"...my mind was still sharp and my energy was good...My schedule had too many blank spots. I was liberated. I was free. But I was joyless."
Another way to get back some joy would be to share yourself along with your money. Many people here aren't really interested in your money (well, some of us anyway), but I bet almost everyone is interested in you. How did you do it? What do you believe? What advice would you give? Probably most of all, what do you do to stay sharp at 81? Inquiring hackers want to know.
He was one of the top guys at Blackstone. They are a private equity group. Their stock has gone down 80% since they IPOed. He was lucky that he cashed out when he did. Getting rich buying companies with borrowed money, and then unloading them on somebody else was the ultimate bubble business. Now that the credit bubble has burst, existing private equity has died. They're left with companies with enormous debt burdens that no one wants - think Sam Zeller and the Chicago Tribune company. I don't think Blackstone has sold a company since 2007. I'm not sure there are any lessons to extrapolate from this.
Another way to get back some joy would be to share yourself along with your money. Many people here aren't really interested in your money (well, some of us anyway), but I bet almost everyone is interested in you. How did you do it? What do you believe? What advice would you give? Probably most of all, what do you do to stay sharp at 81? Inquiring hackers want to know.