My guest today is billionaire philanthropist, John Arnold.

You've probably never heard of him, but he and his wife, Laura, have quietly given away

more money over the last decade than just about anyone else on the planet.

More and I were in a stronger agreement that we didn't want to give a significant part

of our money to the kids, and so then the next question is, what are we going to do with

it?

Welcome to People I Mostly Admire, with Steve Levitt.

John Arnold was, at one point, the youngest self-made billionaire in the world.

But at the age of 37, he walked away from money-making to focus full-time on giving his fortune

away.

He's definitely not flashy, but he's one of the most thoughtful, insightful people

I've met.

And I say that about him, even though he has rejected every grant proposal I have ever

submitted to him for funding, every single one.

So before we talk about your second career as a philanthropist, I'd like to touch just

a little bit on your first career.

Straight out of college, you joined Enron, and by 2001, five years later, by some accounts

you were the most successful trader in America.

You personally netted Enron to $750 million in profits trading natural gas that year.

That's the year ironically that Enron declared bankruptcy.

You received the highest yearly bonus that Enron ever paid, $8 million, which is tiny

really when you think about it compared to the $750 million that you generated.

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