AndrewChia.com

Source:  The Star, Malaysia

I’m sure you have seen Nicolas Cage acting in National Treasure.  The man has made so many successful movies.  But as far as his financial intelligence is concerned, he is lost.  He handed over this part of his life to his trusted business manager Samuel J Levin.

The lawsuit states, “Instead of protecting and preserving Cage’s wealth.., Levin placed Cage in numerous highly speculative and risky real estate investments, resulting in Cage suffering catastrophic losses.”

Cage, 45, relied on Levin’s statements and advice and couldn’t have known about the financial trouble he was facing until after he hired a new management.

After draining his bank account through “match-stick” investments, Levin added salt to the wound by charging Cage millions of dollars in management fees.

What can we learn from this story?  Would a bit of financial intelligence have helped?  Yes, I believe so.  Rule No. 1 of investing says, “Don’t lose money.”  At least he should be wise enough not to place so much funds in the hands of his trusted manager, so much so as to suffer “catastrophic losses”.

Learning message:  There is no shortcut to investing.  One has got to learn the basics.