Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch once nearly died of a heart attack.

Years later he was asked what went through his mind while he was being rushed to the hospital in what could have been his last moments alive.

“Damn it, I didn’t spend enough money,” was Welch’s response.

The interviewer, Stuart Varney, was puzzled. And asked why in the world that would go through his mind.

“We all are products of our background,” Welch said. “I didn’t have two nickels to rub together [when I was young], so I’m relatively cheap. I always bought cheap wine.”

After the heart attack Welch said he “swore to God I’d never buy a bottle of wine for less than a hundred dollars. That was absolutely one of the takeaways from that experience.”

“Is that it?” Varney asks, stunned.

“That’s about it,” says Welch.

Some lessons to go along with laughter, my key takeaways

1. Childhood experiences and values are deeply etched in our psyche - and forms the foundation for the rest of our life.

2. Jack Welch may have been a shrewd executive-voted manager of the century but It took a heart attack for him to understand the relative value of 🕰️ Vs. 💰

3. Money is complicated and it is personal and there is no universal right answer.

4. The point is that- a life well lived has minimal regrets. Are you making the right choice now in regards to spending/saving to minimize regrets when you are 80 or 90 years old?

What is your takeaway from Jack Welch's Story?

Note: Views are personal and certainly not investment advice.

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