You can’t fix it later

In listening to the Founders podcast, one big theme runs through almost every story that is shared — the founders become incredibly wealthy, but lose their marriage, children, and/or health as a result of it.

An example is Larry Miller, who owned the Utah Jazz. He had it all, but he had nothing. From the show:

All he did from the time his eyes opened until the time his eyes closed, he worked, did not take care of himself to the point where he’s health is so bad that he is in a motorized scooter wheelchair on the floor of the Utah Jazz, he couldn’t even move.

Eventually, he’s writing the book because he knows he’s dying, they’re chopping off parts of his body, legit, there’s no circulation in his legs, they’re like chopping off his foot, there goes your fingers. This billionaire started decomposing when he’s alive, then he doesn’t even survive long enough to finish the book, so his co-author writes last few chapters and the worst indictment and so Larry Miller says my life is cautionary tale.

I have a 30,000-square-foot house on the hill on a mountain in Utah. I own the Utah Jazz, everything. I’m perfect. And he’s like don’t do it, don’t be me. He’s like, I didn’t even have any fun in life. What’s the point of having money then, that doesn’t make any sense to me. And so what happens is the author — the co-author is talking to his wife. The last chapter is the biggest indictment.

And she’s like, well, yes, we miss him, but it’s not like he was here when he was alive. I don’t care that he had billions of dollars. He’s a failure. That’s a failure. When your wife and kids are like, I don’t even know who he is. For what? A chain of car dealerships and movie theaters and basketball teams, you have one shot at life and that’s what you did with it?

As host David Senra shared in an interview on “The Art of Investing”, of the 363 founders that he’s shared only three have done it without losing their family or their life. In David’s estimation, they are:

• Sol Price, known for starting the “warehouse store” model, like Costco.
• Brunello Cucinelli, who started an Italian luxury fashion brand.
• Ed Thorp, a hedge fund manager (among other things).

The challenge for all of the rest is that they think they can ignore their families and their health for decades while they build their career, and then magically put it all back together later. From the show:

“The idea that one can go all in on career and then later reconcile it with life’s other critical priorities is both popular and seductive. It has one major shortcoming, who has ever successfully done it?”

It simply doesn’t happen. In all of the episodes that David has shared, there is literally not one example of someone who pushed everything aside, made a bunch of money, and then pulled everything back together to live happily ever after. If you want to be a Sol Price, Brunello Cucinelli, or Ed Thorp, it all needs to happen at the same time. Those men all “missed out” on some career goals because they prioritized other aspects of their life, but they still made more money than they could ever spend.

It can be tough to keep it balanced, but don’t fall prey to the idea of “I’ll just fix it later”, because no one has ever been able to do it that way before, and likely no one ever will.