This Spreadsheet Could Ruin Your Life (And Definitely Your Bonus)
You think it’s just Excel—until it’s not. In this episode of Overleveraged, Overconfident, we unpack five real-world spreadsheet fails that triggered $24 million losses, $6 billion meltdowns, government investigations, and even global austerity policies. From Barclays hiding rows in a bankruptcy deal to Fannie Mae's $1.2 billion “oops,” and JP Morgan’s $6B model built by one guy in London with a PhD and no backup plan, it’s a masterclass in how bad inputs = career-ending outputs. If you've ever copy-pasted a formula and prayed no one noticed…this one's for you.

Come for the Excel horror stories, stay for the schadenfreude.

What happens when a small-town hockey player from Minnesota’s Iron Range swaps his stick for a Bloomberg terminal and $26 billion in other people’s money? You get Phil Falcone—the hedge fund king who shorted subprime to riches, then torched it all borrowing from his own fund, rigging bond markets, and backing a satellite network that nearly broke GPS nationwide. This is decision deafness in action: how a man who couldn’t hear “no” went from billionaire to pitching crypto TV—with his name misspelled in the deck.

Because some people never learn the first time—and some Wall Street networks run deeper than friendship.

For all of those who wanted someone to go to jail for the Great Financial Crisis, it looks like Osman Semerci will be—but not for that. And not in the US.

This is the story of Phil Falcone: rich, reckless, and maybe just a little too confident for his own good.

Exploring this big wide world on your own.

Paying for a therapist when you’ve been kicked off your parents’ insurance…yikes.

Everyone goes through it, so let’s get into it.

Books I recommend you read in your twenties.

Living my life like it’s an extended music video.