Risk and reward, ain't life grand? It's the way the world works unfortunately, however making wise investments rather than extremely high risk one usually has a happier ending. I don't take extremely high risks investing now whereas in my twenties I would have because I was still under the delusion that I would live forever.

It's a shame your cousin didn't make better investments as he moved on in his career, most people do. But some people are compulsive gamblers who can't stop. He may fit that category. Rock bottom often sobers you up to those bad decisions though.

I think guys like us tend to be much more careful because we aren't as healthy as we once were and life now looks a lot different.
!hiqvote