How to Avoid Going Broke After Making $650 Million
Even a large fortune can be squandered in a short time.
Bloomberg, June 29, 2018
I read a fascinating column this week in Rolling Stone: The Trouble With Johnny Depp. It is an amazing tale of how he squandered $650 million dollars on wine, houses and family; his business managers could not manage either the business or Depp or both, so naturally there is litigation to find out who is to blame.
This was a natural point of discussion for those of us toiling in finance: What lessons are there to be learned from his profligacy? I came up with 7 specific suggestions:
1. Have a plan
2. Delegate but be involved
3. Understand your career cycle
4. No Friends and family entourage on the payroll
5. Avoid debt
6. Keep your investments simple
7. Understand what money is and what it isn’t:
That’s pretty basic but it works. You can read the full column at Bloomberg.
