Bernard Madoff

Someone who cheats in business the first time, the second time, the third time.

I guarantee you that Bernie Madoff didn't set out to steal $60 billion.

There was never an aspiration of his.

But he did it once with $600 and then $6,000 and then $60,000 and then $600,000 and then $6 million and then $60 million, and then z- It just slowly you become more and more numb to it, and then you start finding justifications for things, et cetera, et cetera.

And we're now on page 810.

A person, once a person is so easy with their sins because it's like you don't even a person lies one time oh wow they almost caught me on that lie but the second time the third time the fourth time it's already normal you come comfortable with it you're you stop becoming sensitive to it and now it's just a normal way of life someone who cheats in business the first time the second time the third time i guarantee you that bernie madoff didn't set out to steal 60 billion dollars was never an aspiration of his but he did it once with six hundred dollars and then six thousand dollars and then six d thousand dollars and then six hundred thousand dollars and then six million dollars and then sixty million and then it just slowly you become more and more numb to it and then you start finding justifications for things etc etc but And this is the great tragedy, that if a person doesn't stop it when it's young, it becomes more and more entrenched in our consciousness, in our tolerance, and it's not a good thing.

The fifth reason for a person to repent as soon as possible.

What happens if, God forbid, we don't have the opportunity to repent? What happens if we're saying, okay, you know what? Right now, I'm 46 years old.

Yeah.

Now, I got into that a bit in The Glass Hotel, which was my novel about a Bernie Madoff-style Ponzi scheme.

Because I was obsessed with the fact that six of Madoff's employees went to prison.

And I'm going to back up a little bit because I find Madoff investors to be incredibly litigious.

And in fact, one thing I would, I mean, let's take a step back.

In fact, even in real life sagas, for example, Jeffrey Epstein, Harvey Weinstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, Bernie Madoff, Keith Raniere, all of these people who are really, really, Not nice people, very narcissistic.

At least there was a visible penalty at the end of these real life stories.

They ruined so many people's lives, but there was a penalty.

So chapter 15 opens with a question hanging over, and I think it's one of the great questions of our lives.

When the gold is gone, what's left? When the success disappears, when the money disappears, when the reputation, the position, the applause, the image we've built for ourselves is stripped away, who are we underneath it all? I think we're all thinking about that whole Madoff pyramid scheme that went bust and everyone was killing themselves.

[laughs] Like, when it's all stripped away, who are we underneath it all? Rehoboam's son takes the throne, Abiyam.

[coughs] He reigns three years, and the Tanakh gives him one sentence of verdict, and it is ישר לנקודה, straight to the point.

On my hate list, No. 1, Osama Bin Laden.

No. 2, Bernie Madoff.

No. 3, University of Texas.

And in that order, but they're all close.

There's always more that can be done.

Um, and, uh, I read some while back that, um, Bernie Madoff, everyone remembers him, is spending here the rest of his life in jail for having swindled many, many, many, many people and, um, many people who later committed suicide as a result and, uh, caused all sorts of terrible suffering.

Um, and he's in jail for life, but he's spending his time in jail, um, teaching college classes to people.

Um, does he have to do it? Does he get better conditions for it? Maybe.

Jason, any other yeses or big hard noes that you-

The only person that can guarantee 10% is Bernie Madoff.

So what you said is exactly right.

And I, I think for our clients, you know, most high net worth earners, they have a 401[k], and you can move money in the 401[k] so you can do a backdoor Roth.