1. $10 Million Goes Poof

    Here we have a delightful story which, if nothing else, enforces my theory that $14 $10 million just doesn’t go as far as it used to:

    NY Times: Family’s Fall From Affluence Is Swift and Hard

    What’s new here? Probably not much, if you’re familiar with what happens when people who suck with money actually get some. In this particular train wreck, the Martin family came into big money; they spent big money; they trusted what money they didn’t spend to “bankers and brokers;” they ended up broke and miserable.

    I’m not sure how many money rules they broke, but it was a bunch.

    From the article:

    That luxurious world was fueled by a check Mr. Martin received in 1998 for $14 million, his share of the $600 million sale of Martin Media, an outdoor advertising business begun by his father in California in the 1950s. After taxes, he kept about $10 million.

    But as so often happens to those lucky enough to realize the American dream of sudden riches, the money slipped through the Martins’ fingers faster than they ever imagined.

    Read the article, and tell me if you think this gentleman has learned much of anything from his trip to rich and back.

    And he [Mr. Martin] recites a quotation he holds dear: “The measure of a man is not whether he falls down, but whether he gets up again.” Still, Mr. Martin is prone to ruminate over the loss of so much money. He is furious at the banks and the bankers, who he thinks gave him bad advice, and he still sounds angry at his brother and others who decided to sell the company and who he says gave him little voice. Some of them got more than $100 million each, he said, while he got $14 million, as did his father and his sister Ann, because they were all minority shareholders.

    Because I don’t get the impression that he has.


  2. 6 Responses to "$10 Million Goes Poof" ...

    1. On December 3, 2010 @ 8:17 am,
      Don @ Money Reasons wrote:
      #1
       



      Greed is sad… If I had 10 million, I wouldn’t be investment gambling it all away like a big roulette wheel.

       

       

    2. On December 3, 2010 @ 1:20 pm,
      SkyGuy wrote:
      #2
       



      Man, what I wouldn’t do with a windfall like that. I bet I could make it last longer than the Martins, tho!

       

       

    3. On December 5, 2010 @ 5:19 pm,
      corina wrote:
      #3
       



      Great lesson in the story. Be wise with your money and take control, rather than blindly trusting bankers and such.

       

       

    4. On December 6, 2010 @ 1:18 pm,
      ExcelGeek wrote:
      #4
       



      What is amazingly sad to me is how he [Mr. Martin] blames everyone except himself for squandering away his new-found wealth. And apparently $10 million net after taxes wasn’t enough? What? I could retire very comfortably with 1 million. Did he really expect the majority shareholders to pay him for shares he didn’t own? Where do I sign up for that? Waaa, waaa, waaa, Mr. Martin. Cry me a river. Man up and take responsibility for your own actions, you big cry baby.

       

       

    5. On December 12, 2010 @ 11:00 am,
      Jonathan Poland wrote:
      #5
       



      “A fool and his money are easily parted” or “A fool and his money are lucky enough to get together in the first place.”

      Neither of which can be blamed on the advice received but mostly on the vehicles bought. Many other people made a lot of money buying stocks and real estate and they created even more wealth in the last decade. The thing that bothers me the most is that he seems to have given up at just 59.

      “Let no one give up that is down, even if they have fallen from a high place.”

       

       

    6. On December 16, 2010 @ 4:17 pm,
      Unlock Your Dollar wrote:
      #6
       



      It is amazing how some families can go through that much money so quickly, but it seems to be the norm for those that receive their wealth quickly and are unprepared for it. I agree that he has not yet learned his lesson. Too bad.

       

       

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