谢
尔顿•艾德森(Sheldon Adelson)生长于马萨诸塞州多彻斯特的一个出租车司机家庭，对于什么是贫穷，他还是略知一二的。
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在底层生活过，或许正是艾德森在重现辉煌的过程中如此坚忍不拔的原因之一。《奢华人生》栏目的读者或许想得起，2008年市场跳水、信贷蒸发的时候，艾德森损失了超过90%的财富。
算下来，他每小时损失1,000多美元，一天损失400多万美元。一次损失的钱超过历史上任何人，他自己又感觉如何呢？他说，于是我亏了250亿美元，我又从零开始。
换句话说就是，没什么大不了的。当自己的公司在破产边缘摇摇欲坠时，他同样也是举重若轻。在很多投资者保命逃走之际，阿德森及其家庭将10亿美元的自有资金投了进去。
他对ABC说，不存在害怕不再是企业家；担心是有，害怕则没有。
当然我们也不应该夸大了他的英雄事迹。艾德森最开始的个人净资产是300多亿美元，损失250多亿美元过后，也还有几十亿美元的剩余。他从未面临回到街头卖报纸的生活。他的私人飞机机群（恐怕是世界上最庞大的私人飞机机群）也没有失去的风险。要是真的有人受苦，那么受苦的人也不是他，而是接受其慈善捐赠的人，因为他的捐资数额减少了三分之二强。
但艾德森的故事也提醒我们，一个人的经历对于财富的积累和维持可以是多么的重要。白手起家的亿万富豪常常相信，只要以前取得过成功，这种成功就是可以复制的。而自幼贫穷的艾德森也知道一无所有是什么感觉，所以他不害怕一时的损失。
而随着他的公司利用新开的亚洲赌场实现反弹，录得创纪录的利润，他那10亿美元的投资也取得了回报。在《福布斯》(Forbes)的排行榜上，他又回到了第13位，而且还在上升。
被问到他是否认为自己会成为首富时，他回答说，为什么不会呢？
你觉得自己亏了250亿美元后，你会做出怎样的反应？
Robert Frank
（“奢华人生”专注于富人的生活和文化，由Robert Frank主笔。）
（本文版权归道琼斯公司所有，未经许可不得翻译或转载。）
http://www.cn.wsj.com/gb/20101129/wrt072641.asp?source=UpFeature
'In my mind, here's a kid who comes from the slums, me,' Mr. Adelson, right, told ABC News. 'I came from a very poor family, there were six people, four children, and my parents, one bed in the room…and my parents were poor.'
Living at the bottom may be one reason Mr. Adelson has been so resilient in his climb back to the top. As Wealth Report readers might recall, Mr. Adelson lost more than 90% of his fortune in 2008 when markets tanked and credit evaporated.
His losses amounted to more than $1,000 a second, or more than $4 million a day. So how did he feel losing more money in one time than anyone else history? 'So I lost $25 billion,' he said. 'I started out with zero.'
In other words, no big deal. He also kept his cool as his company teetered on the edge of financial ruin. When many investors were abandoning ship, Mr. Adleson and his family invested $1 billion of their own money.
There is 'no such thing as fear not to an entrepreneur,' he told ABC. 'Concern, yes. Fear, no.'
Of course, we shouldn't overdo the heroics. Even after losses of more than $25 billion in personal net worth, he still had a few billion dollars left over, having started with more than $30 billion. He was never facing life back on the streets selling newspapers. There was no risk of losing his fleet of private jets perhaps the largest private fleet in the world. And if anyone really suffered it was his charities, as his giving was cut by more than two-thirds.
Still, Mr. Adelson's story reminds us of how background can matter when it comes to building and maintaining wealth. Self-made billionaires often are confident that if they did it once, they can do it again. And having grown up poor, Mr. Adelson also knows what is like to have nothing, so he isn't as fearful of temporary losses.
Meantime, his $1 billion investment has paid off, as his company is rebounding and posting record profits from new casinos in Asia. He is back at number 13 on the Forbes list, and moving higher.
Asked if he saw himself reaching No. 1, he said 'Why not?'
How do you think you would react to losing $25 billion?
Robert Frank
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