What I Learned When I Was Dead Broke

This is how I spot a scam.

I just follow this one rule of thumb:

Nobody wakes up in the morning and says, “I have to make James Altucher a lot of money today.”

NOBODY.

People want to make you think they give a shit.

Why?

Because it helps them.

I’ll give you an example.

This guy I haven’t spoken to in seven years calls me.

He says, “I’ve got a commercial development in an up and coming city. We already raise $3 million. We only need the final $50,000.”

He knows every real estate developer in the world. He raises money for a lot of projects. So why am I magically getting this “amazing, once in a lifetime opportunity?”

Maybe he’s being nice.

Maybe he can’t find anyone to invest.

I passed on the deal.

The old me would’ve wrote the check and lost all the money.

Potentially.

Now I know better. Because of this one rule.

Steve and I did a podcast about this and other lessons I learned when I was dead broke.

Listen here: