5 richest people

1. John D. Rockefeller (1839 - 1937) was the wealthiest American who ever lived. He started off in the grocery business in Cleveland, sold his operation and went into the emerging industry of oil. Along with his partner, Henry Flagler, he started Standard Oil. His great success came from developing his business monopolistically by controlling the railroads, production and refinement as well as exploration. In today's dollars, Rockefeller was worth around $318 billion.

2. Andrew Carnegie (1835 -1919) began as a bobbin boy in a textile mill in Pennsylvania. He became rich by working his way up the iron and steel business in order to build railroads. He understood very early that the industrial revolution was going to change everything in America. He was quick to recognize that steel was a better product than iron and invested in steel. He put his steel company to work building railroads and then as the railroad expansion was coming to an end he started promoting and selling steel beams for city skyscrapers. In today's dollars, Carnegie was worth just shy of $300 billion.

3. Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794 -1877) built steamboats to ferry people and goods along rivers and the coastline of northeastern America. He was also a railroad builder and at one time owned the route between New York and Chicago. Like Rockefeller and Astor, Vanderbilt was skillful at controlling all the major aspects that affected his core business. He didn't want to be dependent on suppliers and so developed his own supply companies to control price and supply. His net worth in today's dollars would be nearly $170 billion.

4. John Jacob Astor (1763 -1848) was America's first millionaire. By today's standards he was worth $115 billion. He made his money as a trader - first of fur and then of liquor, opium, and tea - from the end of the American Revolution until the middle of the nineteenth century. His skill: he was a great investor in businesses, diversifying his interests and getting in and out of businesses when economics mandated.

5. Warren Buffett (1930), CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, made his money as a stock market investor. Just this year - with a net worth of about $62 billion - he surpassed Bill Gates as the richest person in the world. According to Forbes, Buffett filed his first tax return as a 13-year-old. He has since adhered to value investing principles, sticking with companies that have good fundamentals. That means he thinks in the long term and doesn't get caught up in the "hot" trend. In 1955, Buffett took over Berkshire Hathaway - originally a textile firm - and has built it into a major holding company with investments in insurance, food, jewelry, utilities, and more.