Well I believe he had 10,000 in his estate when he died. Of course this was in 1941 dollars. But still that was down from over 10 million he had. So he lost over 95% of what he had. And yes, he did kill himself because of the losses. He left a very detailed letter to his wife in his sports coat pocket when he shot himself in the Sherry Netherlander Hotel (sp) in the coat check room. The letter basically described his life as a failure. He said he couldn't beat the market and it was futile to try. In the letter he apologized to his wife for being such a failure and said that if he couldn't make money trading then he had no interest in living because that was the focus of his life.
On the last page Lefevre writes: "There is no asphalt boulevard to success in Wall Street or anywhere else. Why additionally block traffic." To me, this is a pretty negative quote. It begs the question, what time in Livermore's life did Lefevre interview him? While we might argue about the details, most people agree that Jesse eventually blew up in one sense or another. So how much of his impeding doom was foreshadowed in the book, and how much of it is pure coincidence? Livermore died what year? The initial publications were made what year? You'd think that being Wall Street's most famous speculator would be reason enough to live...
What I most remember from the book was when he lamented that the distributors of a stock offering bound to go down, did not use the over- subscription to get short their own stock. Then they would have had "free" buying power to keep it afloat while their buddies unloaded. Those were the days. Also read Smitten's bio. Shows off Livermore as a tragic story and control-freak more than anything else. Kind of took the gloss away from "Reminiscences" for me. Also it did not say anything worthwile on the subject of trading, so save yourself abuck and skip it.
I thought money was only something you needed in case you don't die tomorrow?! b.t.w read this book 3 times a year; it has meant more to my trading career than many others. Put it in the top 3-4 of must reads.
To be honest I really have no way of knowing for sure why Jesse stuck a revolver in his mouth, perhaps it was his trading, perhaps it was because he battled with clinical manic depression almost his entire adult life, perhaps it was because of family tradgey this man had to endure towards the end his life, perhaps it was a combo of all these things... The most interesting thing about his suicide, imo, was the fact that his last wife was married three times prior and they all ended in a sudden suicide ----> Livermore was the 4th :eek: