The Perils of Being Suddenly Rich

I'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.

The perils of being a moron with your money.

This 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

Not particularly flattering.

I 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.

This 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.