Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Revising My... Portfolio

So I'm sitting at the Starbucks in a Chapters store and The Old Guy starts talking to me.
Who is The Old Guy?
Well, The Old Guy is….. this old guy that always talks to me.
I say "old" [he told me once that he had just turned 70], but:
a) I myself will very soon be that "old" and,
b)
The Old Guy is in better physical shape than I am.
He is always dressed quite sharp, and he is a very clear thinker. I recall reading a biography of Einstein and when he saw the book, he began going on and on about salient facts regarding Einstein…. things that I had just read in the book.
Which is to say that The Old Guy has been around the block a few times. He's sharp. Intelligent. He's got his wits about him and he is a pleasure to talk with. He speaks several languages. We've conversed about Flaubert.
Basically, he's smarter than me.

In his retirement years he's found that his real passion is business. Investing. Stock market. Things like that.
So, as I sat down at a table with my coffee he looked over at me and picked up the book you see above, and asked me if I had ever read it.
"No," I replied. "I have no MONEY to invest in anything."
I went on to say a few more things about how financial success does not seem to be my….. genre!
He laughed and suggested that maybe if I read some books like this, I would HAVE some money. Point well taken!
He said he picked up the book at a Barnes & Noble in Florida and is meeting his friend today to tell him to buy the book.
Minutes later, his friend arrived and without even prefacing with a Hello, I heard The Old Guy say to him, "I am never telling you one more thing about investing until you go right now and buy this book!"
The friend laughed and protested a bit, but The Old Guy dragged him away to the financial section of the store, asking me to watch his stuff while he was gone.
Soon they returned, with a freshly purchased Investor's Manifesto.
As I sort of eavesdropped on some of the ensuing convo, I must confess, a lot of what I overheard sounded sensible. Pretending to read my own book, I found myself seriously re-evaluating my own brilliantly-conceived retirement financial stratagem -- WINNING THE LOTTERY!

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2 comments:

Stefanie said...

Me, I'm waiting for that long lost wealthy relative to appear who will leave me the whole estate. I figure the odds of that happening are just as good as my winning the lottery. But just in case, I have a 401(k)that might allow me to semi-retire someday.

Melwyk said...

Hey, that's MY retirement fund! Hands off ;)