For bestselling author Joseph Moore, the quest to understand how Americans strive for wealth became more than just academic research. While writing his book on the history of financial advice, Moore decided to treat his own life as a laboratory, attempting various investment strategies to see which ones actually worked. This experimental phase led him down a precarious path of angel investing and high stakes gambling with his modest history professor’s salary.
One of Moore’s most daring experiments involved an attempt to profit from the perceived inaccuracy of Jim Cramer, the energetic host of CNBC’s Mad Money. Based on an economics paper suggesting that Cramer’s recommendations often spiked briefly before crashing, Moore began meticulously tracking the show. For three months, he remained glued to his television screen, waiting for specific criteria to align so he could rush to his computer and short the suggested stocks.
The strategy technically worked, but victory came with a steep price tag. After accounting for fees and using funds meant for his daughter’s college education, the financial gain vanished. However, the true loss occurred far beyond the balance sheet. Amidst the chaos of flashing alarms and shouting from the TV screen, Moore heard his wife calling him from downstairs to witness their daughter’s first steps. By choosing the ticker tape over his family, he missed a milestone that no amount of market alpha could replace.
Reflecting on these experiences during a recent appearance on The Long View podcast, Moore noted that while beating the market is possible—as proven by figures like Warren Buffett—the cost of chasing those margins is often underestimated. Between failed startup investments and missing precious family moments, Moore discovered that the pursuit of rapid wealth frequently requires sacrifices that aren’t listed in any financial prospectus.
