I had Joseph Moore on the podcast this week. 

He reads dead people's mail for a living. That's his job description. It's called being a historian, and apparently there's a PhD for it.

He wrote a book called How to Get Rich in American History. If you love money and hate history, you’re still going to like it. 

I went in expecting Rockefeller stories. Instead he told me about George Washington's diarrhea.

Martha’s Money 

In his mid-twenties, Washington was broke and, to make matters worse, he had a gambling problem. 

Meanwhile, Martha Custis was the richest widow in Virginia and every man in the colony was lined up at her door. 

Washington was maybe fifth in line. Tall, handsome, some military bravado. But certainly not the prize-winning stud. 

He only had one shot to get with her. And the night before, he got sick. Bad. 

He pulled himself together, showed up, and apparently did great, because she wrote him a letter afterward that Joe describes as “the 1758 version of Netflix & Chill."

Every cool thing Washington did after that was funded by him wooing a woman while suffering diarrhea. No small achievement. 

Then there's Franklin. 

Early to Rise, Deeply in Debt

Franklin printed pamphlets about the evils of debt. But it was all a front. He'd borrowed to buy his press, fallen behind, and the printer was threatening to repossess it. 

So Franklin went to a family in Philadelphia and made an offer. I'll marry your daughter if the dowry covers my debts. 

They said they didn't have that kind of money. Franklin said fine, mortgage your house. They declined. 

He married someone else.

That's the pattern Joe kept finding across 300 years. 

The Whole Family Goes to Jail

Steven Girard, a one-eyed cabin boy who became the richest man in America, borrowed almost everything he had to send one ship out. 

If it sank, he went to debtors' prison. And in 1790 debtors' prison took your wife and kids too. 

The ship came back. He paid the debt. 

Then he spent the next forty years borrowing less and less until he was sitting on 75 cents of equity for every 25 cents of debt.

How to Get Rich in America 

You might think the point of the story is to get in a bunch of debt and swing for the fences. But no. Debt doesn't make you rich. 

Joe was emphatic about this. Opportunity makes you rich. Debt is how you reach in and grab as much of the opportunity as you can carry. 

The people we remember grabbed once, got lucky, and then spent decades putting the leverage down.

That's the crux of Joe’s book: Get rich by taking the risk. Stay rich by dialing it down.

He boiled 300 years down to five things. 

→ Solve other people's problems.

→ Take risks, because this is the least risky era in American history and we're the most risk-averse Americans ever.

→ Move to where the opportunity is.

→ Marry well, meaning someone who covers your dreams while you cover theirs.

→ And believe you can, because the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that a positive attitude plus a savings habit predicted financial wellness better than income or inheritance.

Optimists live in mansions. Pessimists explain why you can't.

I asked him how much is enough. He said $2 million and half of Twitter would call him an idiot. He retired on it. Then his wife kicked him out of the house for asking too many questions about Foucault.

Get rich. Then dial it down. Then find something to do with your hands.

Listen to the whole conversation. It’s great. Joe’s great. I just wish he’d written the book sooner. For everyone’s sake.