Required reading:

The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes

http://www.amazon.com/Big-Rich-Greatest-Texas...0143116827

I've mentioned this book before, and it is an absolute must read for TECO longs. It covers the lives of the big 4 Texas oil families. I find the chapters on the hardship and struggle they endured during the early days of making their fortune particularly informative.

I really like the story of Sid Richardson, who went from making 50,000 dollars a month and living in the penthouse, to heavily indebted and living in a bunkhouse.

In the low part of his life, he was dead broke, dodging debt collectors, paying his oil field workers in groceries, which were also on credit at the grocery store, and the bank was taking every penny of his oil profits. His "office" was the payphone at a drug store. As a favor to him, a clerk would answer the phone when he was away as "Sid's office."

It took years but when Sid got rich again he bought the drug store and gave it to the clerk, along with another one across town. After the clerk died Sid took those drug stores over, even though he was a multi millionaire many times over, and held them until the day he died.

Sid left his fortune to his nephew, Perry Bass. The Bass family is still one of the wealthiest families in America.