bankruptcy

A very article in the NYT regarding squandered wealth. The quotes from Buffett are, as always, good but they're a bit misleading. He actually did require funding at the beginning of Berkshire Hathaway. He told a group of family and friends to give him their money and that he would invest it on their behalf. While not debt, per se (since he had no real obligation to them), it certainly had the same psychological burden and is more money than most of us will ever require to fund an enterprise in our lives.

Quoted: Questioned in 1991 about the reasons rich people hit the skids, the multibillionaire investor Warren E. Buffett told an audience at Notre Dame that debt and alcohol were ever-present culprits in financial demise. “I’ve seen more people fail because of liquor and leverage — leverage being borrowed money,” he said, according to a transcript of his comments. “You really don’t need leverage in this world much. If you’re smart, you’re going to make a lot of money without borrowing.

Quoted: “I’ve never borrowed a significant amount of money in my life. Never,” he added. “Never will. I’ve got no interest in it. The other reason is I never thought I would be way happier when I had 2X instead of X.”