I didn’t know it yet, but my life was about to end.

My wife was in the doctor's office getting that scan where you find out the sex of your kid.

I was out in the hallway shouting in joy because I had made a million dollars.

I didn't care about anything. Sex of baby. Buying a house. Flying a helicopter to play poker. Getting another house on the beach. Buying art. Heck, my 0-year-old baby had a two-story bedroom in the middle of Manhattan.

I didn't care about any of that. I only wanted to make more money.

And then when Internet stocks started to collapse, I doubled down and then tripled down.

I kept buying more and more stocks. I mortgaged my apartment. I borrowed.

Then the dotcom bubble burst.

I lost everything.

I had nothing left but a salary I was getting from a venture capital fund that I started.

So I borrowed against my house again. Why not? My wife said, "Are you sure about this? This is our last money!"

And I said, "Don't you believe in me?"

I saw about ten psychiatrists during that time. None helped. I started to meditate. Instead of calm meditation it was violent "mad attention". Nothing could shut off my panic and fear.

From Dead Money to 10x Winners

I gave up on stocks.

Instead, I decided to learn. Here's what I did, step by step to escape the stock market carnage and find a different path.

I read about 200-300 books on markets and investing. History, biographies, strategies, contrarian views, accounting, economic history, and psychology.

Reading 200+ books was just the ignition. Then I had to drive.

I wrote software to find patterns in market data. I found hundreds of patterns that seemed to create statistically significant trades that worked.

I talked to everyone I could – mentors like Victor Niederhoffer and Jim Cramer. I joined investment groups to learn what everyone else was doing.

I started writing for TheStreet and The Financial Times, which connected me with hundreds of investors.

I wrote books that forced me to refine my investment strategies.

Then I started making money in stocks again.

But also: I started looking outside the conventional stock market for returns.

Yes, you can make insane money in stocks. But I learned that’s not the only place you can make money. And, in fact, the richest people I know don’t rely only on stocks to build wealth.

How to Build Extreme Wealth Outside the Stock Market

The ultimate purpose of the financial markets, ever since the first trade ships were funded to go to the Spice Islands, is to fund innovation and exploration.

Every idea that moves the world forward seemed crazy the day before it became genius.

It was crazy to cross the Atlantic. It was crazy to take a bicycle and put wings on it to fly in the air. It was crazy to inject people with dead diseases to protect them from future diseases.

Maybe it's crazy to go to Mars in a flying car. Or to live life forever in a virtual reality that is better than this reality.

Who knows?

At this point, all I know is: I'm stupid. I try to be a blank slate every day. I'm open to anything. I'm willing to explore and learn. And that's exactly why I don’t rely on stocks alone to build wealth.