George Soros, a billionaire investor whose net worth is valued at $25 billion, has been one of the most vociferous critics of President Donald Trump.

Even though Soros once invested in a company started by Trump's son-in-law,  the mogul's firm anti-Trump stance has turned him into the subject of frequent right-wing conspiracy theories about paying people to show up to marches.

But even without the conspiracy theories, Soros has an incredible backstory. Soros was a teenage Jewish refugee who barely escaped persecution by the Nazis, and he is now a philanthropist supporting the cause of refugees and a liberal world order.

To those primarily interested in markets, he is better known for his long and prolific career as an investor who famously "broke the Bank of England."

His track record has earned him comparisons with investing great Warren Buffett.

Following are some interesting facts about Soros' life, gleaned from his investing career and philanthropic endeavors.

As a Jewish teenager in Hungary in 1944-45, Soros and his family survived Nazi occupation using false identity papers prepared by his father.

Source: Open Society Foundations

Later he fled Hungary for England and studied philosophy at the London School of Economics under Karl Popper while working as a railway porter and night-club waiter.

Source: Open Society Foundations

After graduating, Soros wrote 'to every managing director in every merchant bank in London' asking for an interview but got 'just one or two replies.'

Source: Los Angeles World Affairs Council

The Obamacare replacement plan is headed for a vote in the House on Thursday afternoon.

That's after some changes have been made to the American Health Care Act, the bill that aims to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

The bill now includes a new addition, called the MacArthur amendment. The amendment would allow states to receive waivers to avoid some of the regulations set up under the ACA. And on Wednesday, Rep. Fred Upton introduced an amendment that allowed for $8 billion in funding to protect people who are sick in the case that those waivers are triggered.

The two amendments have led to dozens of patient advocacy groups and physician groups to speak out. 

SEE ALSO: Trump just scored a big win with the conservatives who killed his healthcare bill

DON'T MISS: Republicans have a new plan to repeal Obamacare — and it may bring them closer to passing 'Trumpcare'

10 patient advocacy groups —"There is no substitute for fundamental, unequivocal protections for people with pre-existing conditions."

On Wednesday, in response to Upton's amendment to the bill, 10 patient groups sent a release stating their opposition to the new amendment and the bill as a whole:

"Despite the Upton amendment, we remain strongly opposed to the American Health Care Act and urge Congress to consider the people at the heart of this decision," the groups said in a statement. "The various patchwork solutions offered by lawmakers would still leave the millions of patients we represent, who have serious and chronic health conditions, at risk of not being able to access life-saving treatments and care."

"There is no substitute for fundamental, unequivocal protections for people with pre-existing conditions."

The groups included the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, the American Diabetes Association, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, March of Dimes, the National Organization for Rare Disorders, the National MS Society, and WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease.

American Academy of Pediatrics — "The current version makes an already bad bill even worse for children and families."

 The organization, which represents 66,000 pediatricians, originally cited changes to the Medicaid program as the reason why it couldn't support the bill.

"As Congress began considering changes to the ACA and Medicaid, the message from America’s pediatricians was clear: any changes to the ACA cannot erode the progress we have made in reducing child uninsurance. Unfortunately, the AHCA does not meet this test and the AAP opposes it as currently drafted," the AAP wrote in a letter in March.

On May 1, the organization reiterated its position.

"Pediatricians have been voicing our opposition to the AHCA since it was initially introduced, and the current version makes an already bad bill even worse for children and families,"the AAP said in a statement. 

The AAP was also one of six physician groups that sent a letter to Congress in April opposing the bill, along with the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Physicians, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Osteopathic Association, and the American Psychiatric Association. 

American Medical Association — "Nothing in the MacArthur amendment remedies the shortcomings of the underlying bill."

The biggest group of doctors in the US doubled down on its opposition to the AHCA. 

"We are deeply concerned that the AHCA would result in millions of Americans losing their current health insurance coverage. Nothing in the MacArthur amendment remedies the shortcomings of the underlying bill," the AMA said in a letter to Congress on Thursday.

The organization previously said it wouldn't support the bill's plans to roll back Medicaid expansion or the repeal of the Prevention and Public Health Fund, which helps fund the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Regarding the new amendment, the AMA's concerns centered around individuals who have preexisting conditions, who might find their healthcare coverage unaffordable. 

Here's the full letter.

Celebrities often push the boundaries of fashion on the red carpet, from wearing dresses designed like a swan's body to outfits made entirely from recycled bottles. But a bigger trend that began taking off in 2016 was the "naked" dress — gowns and outfits designed to show maximum skin while still keeping covered. 

Keep reading for a look at 23 of the most daring outfits celebrities have rocked.

Kendall Jenner went with a metallic mesh gown for the 2017 Met Gala.

Kendall made it onto INSIDER's worst-dressed list for the 2017 Met Gala— we just weren't sold on the "slashed fabric" look.

Kendall has worn other daring dresses, too. She had to move with caution when she wore this double slitted dress to the 2015 Much Music Video Awards.

The cream colored gown looked modest from behind, but when Jenner turned around it was all legs. She put Angelina Jolie's famous Oscar dress to shame.

Toni Braxton broke the mold back in 2001 when she wore this white dress to the Grammys.

In 2014, Braxton spoke with People Magazine about the daring gown. "I was younger then,"Braxton said. "Things were up – the boobies were perkier, the cellulite was less. You got to do it when you're young."

She also explained that the designer, Richard Tyler, had attached underwear to the side panel of the dress, which helped keep the fabric down.

The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.

Some say being a mom is the toughest job in a world, and new parents have it particularly rough.

Babies don't come with instructions, so between calming and cradling an infant back to sleep and ticking off all the important milestones, the first few months — heck, years — of parenting are equal parts terrifying and rewarding. If you know a new mom, why not show her some extra love this Mother's Day?

To help, we put together a list of 17 thoughtful presents for any woman celebrating her first-ever Mother's Day:

SEE ALSO: 23 gifts your mom actually wants this Mother's Day

A photo book

If she's always posting Instagrams of the baby, fill a photo book with her favorite moments.

Snapfish Photo Book, from $34.99 for 8" x 11" 

A stylish diaper bag

Here's a diaper bag she'll actually want to carry.

Rebecca Minkoff Knocked Up Baby Bag, $345

Book of short stories

She probably won't have time to read an entire book, so get her a collection of short stories.

"What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky: Stories" by Lesley Nneka Arimah, $13.68 for hardcover

A taste of something sweet never hurt anyone, but you may be gulping down more sugar than you realize.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officially recommends that we eat no more than 50 grams (about 4 tablespoons) of sugar per day, though the World Health Organization calls for half that amount.

Meanwhile, the average American consumes nearly double the FDA's guidelines — and the long-term consequences can be dire.

Canned and bottled beverages are a major contributor to US sugar intake, but colas and other sodas aren't the only drinks to blame; pre-packaged coffees, teas, and energy drinks are often loaded with the sweet stuff, too.

Here are the bestselling non-diet drinks in the US, according to sales data that Euromonitor provided to Business Insider, and how much sugar they contain.

SEE ALSO: 15 disturbing consequences of eating too much sugar

DON'T MISS: These food myths are ridiculous and need to die

Coffee

Colas

Non-Colas

Rory McIlroy turned 28 on Thursday and has already built up quite a career.

He has won three of the four major championships and four majors overall. He also has a deal with Nike rumored to be worth as much as $200 million, as he has been tasked with replacing Tiger Woods as the face of Nike golf.

He also has the makings of a pretty fantastic lifestyle off the course, with a lavish house in Florida, a $400,000 car, and much more.

McIlroy hasn't won a major since 2014, but he still earned over $9 million on the course in 2016 between the PGA Tour and the European Tour.

Source: Forbes

He also already ranks seventh on the career money list with $67.5 million in tournament winnings.

Read more: The 30 highest-paid golfers of all time

And that doesn't include the millions he makes in appearance fees.

The INSIDER Summary:

• We all have limited time on this planet.
• Before your 40th birthday there are some things you should check off your bucket list.
  
• Win at adulting by starting a 401k.
• Let loose while dancing. You won't regret it.

Maybe you’re still riding the golden high that is your 20s. Maybe you’re clinging to your 30s like Leonardo DiCaprio on that door-raft at the end of Titanic. Regardless, you’ve got a whole lot of life to live. Here are 40 things we firmly believe every woman should do before she turns the big four-zero.

1. Fall in love.

2. Get her heart broken.

3. Find a gyno that doesn’t make her feel like a seventh-grader in sex ed.

When an apartment or penthouse isn't big enough for wealthy New Yorkers, they get creative.

In recent years, several have combined multiple townhouses or building floors to create supersized homes — or Frankenmansions, as New York magazine's S. Jhoanna Robledo calls them.

To construct these Frankenmansions, some prospective buyers purchase multiple buildings at once, while others approach their neighbors to offer multimillion-dollar buyouts. (In either scenario, they need the city's approval before combining properties.)

Check out these 12 Manhattan Frankenmansions owned by big names — including Madonna and Sarah Jessica Parker — outlined below in red.

SEE ALSO: 7 billion-dollar mega-projects that will transform New York City by 2035

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Frankenmansion is nearly complete.

Bloomberg has bought five of the six apartment units in the building next to his 7,500-square-foot townhouse over the last three decades. After connecting four units in 2009, he grew his home to 12,500 square feet, according to the New York Post. The buildings are steps from Central Park.

A $19.8 million pair of townhouses is currently on the market.

The Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, an NYC-based convent of nuns, acquired the townhome on the right in 1948. Four years later, the group bought the one next door and connected them via a doorway on each floor.

Throughout the years, the order has rented some of the complex's 25 bedrooms to other congregations or young women in need. But the Frankenmansion may soon find a new owner — the 15,600-square-foot space went on the market in 2016 for $19.8 million, according to The New York Times.

Sarah Jessica Parker lives in a pair of twin townhouses worth $34.5 million.

The star of "Sex and the City"snatched the two brick townhouses above from the nonprofit United Methodist Women, then fused them. The organization listed the pair of buildings (which were not connected) for $44 million in 2016, but Parker paid $34.5 million, according to The Real Deal.

The 13,900-square-foot mansion includes nine bedrooms, eight bathrooms, a 2,100-square-foot private garden, and five floors.

The INSIDER Summary:

• Menstrual blood is not unsanitary — it's life-giving.
• Period pain isn't a necessary part of menstruation, and can be avoided.
• Hormonal birth control can mask problems instead of solving them.

Alisa Vitti is a functional nutritionist, women's hormone expert, and author of "WomanCode: Perfect Your Cycle, Amplify Your Fertility, Supercharge Your Sex Drive, and Become a Power Source," one of the top 50 bestselling women's health books of all time. She channeled her expertise into creating the MyFLO period tracker and hormone balancing app to help people understand and navigate the underlying causes of their period problems. 

Vitti spoke with INSIDER at Cycles + Sex after her keynote speech, entitled "Your Period Doesn't Have to Suck (Everything You Need to Know About Your Cycle and How to Fix It)," to debunk five common menstrual myths.

It's time to give these up.

Myth: Menstrual blood is dirty and gross

"We are a culture that feels that these fluids are unsanitary, unwholesome, yucky, let's make sure we wrap that pad three, four times so nobody sees it in the trash can," she said. "This indoctrination is insidious." 

Vitti wants to combat the shame and silence that often surrounds menstruation by reframing these common perceptions.

"Every single reproductive fluid that your body produces is life-giving," she said. "Menstrual blood, for example, is the richest source of stem cells second to [umbilical] cord blood."

Myth: Period pain is unavoidable

Killer cramps, headaches, digestion problems, and other issues are not necessary parts of menstruation.

"Getting yourself to feel the same level of vitality all month long and then to have your period start and almost miss it starting because it's pain-free and easy and undramatic is what you're supposed to be having," she said. "If it's anything but that, that's a signal for you that you need to do something to address what's off balance."

Myth: Each symptom should be treated separately

Taking painkillers for cramps or using spot treatments for acne are only temporary solutions that don't address the hormonal chaos causing them. Eliminating endocrine disruptors like caffeine and organophosphates in food can make a huge difference in getting symptoms under control.

"Your period, your fertility, your hormones, your sexual health, are part of an indivisible ecosystem that is fundamental to your health and vitality," Vitti said.

Bill Gates' physical body might reside in the present, but his brain lives in the future.

The billionaire philanthropist has made a career out of predicting what will happen in matters of computing, public health, and the environment.

He correctly predicted the rise of smartphones and social media, and a wealth of evidence suggests his latest predictions could be on the right track, too.

Here's what Gates envisions for the future of our world.

SEE ALSO: 4 charts Bill Gates loves because they prove the world is getting better

Bioterrorism could wipe out 33 million people in less than a year.

In February, Bill Gates remarked at a conference in Munich, Germany that one of the biggest threats to global health is an airbone pathogen deployed by bioterrorists. It could be a synthetic smallpox virus or a super-flu that is far deadlier than normal strains.

Epidemiologists "say there is a reasonable probability the world will experience such an outbreak in the next 10-15 years," Gates noted. In just a year, the right bug could wipe out 33 million people.

For this reason, Gates and his foundation have made widespread vaccination one of their top priorities around the world.

When it comes to food, Africa will become entirely self-sufficient.

In his 2015 Gates Annual Letter, Gates made the prediction that Africa's agriculture industry will increase productivity by 50% by 2030, making the entire continent self-sufficient.

Currently, the continent imports roughly $50 billion worth of food each year, despite the fact that 70% of residents in sub-Saharan Africa are farmers.

"In the next 15 years, however, innovations in farming will erase these brutal ironies," Gates wrote. "The world has already developed better fertilizer and crops that are more productive, nutritious, and drought- and disease-resistant; with access to these and other existing technologies, African farmers could theoretically double their yields."

Mobile banking will help the poor transform their lives.

In African countries where cash is hard to come by, people often face the difficult choice of paying for healthcare, food, education, or repairs — all four aren't always an option.

Gates says this results from poor banking infrastructure. Financial services like M-PESA are providing access to digital bank accounts in countries like Kenya and Uganda. People who may not have previously had access to banking services can use those accounts to store money more easily.

"By 2030, 2 billion people who don't have a bank account today will be storing money and making payment with their phones," he wrote in his 2015 Annual Letter. "And by then, mobile money providers will be offering the full range of financial services, from interest-bearing savings accounts to credit to insurance."

George Soros, the billionaire investor whose net worth is valued at $25 billion, has been one of the most vociferous critics of President Donald Trump.

Even though Soros once invested in a company started by Trump's son-in-law, the mogul's vocal stance has made him the subject of frequent right-wing conspiracy theories about paying people to show up to marches.

To those primarily interested in markets, he is better known for his long and prolific career as an investor who famously "broke the Bank of England." His track record has earned him comparisons with investing great Warren Buffett.

A teenage Jewish refugee who barely escaped persecution by the Nazis, he is now a philanthropist supporting the cause of refugees and a liberal world order. Here is Soros' incredible backstory.

Prashanth Perumal contributed to an earlier version of this story.

SEE ALSO: Hungary's president is trying to shut down a university started by George Soros

DON'T MISS: Jared Kushner didn't disclose business ties to George Soros, Peter Thiel, and Goldman Sachs, or that he owes $1 billion in loans

As a Jewish teenager in Hungary in 1944-45, Soros and his family survived Nazi occupation using false identity papers prepared by his father.

Source: Open Society Foundations

Later he fled Hungary for England and studied philosophy at the London School of Economics under Karl Popper while working as a railway porter and night-club waiter.

Source: Open Society Foundations

After graduating, Soros wrote 'to every managing director in every merchant bank in London' asking for an interview but got 'just one or two replies.'

Source: Los Angeles World Affairs Council

There is something gravely wrong with the ultimate fate of the Death Star, a moon-size weapon in the "Star Wars" movies, and physicists think you should know about it.

The Death Star meets its final doom in "Return of the Jedi," the epic conclusion to the original "Star Wars" saga.

The colossal ship is orbiting the forested Sanctuary moon of the planet Endor and, after it's blown up, the Rebel Alliance and its hairy Ewok friends party in the trees. Everyone and everything is hunky-dory.

But ask a physicist — or a dozen, as we've done — what happens when you detonate a giant metal sphere above a lush green world. The answer is downright chilling.

"The Ewoks are dead. All of them," said one researcher and self-professed "Star Wars" fan, who wrote a white paper in 2015 that supported his conclusion.

Each scientist who responded to our emails quibbled over the exact details, yet a strong consensus emerged in support of a popular fan theory: The "Endor Holocaust" is inevitable, and that would be a threat to the plausibility of any future movies (galactic bankruptcy be damned).

Here's why.

SEE ALSO: 8 terrifying ways the world could actually end

DON'T MISS: 25 photos that prove we're all stowaways on a tiny, fragile spaceship

The "Endor Holocaust" fan theory dates back to 1997, when it first appeared on a website called TheForce.net. Curtis Saxton, an astrophysicist and "Star Wars" super-fan, wrote it as part of a technical series that analyzes the movies frame-by-frame with scientific rigor.

Source: TheForce.net

Saxon's 10,000-word essay about the Endor holocaust claims that the doom of Endor and the cuddly, warmongering Ewoks who live there "is an inevitable consequence of observable facts."

The rebels' attack on the Death Star turns it into fine metallic bits, Saxton argues. The debris then rains down on Endor, burns up into a toxic sooty fallout, and sparks global firestorms.

But many of Saxton's various measurements are open to interpretation, since depictions of the Death Star, Endor, and other details are inconsistent from one scene to the next.

Source: TheForce.net

Eight years ago, Travis Kalanick launched a startup called UberCab in San Francisco.

Now, Uber is a global behemoth and one of Silicon Valley's most successful companies — and one of the most contentious.

Uber operates in nearly 600 cities worldwide, and it's said to be worth nearly $70 billion. The 40-year-old Kalanick is now said to have a net worth of more than $6 billion.

But Uber — and Kalanick — have been caught up in one scandal after another in recent months, calling into question the future of the world's most valuable startup.

Here's how Kalanick got his start and built Uber into a global empire. 

Maya Kosoff contributed to an earlier version of this post. 

SEE ALSO: The story of how Travis Kalanick built Uber into the most feared and valuable startup in the world

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick grew up in Northridge, California — a suburb outside Los Angeles. When he was a kid, he wanted to be a spy.

Source: Business Insider

Kalanick got good grades and was athletic growing up, running track and playing football. But he was bullied by older students, and later vowed that he'd never be pushed around by anyone again.

Source: The New York Times

Kalanick would eventually follow in the entrepreneurial footsteps of his mom, a retail advertiser: He went door-to-door as a teen, selling knives for Cutco. He then started his first business at 18, an SAT-prep course called New Way Academy.

Source: Business Insider

The world's attitude toward North Korea tends to swing between playful mocking and genuine horror. 

Like dictatorships before it — namely, Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia — North Korea tends to embody that range of emotion through its architecture.

There's the country's fondness for pastel hues, which recall 1950s Americana, on the one hand. And there are the towering concrete buildings that shroud observers in their shadow on the other.

In a country that keeps so much under wraps, the architecture ends up speaking volumes.

SEE ALSO: The 14 most innovative schools in the world

Entering the capital city of Pyongyang, visitors pass through the Arch of Reunification. The two women holding a conjoined North and South Korea symbolize supreme leader Kim Il Sung's vision for the two countries.

Immediately, visitors are struck by the Workers' Party Monument. The outer belt reads, "Long live the Workers' Party of Korea, the organizer and guide of all victories of the Korean people!"

Downtown Pyongyang's skyline is punctuated by the 105-story Ryugyong Hotel, currently the tallest abandoned building in the world. It hasn't had any work done on it since 1992.

Weak sales at Victoria's Secret are plaguing its parent company, L Brands, dragging down its stock price more than 37% over the past year.

After posting another month of subpar sales, a retail analyst said in a note to clients that there is "mounting evidence the VS monopoly is losing share every single day,"CNBC reported, concluding the brand is "getting weaker by the day."

If you visit a store, it's clear why.

I became obsessed with Victoria's Secret in college, buying bras, underwear, lingerie, clothes, swimsuits, and perfume from the brand in its stores and online. I would typically buy something every two months or so. It was excessive, but I loved how fun the brand was and all the luxurious stuff I could get with tons of discounts because I shopped there so often.

For the past four years, I've had a Victoria's Secret Angel VIP credit card. But over the past two, I've noticed a deep dive in the quality of materials it uses, the number of deals I can get, and the overall variety of options it offers.

I recently visited a Victoria's Secret store to see how the brand has changed.

SEE ALSO: The owner of Victoria's Secret is plunging after forecasting weaker-than-expected sales

DON'T MISS: Victoria's Secret has suddenly gone on the offensive

I went to the Victoria's Secret in SoHo — one of its largest stores in New York City — when it didn't have a large enough selection at its Flatiron location.

Each section of the store features about a dozen bra types, each of which comes in a variety of colors and styles. Bras range in price from about $15 to $200.

My first impression is one of decadence — rich, deep wood and mood lighting fill the store, inviting you to treat yourself.

If you're a true "Star Wars" fan, you've been counting down the days until "The Last Jedi" comes out since way before the film even had an official title and was just "Episode VIII," and Star Wars Day (May 4) is just another excuse to feel the anticipation and speculate.

We knew some things about the "Force Awakens" follow-up based on quotes from the actors and director Rian Johnson ("Looper"), but we couldn't really start theorizing too much until we knew the title and got a look at footage earlier this year. 

When we got the trailer in April, it brought up so many questions. And since we have too little patience to wait until December to figure it all out, below is everything we know so far about the movie (which comes out December 15, 2017), from the mouths of its stars and director, plus the first trailer. 

Here's everything you need to know about "Star Wars: The Last Jedi":

Warning: Spoilers ahead.

SEE ALSO: Meet Alden Ehrenreich — the 27-year-old actor who will play Han Solo in the next 'Star Wars' spin-off

Not familiar with Rian Johnson? He wrote and directed the hit original sci-fi movie "Looper."

Though he's only made three feature films going into "The Last Jedi," those include stunning works like the modern-day film noir "Brick" and sci-fi mobster movie "Looper," which have shown he's likely ready for the largest stage in filmmaking.

Johnson also directed some of the most memorable "Breaking Bad" episodes, including "Fly" and "Ozymandias" (arguably the greatest episode of the series).

Looking to take a deeper dive? Here's more about Johnson you need to know.

Johnson spent six weeks at the Lucasfilm headquarters, Skywalker Ranch, figuring out the "Episode VIII" story.

At Star Wars Celebration 2016, Johnson revealed that while writing the script for "Last Jedi," he spent six weeks at Skywalker Ranch. But he wasn't just taking inspiration from the grounds that "Star Wars" creator George Lucas walks. He also had an eye on "The Force Awakens."

"We would watch dailies come in from 'VII,'" Johnson told the Celebration crowd. "It was probably really healthy creating the story based on our reactions to the footage rather than the cultural reactions. It was a unique experience."

The movie will start right where "The Force Awakens" ended.

Before principal photography began in London, Johnson and his crew took actors Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) and Daisy Ridley (Rey) to Skellig Michael, the island where the final scene of "The Force Awakens" was shot, to film an extension of the scene. 

That will be the opening of the film, according to Johnson.

"I don't want to skip ahead [after] that last moment of 'Episode VII.' I want to see what happens next,"Johnson said.

This has sparked an interesting conversation among fans. Will there be an opening crawl in "The Last Jedi"? There are typically months to years between "Star Wars" episodes, so the crawl brings the audience up to speed. Johnson did not say whether there will be a crawl in the new movie. 

There's a new game in town called "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds," and it's enormous fun.

In the game, you're pitted against 100 other players in a Battle Royale setting where you have to use your wits and skills to survive and eliminate other players, and the ultimate goal is to become the last surviving player.

The concept is simple, but achieving the top spot as "winner winner, chicken dinner"– the coveted message you receive upon winning – is anything but. This is not a run-and-gun kind of game.

We interviewed PlayerUnknown himself, who's real name is Brendan Greene and is the creative director behind "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds," and he gave us some valuable tips on how to survive and get your chicken dinner.

Check it out:

SEE ALSO: Forget 'Call of Duty' — this insane new game is going to blow your mind

Avoid other players at the start of the game.

Creative director Brendan Greene – a.k.a Player Unknown himself – suggests you "get away from other people as much as you can" at the start of the game to avoid getting picked off early on. Avoiding others also gives you more time to get the essential gear in the game.

I was tempted at first to parachute into an area with lots of buildings at the beginning of a round because almost all the loot in the game is found inside buildings. After all, more buildings means a higher chance of running into the tastiest gear, like high-powered rifles, scopes, backpacks, and armor.  

The things is, other players also likely know that the best gear will be found in building-dense areas. So, more often than not, parachuting into a part of the map with relatively few buildings is going to be your best bet, as fewer players will settle for the lower chance of getting good gear in low density areas. You might not run into the best weapons or accessories, but at least you're alive, and you can pick up better gear as you move to a different cluster of buildings. 

Apart from weapons, this is the essential gear you need to look for

Greene says you need to look for armor, helmets, and a backpack early on in the game to make your character "more powerful."

Pick your battles.

"Pick your battles," Greene suggests, "the goal is surviving," not getting "all the kills."

If you see players off in the distance, don't start shooting them unless you're very comfortable with your aiming skills. If you miss, not only did you just alert the other player to your position, but you've also invited every other player in the vicinity to your position, too.

Chasing them to get a better shot isn't a good idea, either, "let them run by, you don't have to kill them right away." Giving chase redirects your focus and control over your stealth and safety to finding the player you saw, which could put you at a disadvantage. For example, it could lead you to run across an open field without cover, which isn't the best practice when there are 100 other players looking to kill anything that moves.

When it comes time to recharge your batteries, a weekend getaway can do wonders. Taking a quick trip will cost you significantly more in certain cities around the world, however.

As part of their annual survey of global prices, Deutsche Bank analysts just released a report on the world's most expensive weekend getaways.

To come up with the ranking, they combined the cost of two nights at a five-star hotel, two pub meals for two, two restaurant dinners for two, car rentals for two days, two pints of beer, four liters of soft drinks or water, and the purchase of a pair of jeans and sports shoes. The combined prices were converted to US dollars. 

Here's where a weekend trip will cost you the most. 

SEE ALSO: Here's how much it costs to get a haircut around the world

25. Jakarta, Indonesia

Cost: $1,270

Year-over-year change: N/A

24. Prague, Czech Republic

Cost: $1,335

Year-over-year change: N/A

23. Melbourne, Australia

Cost: $1,366

Year-over-year change: 13%

We all strive to be memorable. But leaving a great first impression takes some effort.

As it turns out, with the right words and actions, almost anyone can create a captivating presence.

To help you figure out how to do this, we looked at the answers posted on Quora in response to the question, "How do I become more memorable when meeting someone for the first time?"

Here were some of our favorite tips for making yourself memorable when you first meet someone new:

DON'T MISS: 21 things you should never say when you meet someone new

1. Put on your talking hat

If you actively participate in the conversation, you're more likely to get noticed.

Julian Reisinger, a Quora user and co-founder of Lovelifesolved.com, wrote that by asking questions, showing interest, and sharing stories or anecdotes, you're more likely to make a lasting impression and forge a connection with someone.

"People will never remember the guy who just stands there and says nothing," Reisinger writes.

2. Be blunt, controversial, and honest

Most people avoid saying anything controversial — especially when meeting someone for the first time — because they want to play it safe to ensure everyone likes them.

But if you really want to be memorable, you may want to make a statement — without insulting anyone or saying something offensive, of course.

"You can't become memorable by always playing it safe,"Reisinger writes. 

That doesn't mean you have to be an outlier, but by speaking your mind firmly and clearly and having an opinion, you will become more interesting and as a result more memorable, he writes. 

3. Be a little bit unusual

Breaking out of the cultural norm is an easy way to stick out, Reisinger writes, but try to stick out in a positive way. 

For example, he suggests coming up with humorous and unique answers to the typical introductory questions such as "How are you?" or "What do you do?" 

By the time he was 16, the blogger behind the Money Wizard— who goes by the pen name Sean online — had already started saving for retirement.

More than 10 years later and the 27-year-old's net worth is $170,500 and counting. It's all part of a plan to retire by age 37, but he's not depriving himself to get there, he says.

He's currently earning a salary of $80,000 as a financial analyst in Minneapolis and saving about 65% of his take-home pay to contribute to his 401(k), IRA, and index funds. Still, thanks to smart spending habits, Sean says he lives comfortably and travels at least once a month.

In 2016, he took a dozen round-trip flights in the US, which included skiing in Lake Tahoe and Utah, a weekend trip to Cape Cod, and a summer national park trip out West.

Below, the Money Wizard shares with Business Insider his best tips for saving money on travel.

SEE ALSO: Thanks to a little-known airline hack, traveling around the world could be cheaper than you realize

SEE ALSO: The 8 best pieces of saving advice from real people who banked a fortune

1. Fly on slower travel days

There's a reason you've heard this advice ad infinitum: It's nearly foolproof.

"If possible, I arrange my vacations around the cheapest days of the week to fly — Tuesday through Thursday and Saturday," Sean said. "Choosing to fly on these slower travel days often saves up to 50% on tickets, compared to the usual Monday, Friday, Sunday travel times. Comparison websites like Google Flights are my favorite for quickly comparing the cost differences between travel days and airlines."

2. Build travel into your budget

Travel is important to Sean, so he's cut down fixed expenses to make vacationing a part of his permanent budget. "Far and away the easiest way to budget for travel is to save money without trying," he said.

"Choosing an apartment with rent a couple hundred dollars cheaper is enough to fund a round trip plane ticket once a month. In 2016, the average car payment was $503 per month — that's nearly enough for a week of hotel stays."

3. Skip the fancy hotel

Unless you're going on a vacation strictly to experience an epic hotel or resort, Sean suggests sticking to value hotels, Airbnbs, hostels, and even places with shared bathrooms.

"A hotel is a place to sleep, and your vacation will be similar no matter how fancy the downstairs lobby. I've found the expensive hotels to be overrated, and their price tags can often fund another vacation entirely," he said.

That said, if you're someone who enjoys a little more luxury in your accommodations, consider setting up a rewards account with a major hotel chain. If you travel frequently for work or don't mind spending more up front, you could rack up a few free nights a year in a more luxurious hotel, Sean said.