Subject: 👓 Why Isaac Newton lost $3M (and you could too)
From: Caleb Hammer <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 14 Feb 2026 00:02:04 +0000 (UTC)

**********
THE HAMMER
**********

Breaking Down Money, Building Up Wealth.

Isaac Newton invented calculus, discovered gravity, and
calculated the movement of planets.

Easily, one of the smartest humans who ever lived…

But in 1720, he lost the equivalent of $3-4 million because he
couldn't resist investment FOMO.

​
And funny enough, I see smart people making the same dumb mistake
all the time.

In the early 1700s, there was this company called the
South Sea Company.

It was supposed to open up trade with South America and make
everyone rich.

The stock price started climbing, and Newton became an early
investor.

Smart guy, right?

By early 1720, he looked at the rising stock price and thought,
"This is getting ridiculous. This can't last."

So he sold.

Made a nice profit.

Walked away like a genius.

​
The stock was at around £300 when he sold.

But then he watched it keep climbing.

£400. £500. £700. £900.

Everyone around him was getting rich.

His friends were making fortunes, and the whole country was
talking about it.

So Newton, the gravity daddy, couldn't handle watching everyone
else get rich while he sat on the sidelines.

So in June 1720, right near the peak at around £1,050, he bought
back in.

Big.

He didn't just dip his toe back in.

​According to research published in Physics Today (
https://733480cc.click.convertkit-mail4.com/68uxqw34nma8h5znl9ou9up00q0kkh9hn83v7/n2hohvhvmg84dpb6/aHR0cHM6Ly9waHlzaWNzdG9kYXkuYWlwLm9yZy9mZWF0dXJlcy9pc2FhYy1uZXd0b24tYW5kLXRoZS1wZXJpbHMtb2YtdGhlLWZpbmFuY2lhbC1zb3V0aC1zZWE=
), Newton went from being a diversified, prudent investor to
someone who "plunged essentially all of his capital into a single
stock."

Then in September, the bubble burst.

pretty much
The stock crashed to £175.

And Newton lost approximately £20,000!

That’s somewhere between $3-4 million in today's money.

After watching his fortune evaporate, Newton supposedly said: "I
can calculate the motions of the heavenly bodies, but not the
madness of people."

He was so devastated that for the rest of his life, he forbade
anyone from speaking the words "South Sea" in his presence.

(I don’t know how true that is, but I can’t blame the guy.)

Now here's why I'm telling you this...

You might be doing the exact same thing right now.

It's probably not the South Sea Company.

But maybe it's crypto.

Maybe it's meme stocks.

Maybe it's a health powder ponzi scheme.

You see something going up.

You think "that's overvalued, I'm staying out."

Then you watch it keep going up.

And up.

And up.

Your coworker is bragging about their gains.

Reddit is full of people getting rich, and your timeline is
nothing but success stories.

So eventually, you can't take it anymore.

You jump in.

Right at the top.

Here's what Newton learned the hard way, and what you need to
understand:

Being smart doesn't protect you from being stupid with money.

FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) is more powerful than intelligence and
logic.

When everyone around you is "getting rich," your brain stops
working correctly.

Even Isaac Newton's brain stopped working correctly.

The lesson isn't "don't invest."

The lesson is:

Don't chase performance. Don't buy back in after you've already
made the smart decision to get out. And don't bet the farm on
Gamestop just because everyone else is doing it.

So before you YOLO your savings into whatever's pumping this
week, remember:

If Isaac Newton (literal genius) couldn't resist FOMO and lost
millions...

What makes you think you're going to be different?

👉 Take the Financial Health Quiz to figure out where you're
actually vulnerable to making Newton-level mistakes (
https://733480cc.click.convertkit-mail4.com/68uxqw34nma8h5znl9ou9up00q0kkh9hn83v7/48hvhehmv953odix/aHR0cHM6Ly9hY2Nlc3MuY2FsZWJoYW1tZXIuY29tL3F1aXotcGFnZS03OTc0NDI_dXRtX2NhbXBhaWduPTAyMTMyNl9RdWl6JnV0bV9tZWRpdW09TmV3c2xldHRlciZ1dG1fc291cmNlPW5ld3NsZXR0ZXI=
)​

Learn from history, or be doomed to repeat it.

Taquitos,

Caleb "JOMO" Hammer

P.S. If you liked this little history lesson and want more, hit
reply.

There’s tons of financial hilarity from the past, and ICYMI
that’s kinda my thing.

​
​

​

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