About book The Very, Very Rich And How They Got That Way (2010)
A very informative and a fast read book about the secrets of how the millionaires and billionaires blossomed. The first person who the book talked about was William Bennett (the mistaken millionaire), 150 million. He made his money through his early investment and re-work of the Encyclopedia Britannica. There is virtually nothing I can really learn from him because he did not plan or really want to be a millionaire, only adequately wealthy. The next person is somebody I can truly look up too. His name is Clement Stone, and his success medicine was PMA (Positive Mental Attitude). He worked his way up selling insurance and then many other endeavors. He dropped out of high school because he felt is was not pivotal for wealth, he was right. He uses his PMA towards everything he does and excels because he has a positive life. One quote I really liked was “sales are continent on the attitude of the salesmen, not the prospect”. He also read many of Algar Horatio when he was a child, he wrote about rag to the riches stories that influenced many. Algar believed in the philosophy the God was benevolent to the rich, amassing them fortunes because they were righteous. The next man is Joe Hirshhorn. The man got rich off penny stocks. He found undervalued or under-capital companies, invested and sold at a higher share. He first got his job on Wall Street by using his brashness and told the boss “ I ain’t no office boy”. The boss then moved him to a broker. He is noted the most for his brashness and his guts. The next man Gunther talks about is Bernie Cornfeld. He basically made his money through mutual funds, however rather than buying them he sold them. At first he sold mutual funds to clients for another company. Then he made a FOF (Fund of Funds) which is basically buying into a fund that is diverse amount of funds. Clients paid two management fees that, unless they were savvy in finances and market lingo, had no idea. Then they made they’re own private mutual fund which he did so he could receive both fees. Very interesting I can learn from him that you can swivel in and out of regulations to make a buck, and boy did he. Ahh, Howard Hughes, inherited 600k form his father’s oil business. Now many 18 year old's would sit back and relax. He was eccentric for he went into many different ventures. He got into the Hollywood business, airplanes, electronics, casinos and hotels, tools, oil, and much more. When you think of Howard Hughes think of diversification. He did everything under the rainbow and still made it out on top, he was a ghostly figure though, no one really knew where he was. Leading from afar, however he is worth about one billion dollars. Paul Getty. The oil billionaire. He started oil business form his dad and took it off. He invested in many oil plants and stains and bought land and took mega risks but soon those risk turned to produce profit. He owns oil refineries in four continents and is developing new ideas and expanding his business daily, never succumbing to the temptations of retiring and quitting from what he wrote. tEdwin Land who started the company of Polaroid. He studied light all his life and every which way he did so. He knew everything about he, went against odds from people telling him he couldn’t do it and did it. He is a prime example of persistence through adversary. He was told time and again that he could not make a camera that produced its own photos, however he did with the Land Camera. Even in the face of experts telling him no. Just a snippet of advice to be remembered. Never listen to the negative crowd of pessimist. Automobiles, planes, 60 second cameras, the advent of light have all thought to be presumably dead ends. Nobody thought it was possible even the experts. However, it is a good thing that Edison, the Wright brothers, Ford and others did not need other opinions to justify where they stand. They are the free thinkers, men who changed the world by not succumbing to the temptations of others, obviously now trivial opinions. One secret to amassing wealth when you start with little capital is OPM (other peoples money). This is vital and will serve as good credit if you play your cards right. Put 25 percent down on real estate, borrow 75 percent and then watch the property climb and then give the money back to bank and make a bigger profit than you would by using solely your own money. James Ling who also used OPM, but instead of borrowing he used the concept of equity finance. He made shares to the public so they could buy. He simply did this and bought company after company, all diverse, some splitting companies up to more companies to make more money stream through stocks. Sheer brilliance. He made himself owner of a huge conglomerate, he owned a diverse amount of companies. Brilliant story and man, one to truly emulate. Conrad Hilton. Made it in the hotel business by using OPM at first to finance his first hotel and a few others. He wanted them to look nice and to have a wealthy taste to his buildings. He learned a lot on his way up and now he says the number one thing he learned is to keep your word. Do not deceive anybody and do what you say you will do. The next real estate moguls are the Levits, from Levittown, Long Island. They made their money unconventionally by supplying cheap good houses to the low and middle class people. They made thousands of the same houses at once for cheap and sold for cheap so they were always buyers. Very good technique they were like the Wal Mart of real estate, house making. Ray Kroc, world renowned owner of the McDonald's franchise. Although, he bought the idea from two brothers in California who were not ambitious and only wanted one store. On and on, McDonald's food isn’t the best, it is their business system. Ray Kroc believes in strict codes of ethic and uniformity of all McDonald's. He wants things done a certain way, there are classes and seminars for beginners. All food and design needs to be the same and they want to stress a act of community for their franchise. We can learn from McDonald's that you don’t need to have the best products or services, just the best business; how you run it, market it, manage it. The climax of the book is here. The conclusion he gives is one of true enlightenment, he says that none of these men did particularly good in school, if not totally bad. They were mostly the social misfits ‘oddballs’, and or shy guys. None voted most likely to succeed, in fact those who were where worse off than the others. There are many theories for why these men were bad in school and better in life. Maybe they fooled around while others got burned out is one of them. I believe the one theory that is that people who are good in school do not have the same personality of success in life in monetary values. School means virtually nothing to worldly success, it doesn’t teach you how to be rich or accrue wealth. I enjoyed the book tremendously and throughout my time reading it have realized I want to be a more avid reader with business books. My thoughts are that if I read solely business books (and the occasionally philosophical ones) I will delve into a deeper understanding of the universal business and thrive. Knowing about these successful men will put me at a point of advantage compared to my counterparts.
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