“I got a masters in mathematics from Columbia, and for twelve years I worked as an investor. I made good money the whole time. On some days I’d lose, but on most days I’d win, and every year I made good money. But then I got greedy. I thought I’d found a sure thing. There was a pharmaceutical company coming out with a new drug, and I got a tip that it was going to be approved by the FDA. And the sources who were telling me this had always been right before. So I bet everything. I thought: ‘I’m going to double my money really quick, and then I’m getting out. I’m going to use the money to start my own business.’ I even borrowed money to put into this stock. I was that sure. 99%. And the next day I got a call from my broker: ‘I don’t know what’s happening,’ he said. ‘It’s dropping fast.’ And sure enough, later that day they announced that the FDA had rejected the drug. Suddenly I’d lost everything, and I didn’t even own my apartment anymore. I couldn’t get out of bed for months. I stopped eating and dropped to 125 lbs. Then one day my girlfriend tells me, ‘If you don’t get out of bed, you’re going to die.’ So I got a job as a stock boy at a retail store. Twenty years later, I’m managing ten of those stores. I wish that I’d just become a stock boy in the first place.”