We've all heard stories of lottery winners, rock stars, heirs and heiresses, and professional athletes becoming millionaire morons who wake up rich but are broke by nightfall.

As a bull market turns into a bear market, the new pros turn into optimists, hoping and praying the bear market will become a bull and save them. But as the market remains bearish, the optimists become pessimists, quit the profession, and return to their day jobs. This is when the real professional investors re-enter the market.

The rich continue to get rich the same way they always have - by understanding how money works and making their money work for them.

I want parents to teach that academic intelligence is essential, but so is financial intelligence.

We sometimes congratulate ourselves at the moment of waking from a troubled dream; it may be so the moment after death.

Writing helps me to create order out of chaos and make sense of things. It helps me to understand what I've experienced, what I've felt and seen, so it becomes a little easier to handle. On the other hand, I don't want it to be just a cathartic experience, an outpouring of grief or whatever it is.

I went to medical school because I wanted to ask the big questions. Do we have a soul? Does God exist? What happens after death?

If you believe in God, believe in Death Row East.