You may have noticed that there's at least one guy out there who's got all the money in the world, despite having business after business go bankrupt. How'd he do it? Well, I haven't dug into it all that deeply, but as far as I can tell, the trick to it is something like this:
1. Start a business2. Borrow a ton of money to expand the business
3. Make a lot of money off the business*
4. Don't repay the loans used for expansion
5. Declare bankruptcy for the business.
*Make sure the profits go in your personal pocket as much as possible, not the company's coffers.
A neat trick if you can do it—in a way. And, of course, it's not sustainable, because eventually no one is going to loan you any money.
Still…I can say a neat trick, but I certainly have to qualify it. After all, it's not the neatest solution for everyone. Sure, the person starting and running the business comes out of it really well, but nobody else does. The banks take a financial hit, and thus so do their owners or shareholders. The customers for the business can be left holding the bag on any advance purchases. And then there are the employees, who have to restart their careers through no fault of their own.
I guess on second thought there's nothing neat about it. Unless only one person in the world matters.
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