One shall not judge but I guess what he has done may never leave him.

I was a little hesitant at first. I had no interest in stock brokerage. I didn’t know anything about it. So I walked into this office park in Lake Success, and there was no sign that says Stratton Oakmont or anything but there’s a line of cars — Rolls-Royces, Bentleys, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Porsches, Mercedes.

You provide an instant justification of reward. Why talk about ifs and possibilities?

When a stock collapsed, the mentality was that even if you lost thousands of dollars you’d buy more — instead of relating to a client that it crashed, you’d say it’s trading at a discount. And it worked because everyone wanted to make money.

Shit. Isn’t that what I sold my readers sometimes as well?

I went from a cold caller to an account opener to a broker, ...