After the news broke recently that former Johnny Carson sidekick Ed McMahon was being foreclosed out of his Beverly Hills mansion, he went on "Larry King Live" to say (with a straight face), "I just want to give [the millions of other people facing foreclosure] hope... some kind of guidance."

The first question that came to my mind was not, How did this happen? As I've spent the past quarter century as a southern California financial planner, I've had more than my share of clients in Ed McMahon's bracket and predicament--enough to cast a whole season of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Dumb." You know the profile: Very successful at earning a living (and so convinced it will never stop) that they spend like there's no tomorrow.