The Grant Williams Podcast Ep. 137 - Frank Giustra FULL EPISODE

Grant Williams (0:10)

Before we get going, here's the bit where I remind you that nothing we discussed should be considered as investment advice. This conversation is for informational and hopefully entertainment purposes only. So, while we hope you find it both informative and entertaining, please do your own research or speak to a financial advisor before putting a dime of your money into these crazy markets. And now, on with the show.

Welcome, everybody, to another edition of The Grant Williams Podcast. Joining me in a moment to talk about his terrific new book, The Money Dilemma, is my friend, Frank Giustra. Now, I've known Frank for over a decade, and I've got to say, after reading this book, I realized that I only know a tiny part of what is a truly remarkable story of his incredible rise to wealth and success. But it's not the rise that I find the most fascinating part of Frank's story. It's the multiple falls along the way, the public embarrassments. And Frank owns all that. He owns that. He owns the part Luck has played. But there are so many characters who breathe life into every corner of this journey. And the remarkable third act to Frank's life and career, where he's actively trying to give away as much of his money as he possibly can in the furthest of good causes, is just such a heartwarming story and something he believes in deeply. The book, The Money Dilemma, I have to say, it's genuinely an unbelievably good read. It's available in all the usual places. Obviously, it's out now in the US and it'll be available at various points between now and the end of the year in other countries right around the world. The UK, I think it's December 14th and so on. Frank very kindly found some time in his schedule to chat with me about his story. And you are about to hear that conversation. But believe me, when I tell you the stuff we didn't get to talk about is every bit as mind-bending as the stuff we did. So I would urge you to buy a copy of the book and read it for yourself. So without further ado, here is my conversation with Frank Giustra.

Frank, welcome to the podcast. I'm still wriggling from reading your book, so it's great to have a chance to talk to you about it.

Frank Giustra (2:16)

You finished it?

Grant Williams (2:17)

I sat all day yesterday and read it.

Frank Giustra (2:19)

It's wonderful.

Grant Williams (2:20)

It's funny. Your story has all the things that people would expect, right? There's big wins, you've had public near disasters, there's a lot of hard-won lessons in there. And the thing I love, there's more luck in there than most people are usually willing to admit to. And you talk about that a lot. And you and I have known each other for, I guess, a decade plus now. But after reading the book, I've seen it thinking, I know Frank a lot less than I thought I did, despite the hours we've spent talking over the years, which means I've done a lousy job of interviewing in the past. I'll hopefully put that right today. And I think the reason for that, as I looked at it was, this book is, it's deeply personal, and it's incredibly candid. And you tell the story without flinching. And I think as you do so, behind all the things that I've outlined, all this public Frank Giustra, you tell the real story of how you became that public figure. And there's so much in there that I wasn't expecting. There's murder and electroshock and drugs and all kinds of car crashes and near-fatal experiences.

Was that stuff always going to be in the book or did Gary Ross kind of tease and drag that out of you as he helped you with the process?

Frank Giustra (3:24)

The fact is that I started writing this book about 10 years ago on my own. And I wrote five or so disparate chapters that told individual stories. And some of them had all of the humor that you saw in the final book. And then I dropped the whole project for a number of years when I started writing newspapers and other magazines. I had my own magazine I was writing for and I was writing for the Toronto Star on monthly column. So I dropped it. I lost interest. I didn't know which way to go with this thing. And this friend of mine, Gary, who's a magazine editor, Gary Ross, and an author of two of his own books, offered to help. He says, I can help you. I can help you structure it. Because writing a book is not like writing an article. And I write lots of articles. They're very different prose. I had never done it before. So he and I, and he drew a lot more stuff out of me than I would have been able to recall. I was just like, he started asking so many questions and what had to happen? I had to go back and check with people that were still alive, actually. Because a lot of the people that I started in this industry with some 45, 47 years ago, 48 years ago, some of them have passed away. And the memories of the rest of us have faded a bit. We can't remember all the deals and who did what to whom.