Why Did Nicolas Cage Fail?
Castles, Cobras & a Stolen Dinosaur Skull
📜 What Happened
Cage earned over $150 million and spent it on: two European castles, an island in the Bahamas, 15 mansions, a fleet of yachts, shrunken pygmy heads, two king cobras, and a $276,000 Tarbosaurus skull — which turned out to be stolen from Mongolia and had to be returned. By 2009 he owed the IRS $6.3 million and spent the next decade doing back-to-back movies to dig out.
☠️ The Fatal Mistake
Treating income as infinite and collectibles as investments. (The dinosaur skull wasn't even legally his.)
🧠 The Lesson (Free for You)
Lifestyle inflation has no ceiling — there is always a weirder thing to buy. Wealth is what you DON'T see, and Cage made all of it visible.
📕 The Antidote Book
Financial success is not a hard science — it's a soft skill where behavior trumps intelligence. A janitor who buys and holds can die worth $8 million while a Harvard-educated executive goes bankrupt. Housel's 19 short…
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