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The Perils of Being Suddenly Rich
- BrandonM 20y agoI'm sorry, but I just can't help but not feel bad for these people. If you set yourself up for a fall like that, you get what's coming to you. I think my "perils" would be a bit more reasonable, like paying off my school loans, helping my parents out, and basic things like that. If I ever irrationally waste money as he did (and borrowed money, no less), I hope that the same outcome befalls me. Another point is that he wasn't "suddenly rich" anyways. He was buying things with money borrowed against the company. I would think that a wise man would at least wait until the money is definitely there before buying multiple homes and throwing away money in various ways.
- brett 20y agoThe perils of being a moron with your money.
- wmorein 20y agoThis excerpt from the book "Burn Rate" (about the early days of the first internet bubble) is interesting wrt this guy Hayden and his first venture: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/6.06/es_burnrate_pr.html http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/6.06/es_burnrate_pr.html Not particularly flattering.
- create_account 19y agoThe fact that he married into the Maxwell family shows he's more of a lame gold digger than an inspirational or sympathetic figure.
- Alex3917 20y agoI suspect it's an urban legend, but I heard that the day Priceline IPO'd one of the execs went down to the car dealership and bought a Porsche, and then crashed into a tree going 100mph and died on the way to the marina to buy a boat.
- wmorein 20y agoThe basic story actually happened in the 80s (see the second paragraph): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Computer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Computer
- sabat 19y agoThis guy is sort of a sympathetic figure, I guess -- more than the NYT headline would suggest. It's a cautionary tale should any of us do well.