Recently, I wrote an article about Edison for Neatorama and ran across the explanation of his finances: Edison lost a lot of money trying to extract iron from low-grade ore (he went so far as to build a large plant and a surrounding town to support it, only to find that you could mine iron for less money).

But he wasn't poor in the end. Henry Ford wrote that Edison was comfortable financially, though he wasn't as rich as he used to be.

Congratulations! Be prepared to buy lots of diapers. LOTS!