I have a friend of mine doing hard time in the California State Prison system. Drugs and armed robbery were his crimes, but the real roots lay in his childhood. I told him as much, and urged him to take a look at his childhood upbringing in the hopes that he might exorcise some of his demons. Towards that end, I sent him the book One of a Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stuey ‘,The Kid’, Ungar, The World’s Greatest Poker Player
I’m sure most of my readers will have no idea who Stu Ungar is, but, as the title of the book says, he was the greatest poker player the world has ever seen. He is estimated to have made over $30 million dollars over the course of his poker career, but he’d continually throw the money away on drugs or other gambling addictions. He went from broke to millionaire and back to broke four separate times over the course of his life. He died so penniless that this friends had to take a collection for his funeral.
I send my friend this story because I wanted him to understand that talent and ability are no replacement for a good understanding of yourself. That’s a lesson I hope he’ll come to learn before he gets out.
He wrote me this letter and I wanted to share it with my readers: Continue reading Investment Ideas from Prison