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106 Comments
- dalittle, on 10/01/2009, -9/+57This story should really read
"Greedy Developer screws himself, Nobody Feels Sorry for Him" - MathieuB, on 10/01/2009, -7/+39As BeShirtHappy pointed out, very few people feel sympathy for someone who was a millionaire and lost it all.
I believe that this man was actually just plain stupid and went for the "get rick quickly" scheme by putting all his money in his shopping center despite knowing that the economy was slowing down. As the expression goes, don't put all your eggs in one basket. My belief is that this has not so much to do with the recession, but rather with the stupidity of investing everything in one place.
You won't see me cry for him... - Thermador, on 10/01/2009, -2/+33To be continued... What is this, Halo?
- BeShirtHappy, on 10/01/2009, -4/+27It is harder for people to feel sympathy for someone who was a millionaire. You'd think they would be smarter with their money. Nonetheless, it is a huge loss (and not just financially).
- acknotSW, on 10/01/2009, -0/+22Well, ***** happens.
My dad and his brothers were set to make about 15 million by selling the land that the family business had been on for more than 60 years. This would have let them all retire in a manner none of them could have dreamed of just 5 years before. Then greed set in and instead of signing the contract (which was sitting right there in front of them in an office with lawyers and witnesses), they decided to shop around for a better deal. One of my uncles screamed at the family xmas party last year "if they are offering us 15, then you know god damn well we could easily get 25". Nope, you couldn't and now you can't even sell it for 5 million. Luckily my dad had lived smart, he didn't buy the boats, the houses up north, the new cars and trucks every year like his brothers had so he's able to retire now and whatever else he gets from the business property will just be bonus money.
Moral of this story, know when you have what you need to be happy. - paynomind, on 10/01/2009, -0/+21"Continued next week" stories suck, and should not be dugg until all the pieces are available.
- Woolamander, on 10/01/2009, -1/+18FTA: "Southern woman with a sharp sense of humor and copious coping skills"
Copious coping skills? Come on, it's an article, not a poem. - JHW539, on 10/01/2009, -5/+20When America works, people are financially rewarded in proportion to the amount of risk they take. Intel was not built by dollars kept safely in a CD or gold coins. This guy took a big swing right when the free hand of the market was giving out strike outs rather than jobs. He would have been generously rewarded if he was right (a new shopping center was needed by society), but he took a gamble and missed. Not sure if he deserves scorn, pity, or respect - that depends how his story plays out. But a wealthy guy putting his money on the line to make more is EXACTLY how America is suppose to work, and the risk of losing it all is the ONLY* justification for the really large disparities in wealth when they win (and provide society with something of value**).
*I'm discounting genetic freaks capable of doing amazing things with a ball as negligible.
**Don't bring up the f$@%@ Wallstreet fraudsters. Criminals who get away do get rich, but their wealth is not justified or an intended component of our economic system. - TomPetty, on 10/01/2009, -0/+10Yea I'm Freeeee...
- TheDiggAbides, on 10/01/2009, -0/+9Potent Potables
- AmyVernon, on 10/01/2009, -0/+8While I do find it difficult to have too much sympathy, particularly with someone who was making his millions in real estate speculation, it's still a fascinating peek inside his life.
- smashblu, on 10/01/2009, -0/+8I don't think he should want sympathy. His mindset was to take a gamble to make a lot of money. The only way to make a lot of money is to take a big risk. For anything like this it can be a high risk, high reward scenario. I myself have taken such risks before and had they not paid off I wouldn't looked for sympathy from anyone since I knew the risk before hand. However, if he claims he didn't know the risk, then that is just stupid.
- jeffness, on 10/01/2009, -0/+8next week? s'if I'm even going to remember to check next week. Interesting story, wish I could just read the whole thing now....
- GlennJimerson, on 10/01/2009, -0/+8Am I the only one pissed off at Wallet Pop for doing the: "For the rest of Pierce's story, tune in next week as we continue his tale..." crap. Seriously, this serialization stuff has got to end. It worked for 24 but this isn't exactly Jack Bauer staring at a nuclear bomb.
- evanft, on 10/01/2009, -2/+9The article said the deal took him 10 years to do. I wouldn't call that "get rich quick".
- inactive, on 10/01/2009, -0/+7It's an excellent lesson at the same time, though. The ultra rich (who are in the spotlight) always say you need to take risks to get ahead. The ones who take it steady and smart usually won't leave the middle class.
That's well and good, but what we never hear much about is that when you take risks, you'll lose in the long run. For every Donald Trump there are thousands of people working to pay off massive bills because they took a stupid financial risk and lost a chunk of money. - Shawn4168, on 10/01/2009, -0/+7Risk refers to the probability that you will lose money in a given investment, not the amount of money invested. A savings account is considered to be a low-risk investment whether you put $100 or $100,000 in it. Similarly, buying individual stocks is a high-risk investment, whether you own 1 stock or a million.
This guy make a risky investment, sure, but he also made it for much more than he was able to afford. If he had only invested in a shopping center that cost 1/10th as much and it had failed, it would have hurt, but it wouldn't have ruined him. This guy got far too greedy at the wrong time, and unfortunately, he paid the price for it.
Ask any professional poker player, you don't get rich by going all-in on every hand, and you NEVER bring your entire bankroll to a single table. - Cancerkitty, on 10/01/2009, -0/+6No, I won't be crying for him either; I've got my own financial situation to worry about. However, I think a lot of people think that being wealthy imbues people with a sound financial brain, which just isn't the case. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't.
- TheDiggAbides, on 10/01/2009, -5/+10And I'm FREE-
-FREE FALLINNNNNNN' - TheDiggAbides, on 10/01/2009, -0/+5...FREE FALLINNNNNNNNNN'
(btw Mr. Petty it is such an honor to be singing with you) - TheDiggAbides, on 10/01/2009, -0/+5Oh my god did you hear about what Kanye did?
- pigsbladder, on 10/01/2009, -1/+6Couldn't 'oboy' have waited until after everything is released before posting it? A week is an eternity on the internet....
- GREEDOnvrFIRED, on 10/01/2009, -0/+5Boohoo. Greed crushes another greedy bastard.
- Shawn4168, on 10/01/2009, -0/+5There's nothing wrong with high risk, high reward scenarios, however, NO risk is worth putting your and your family's welfare on the line for.
- franklymister, on 10/01/2009, -1/+6Anyone who becomes a millionaire through real estate speculation (or any other kind of speculation) didn't MAKE money, they WON money.
I have no sympathy at all. Next time, go make some money by actually, you know, working. - ngmcs8203, on 10/01/2009, -1/+6He's been waiting 4 years for this thread to start.
- sndream, on 10/01/2009, -0/+4He got what he deserved. He's way over-leveraged, it's ppl like him who brought us the economic meltdown.
- acknotSW, on 10/01/2009, -0/+4I don't understand the desire to go for those extra few million
It seems to me that the ladder goes like this.
Wealthy - money is pretty much meaningless to these people, their connections alone insure that nothing could ever make the family poor.
Ultra Rich - (billionaires)
Super Rich - (Hundreds of millions in assets)
Rich - multimillionaires (5+ million in assets)
Rest of us
With hard work, risk, and some luck (in various proportions), some of us can reach rich status and acquire enough money to never have to work again if we don't go nuts. The odds of climbing to super rich or higher are near zero. So I don't understand why someone who had made it well into being rich would keep risking everything he had for just a little more. I personally can't imagine that my life would be better if I had 7 million in assets instead of 5 million (note, I don't have 5 million). Even if I was sure that my life would be somehow better if I had that extra 2 million, it certainly couldn't be worth risking the already acquired 5 million. - istoner, on 10/01/2009, -2/+6Schadenfreude
- gobbleplex, on 10/01/2009, -1/+5"Even as a poor man it seems like investing in the one thing that the recession is currently killing off is about 110% retarded."
'The recssion' wasn't killing off anything 10 years ago, which is how long he worked to put the deal together. - algaeturd, on 10/01/2009, -0/+4Developers and real estate moguls know this: The whole business is a gamble...you play it safe or lose it all. That's the bottom line. Same story could be written about an NFL player who was making 20 million over 4 seasons and then just quit excelling and lost his contract....you excel when you're running a 30 million dollar household or you lose it all.
Not saying I don't feel sorry for him but I feel way more sorry (or more so) for people who make 20 grand a year who work their asses off but still lost their homes and filed for bankruptcy. - downneck, on 10/01/2009, -2/+6***** him.
- bobfell, on 10/01/2009, -2/+6Waaaaaaaaaaaaahh
Baww some more - Sean98125, on 10/01/2009, -0/+4He was trying to get rich off of borrowed money instead of investing cash. He took a risk and face planted.
Next time, stick to cash and you won't have this problem. - wavenger, on 10/01/2009, -0/+4Yeah, but taking a big risk doesn't mean you bet the farm. With 30 million in net worth, he could've easily set aside 1 or 2 million and owned a nice house in the clear. Working through an LLC he could've ensured that he wouldn't be liable for more than his stake in his company.
- rmxz, on 10/01/2009, -3/+6While I feel sorry for the guy, I think it's a very very common story at pretty much any income level, and not really extremely tragic, but rather a typical cycle many entrepreneurs face regularly.
If you shift the numbers left a few digits, it's not too different from Donald Trump - who had at least a couple bankruptcy's and even more experience with being unable to pay debt.
If you shift the numbers the other direction a digit and a half, the same story pretty much describes myself and half my peers - we were all flying (reasonably) high during the bubbles (at least on paper); and now many have a house worth less than the mortgage on it.
While these are big deals to the individuals involved, it's such a common story I'm not sure why his story is particularly newsworthy -- but maybe just putting a face to a story many are familiar with is what makes it interesting. - Claydr, on 10/01/2009, -8/+11Ha! QQ dude. This is what is wrong with America! People who take extreme risk and instantly assume the resulting profits are earned (and that the money is a result of their hard work). Thanks for playing, if you had any talent you would have hedged your bets...What a douche....
- FairDinkumMate, on 10/01/2009, -0/+3FTA - "He'd signed guarantees worth tens of millions of dollars, never thinking for a moment that the banks would have to come calling for their money."
I think that this sentence sums up the entire problem. Why would a bank ask for a guarantee? Basically because unlike this guy, they weren't prepared to put money at risk without some security.
I can't feel sorry for a guy that bet everything he had, knowingly signed bank guarantees for the money & lost his bet. - peterinjapan, on 10/01/2009, -1/+4The guy who founded the Nissin ramen company was 40 years old when he did it, as a way to get out of debt. If he can do what he did at that age, we all can roll up our sleeves and get to work. Just sayin'...
http://www.peterpayne.net/2007/03/how-cup-ramen-be ... - Samurai77, on 10/01/2009, -0/+3It took him years to put the deal together, get rick quick? Nope. Knew the econ was going to tank?, Nope no one saw that coming like it did. He was just a business man.
- reuscel, on 10/01/2009, -2/+5Sad story? No. This is about one idiot who got in over his head. The sad stories are people who are losing their homes because of predatory lending and layoffs. The sad stories are people who have to opt out of cancer treatments because they can't afford it. This isn't sad, it's just inconvenient for one money-hungry capitalist whose reach exceeded his grasp.
- wem003, on 10/01/2009, -5/+8I won't cry for him - but until the article continues and the rest of his journal is published and we have the whole story - I am going to hold judgment.
Should be an interesting story in any case. Most folks are going to comment on this article without reading it - you know being Digg and all. - maccagrabme, on 10/01/2009, -0/+3I'm in a flood of tears for the guy. The fact that he had that type of money suggests it was an obsession and no doubt it made him feel elite. There are very few millionaires that don't look down their snout at others less fortunate than themselves otherwise they wouldn't drive around in fancy cars and live in big houses far away from ordinary folk. If they cared for others then they would let some of their wealth trickle down to the rest of society. Instead they use every tax avoidance loophole to avoid contributing or leave the country.
No sympathy, he would just borrow recklessly at the next opportunity and take even more risks given the chance, there is no end to the greed. Just look at how the investors on Dragon's Den (UK) operate, they already have millions but their greed will not let them walk away and retire to enjoy it all, no they have to screw the talented and take 50% of an idea they couldn't come up with in a million years.
I have little sympathy for those in real estate as they do not contribute anything worthy to society. They simply leech the fruits of labour from the hardworking population. - inactive, on 10/01/2009, -0/+3because their generally *****.
- NegativeDigg, on 10/02/2009, -0/+3I'm in business and I reinvest in my business all the time but what he did was just stupid. Like the old saying goes "Don't put all your eggs in one basket" . He wanted to make a ***** ton of money so he gambled all of it on one deal and he lost. I really don't feel sorry for this guy because he should have known better. He also did the dumbest thing i've seen people do and that's barrow money against a projects success.
- AtomicTheory, on 10/01/2009, -0/+3Is "Epic Fail" actually applicable in this situation?
- turbosatan, on 10/01/2009, -0/+3tune in next week as we continue his tale...
are you on ***** drugs or something.
you aint gonna get part two onto digg aswell are ya - kalvinb, on 10/01/2009, -0/+3There is a simple rule no matter how much or how little you have: own your property.
Once you own your property (house, car, whatever) there is little you can do to lose it unless you use it as collateral for another debt. Which would be stupid and contrary to what you are trying to achieve.
It's hard to feel sorry for people who become millionaires and don't have the sense to make sure they own a home and a car out right. The 150K home is a guarantee and if nothing else a vacation home, starter home for your kids, etc. Then risk your money on that luxury dream home. And once that's paid off, do whatever with your safety net. - JimSwarthow, on 10/01/2009, -0/+3you rolls yer dices, you takes yer chances
- homercles337, on 10/01/2009, -2/+4Worshiping wealth is just as stupid as worshiping a man in the sky.
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