“Where do you see yourself in 5 years from now” – is a repeated question these days. Some of us might have even thought of, where he/she would be in 25 years.
In the year 1923 a group of rich/powerful/influential business leaders met at a hotel in Chicago to discuss business and future trends. Let’s see where they found themselves in 25 years
Name Status -1923 Status 1948
Charles Schwab President - Bethlehem Steel (World’s largest steel company and heavy manufacturers) Lived the last 5 years of his life on borrowed money and died
Samuel Insull President of World’s Largest Utilities Died in France, penniless
Howard Hopson President - Electric Gas and Co;(Largest Gas Company) Went Insane
Ivar Kreuger President - IMCO (World’s Largest Company; 1923), Co-founder - Kreuger&Toll Committed Suicide (suspected murder)
Leon Fraser President - Bank of International Settlement Committed Suicide
Richard Whitney President of the New York Stock Exchange Released from prison to die at home
Albert Fall US - Senator (New Mexico) Pardoned from a federal prison, to die at home
Arthur Cutton Biggest Stock Speculator (Wheat) Died insolvent
Cosabee Livermore The Great Bear of Wall Street Committed Suicide
Evident Cause
The Great Depression – the market crash in the year 1929
Today we live in a fast paced era. A Business/Entrepreneur, in the initial days, experiences frequent rough tide. A series of Ups and Downs in the financial market, which could collectively amount to the blow of the Great Depression of 1929.
What’s your Plan to Survive?
If your answer is – “Rush to the nearest CA”, well, think again.
Don’t you think that the above set of great leaders, did never hire a big team of CA’s, to advise them?
Irrespective of how much money you have and how much you make, your choices decide a lot. Remember ‘A Fool and his lotta money make a great Party’. And if you want to entertain finance companies and advisors for security, well……………
This reminds me of one of the amusing stories of Entrepreneur that I covered. An Engineer by qualification, is now pretty proficient on QuickBooks. He does not seek help to understand – tax structures, payment structures and other Govt norms. What instigated this learning? It was a heavy penalty paid, for a miss by the accounting team.
Hence, hiring an MBA (Fin) or a CA does not always solve your money anxieties. As a business owner, it’s imperative to have the knowledge of how money works. And again, how money works and how the Financial markets react is not the same.
You choose
So is there a course or a college or a book – that teaches us the money game?
The answer is – none of them, singularly. It’s mostly a mix of – experience, interpretation and clever choices. And in the context of clever choices, I present you with 2 friends –
Friend 1
Friend 1 finished her Chemical Engineering, but instead of M.Tech , joined MBA (Finance) in a renowned college. Reason, in her own words – “What is more interesting than making money”. She works for a bank and lives in a hostel. She worked out contacts in the affluent class and sells them property, which is quite far away. Her earnings include salary and commission from property sales.
Friend 2
Friend 2 and his wife have both graduated with an MBA(Finance). They bought a duplex house in the suburbs of the city, connected through a bumpy road. Both of them acquired decent jobs. The housing loan amounts to half their combined salary and stretches to 30 years. They are young but do not indulge, to manage with the little after paying loans and bills.
If one of them is to be your Financial Advisor, who would You Choose?
