In less than ten years, Idar went from being an average run of the mill salesman, to one of the riches individuals in Norway. When he cashed out, he received enough money for himself and his family to live in luxury for generations to come. All he needed to do was to put everything into a well balanced portfolio of shares, real-estate and gold, and this was exactly what he started off doing.
Idar bought a beautiful seafront house in Spain, took his wife and five children with him, and set about building a luxurious and relaxed environment for them all to enjoy. However, Idar soon became impatient. He wanted to achieve more in life. He was after all a genius. That was plain to see. One look at his bank account confirmed this, and his name was frequently in the news, always in some way related to his enormous success. There was no denying that he was smarter than just about anyone, and it was a shame to let all that talent go to waste.
Pretty soon, Idar started looking into the various business proposals he was constantly receiving from people eager to hook up with him. Some of it had merit, so the idea grew on him that he should become an active stakeholder in upstarts. This seemed right an proper, given his experience as a successful entrepreneur. However, Idar overlooked a crucial point. His success had nothing to do with investing. He started a company that he sold years later. Apart from negotiating a few loans, his success was entirely due to his skills as a sales man.
As an investor, Idar was a complete disaster. He bought and sold shares way too often. He jumped onto trends near tops, sold close to bottoms, and generally roamed around in the venture capital market like a headless chicken. When asked about his positions by an accountant some three years later, Idar had to admit that he didn't know the exact details. All he had was a general feeling that things weren't too rosy.
After some digging around, Idar's accountant could inform him that he was in fact in debt. His entire fortune was gone, and the only way out was to declare bankruptcy. Idar had gone from hero to zero in three short years, a feat even more spectacular than his stellar rise to fame and fortune.
It must have occurred to Idar more than a few times on his way downhill that he was in fact clueless, and therefore much better off stopping what he was doing. Yet, he kept digging his hole deeper and deeper, something that's surprisingly common to see, especially among people with a great sense of personal worth. Their egos get in the way of clear thinking. They cannot fully comprehend the fact that they aren't as skilled at what they are doing as they have led themselves to believe. A sense of entitlement makes it appear logical to them that they must at some point hit jackpot. Instead of stopping their misguided activities, they double down in the hope and firm belief that good luck will make everything turn out fine in the end.
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