organized horses and handled bags. Musa provided all necessities for the procession, feeding the entire company of men and animals. 

Also in the train were 80 camels, which varying reports claim carried between 50 and 300 pounds of gold dust each. He gave away the gold to the poor he met along his route. Musa not only gave to the cities he passed on the way to Mecca, including Cairo and Medina, but also traded gold for souvenirs. Furthermore, it has been recorded that he built a mosque each and every Friday.

Musa's journey was documented by several eyewitnesses along his route, who were in awe of his wealth and extensive procession, and records exist in a variety of sources, including journals, oral accounts and histories. Musa is known to have visited with the Mamluk sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad of Egypt in July 1324.

Musa's generous actions, however, inadvertently devastated the economy of the region. In the cities of Cairo, Medina and Mecca, the sudden influx of gold devalued the metal for the next decade. Prices on goods and wares super inflated in an attempt to adjust to the newfound wealth that was spreading throughout local populations. 

To rectify the gold market, Musa borrowed all the gold he could carry from money-lenders in Cairo, at high interest. This is the only time recorded in history that one man directly controlled the price of gold in the Mediterranean 


2. John D. Rockefeller - Worth = $663.4 billion (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937)

 He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of modern philanthropy. In 1870, he founded Standard Oil Company and aggressively ran it until he 
officially retired in 1897.

Rockefeller founded Standard Oil as an Ohio partnership with his brother William along with Henry Flagler, Jabez Bostwick, chemist Samuel Andrews, and a silent partner, Stephen V. Harkness. As kerosene and gasoline grew in importance, Rockefeller's wealth soared and he became the world's richest man and the first American worth more than a billion dollars. Adjusting for inflation, he is often regarded as the richest person in history.

Rockefeller spent the last 40 years of his life in retirement. His fortune was mainly used to create the modern systematic approach of targeted philanthropy. He was able to do this through the creation of foundations that had a major effect on medicine, education and scientific research. His foundations pioneered the development of medical research and were instrumental in the eradication of hookworm and yellow fever.

1. King Solomon - Worth = $2.1 Trillion [Worth $1.056 trillion in 1992] (Reign 970 to 931 BCE)

The Bible states that King Solomon held a fortune that dwarfed any and every person who lived before him, making him the wealthiest person in the world.

King Solomon reigned for 40 years. Each year, Solomon received 25 tons of gold.

1 ton of Gold is worth $64.3 Million dollars at $2000/oz Therefore, 25 tone times 40 years of his reign amounts to $64,300,800,000

This did not include income derived from business, trade, nor the annual tribute paid to him by all of the kings and governors of Arabia. King Solomon's throne was coated in pure gold and inlaid with ivory. It had 6 stairs, 12 lion statues (1 on either side of each step) and a solid gold foot stool. Two larger lion statues stood on either side of the throne.

All of the goblets and household articles in Solomon's palace were pure gold. King Solomon was reportedly so rich, that during the years of his reign over Jerusalem, his immense wealth caused silver to be considered of little value and as common as rocks. As such, nothing in Solomon's palace was made of silver. 

The same devaluation was noted of cedar wood, a lumber which at the time, was considered to be of great monetary value and cultural significance by many societies at the time. Some historians claim that the Tawil family from Azech in Tur Abddin (modern day Idil in Şırnak Province, Turkey) used to be the private goldsmiths of Solomon.

Painting by: Edward John Poynter (1836 - 1919)