John Douglas Arnold (born 1974) is an American billionaire. In 2007, Arnold became the youngest billionaire in the U.S. His firm, Centaurus Advisors, LLC, was a Houston-based hedge fund specializing in trading energy products that closed in 2012.
Once I make $15 million, if I’m still trading, punch me in the face.
John D. Arnold toBill Perkins. Quoted inWilliam O. Perkins III.Die with zero: getting all you can from your money and your life. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020.
John understood perfectly well that at a certain point it makes a lot more sense to spend money doing the things you love than to simply earn more money—but his numerical target kept shifting. He didn’t quit when he’d amassed $15 million. He was trading so well that the $15 million became $25 million, which eventually became $100 million, and so on. When you’re on a winning streak that big, it’s hard to stop, even when your rational mind tells you that you should.
William O. Perkins III.Die with zero: getting all you can from your money and your life. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020.
