If I were to ask you who comes to mind when I say “the richest person in the world,” chances are it will be someone like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, or Bill Gates. These three are among the wealthiest people in the world today – so you wouldn’t be wrong. 

What if we expanded the dragnet a bit and added “in history” to the equation? The answer is probably still the same, right? 

You’d be mistaken! 

Throughout history, we have seen some comparatively rich individuals (relative to their time period and where they lived). 

For example, John D. Rockefeller is considered the wealthiest American in history, having amassed a net worth equivalent to somewhere between 318 and 420 billion dollars, thanks to his monopoly of over 90% of the US oil market in the late 1800s. 

Let’s go even further back.  

This time, to Mali in the 1300s. Mansa Musa, the 10th Emperor of the Mali Empire, was so wealthy that there is no feasible way to measure it all. 

Accounts of his fortune speak of him showering cities with gold. He even sprung for a lavish pilgrimage to Mecca – which had the impact of devaluing gold and inflating the price of goods (driving Cairo into a recession). 

Being a problem solver, Musa borrowed gold from lenders at high interest rates to raise the value to a level more resembling what it was before his pilgrimage. Imagine being so wealthy that you could essentially control the value of gold! 

Fortunately, a trip into space by Jeff Bezos won’t equal a recession for us. Wealth these days (for the most part) affects a corporation or individual – not an entire country’s economy. 

You might not be the next Musa, or Rockefeller – that’s why careful planning is so important throughout your life! (But, even they would have had professionals to help them with their finances.) 

Luckily, it’s never too late to start, so call 513-563-PLAN (7526) or book a 15-minute consultation with my office online here!