Powerful ideas from top nonfiction
Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 7,000+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.
Start your free trial
Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
Listen to the Intro
What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars summary
Jim Paul, Brendan Moynihan
The story of a man who lost it all
17 mins
Brief summary
What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars by Jim Paul and Brendan Moynihan is a memoir that narrates the story of how Jim Paul, a successful Wall Street trader, lost most of his wealth by making wrong decisions and overestimating his abilities. The book offers valuable lessons on the dangers of overconfidence and the importance of risk management.
Topics
Table of Contents
What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars
Summary of 7 key ideas
Audio & text in the Blinkist app
Key idea 1 of 7
Jim Paul made a fortune but lost everything after failing to face up to mounting losses.
Jim Paul always wanted one thing in life – to make money, as much of it as he could. Decades later, he was on top of the world and had just made $248,000 in a single day. He’d reached the top young and was brimming with self-confidence.
Paul landed a job in futures trading and was soon known to everyone on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. An imposing six foot three, he had a big voice and wasn’t afraid to bark out orders.
That’s when things started to go wrong. His unshakable self-belief would prove fatal.
Paul was interested in the soybean oil market. Supplies were running low, but demand was buoyant. Prices would rise. Anticipating a spike in the market, Paul bought up positions – a commitment to buy at a later date.
Sure that he’d read the market correctly, he exceeded the limits on positions set by the Chicago Board of Trade. Paul’s conviction was so great that he managed to persuade his customers, friends and even his office assistant to get on board with his plan. Why wouldn’t they want to be part of it? They were all going to be rich!
Then the market started to turn. Paul didn’t budge.
Things had been looking good for months. Now there was political instability and the threat of grain sanctions. Bad weather damaged bean crops.
Soybean prices began to dip, and Paul’s losses started to mount. For months, he lost $20,000 every day.
Both his clients and other traders had already jumped ship, but Paul remained convinced. He knew the market would turn and they’d regret their decision. The writing was on the wall, but Paul was so confident of his skill as a trader that he couldn’t see what was happening. He was about to lose everything.
The end finally came when his manager fired him and seized his assets. By that point, he’d already lost $800,000, half of it borrowed from friends.
So why did Paul stick to his decision when all the evidence was pointing the other way?
Want to see all full key ideas from What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars?
Key ideas in What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars
More knowledge in less time
Read or listen
Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.
Find your next read
Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.
Shortcasts New
We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.
What is What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars about?
What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars (1994) is the story of a trader’s rise to the top and the bad decisions that cost him a fortune. It examines the psychological and behavioral dimensions of market trading and asks why traders sometimes abandon all reason and allow losses to keep mounting until they become unmanageable. It explains not only how losses can be avoided but also why avoiding them is far more important than making money if you want to succeed.
Best quote from What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars
Learning how not to lose money is more important than learning how to make money.
—Jim Paul, Brendan Moynihan
Who should read What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars?
- Traders who want to understand how psychology might affect their decision-making
- People who want to understand how we rationalize and justify loss
- Anyone interested in getting rich by trading
Categories with What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars
Book summaries like What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars
People ❤️ Blinkist
Sven O.
It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.
Thi Viet Quynh N.
Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.
Jonathan A.
Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.
Renee D.
Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.
People also liked these summaries
4.7 Stars
Average ratings on iOS and Google Play
28 Million
Downloads on all platforms
10+ years
Experience igniting personal growth