And if you need _even more_ motivation after reading the above: > Insurers were offering a product that paid you, when you died, the greater of (1) the amount

And if you need _even more_ motivation after reading the above: > Insurers were offering a product that paid you, when you died, the greater of (1) the amount you put in and (2) the return on some risky investment. So he'd buy two of those -- one long the risky investment, one short the risky investment -- and be guaranteed a big profit. The catch is you have to die, but he solved this by enlisting dying patients in AIDS hospices to put their names on the contracts. This column truly is a classic.