Emmanuel F. kumah:Money and Me

In my recent article on issues of personal finance, I asked a simple question that formed the basics of my writing,’Is money Good?’ Well I hope you enjoyed reading that article on money.

Today, we would want to continue another discussion of money as it can make or unmake you.Money is the idea of our thinking, and we would deal with the concept of money and you, focusing on the lessons  we can draw from the note called “Money”.

Are you ready to enroll in the school of money? Well take your seat and let me teach you money.

Let’s begin with this story?

The Edgewater Beach Hotel

In 1923, at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago, eight of the world's wealthiest

Financiers met. These eight men controlled more money than the United States'

government at that time. They included:

1.    The president of the largest independent steel company;

2.    The president of the largest gas company;

3.    The greatest wheat speculator;

4.    The president of the New York Stock Exchange;

5.    A member of the President's cabinet;

6.    The greatest "bear" on Wall Street;

7.    The head of the world's greatest monopoly;

8.    The president of the Bank of International Settlement.

Certainly, one would have to admit, that a group of the world's most successful men

was gathered in that place; at least, men who had found the secret of "earning

money."

Now let's see where these men were twenty-five years later:

• ·         The president of the largest independent steel company, Charles Schwab, lived on

borrowed money for five years before he died bankrupt.

• ·         The president of North America's largest gas company, Howard Hopson, went insane.

·         The greatest wheat speculator, Arthur Cutton, died abroad, insolvent.

• ·         The president of the New York Stock Exchange, Richard Whitny, was sent to Sing

Sing Penitentiary.

• ·         A member of the President's cabinet, Albert Fall, was pardoned from prison so he

could die at home.

• ·         The greatest "bear" on Wall Street, Jesse Livermore, died a suicide.

• ·         The head of the greatest monopoly, Ivar Krueger, killed himself.

• ·         The president of the Bank of International Settlement, Leon Fraser, also died a

suicide.

Each of these men learned well the art of earning money, but none of them learned the personality or characteristics of the money they have earned.No wonder Charles Schwab borrowed money for five years before he died bankrupt. My question to you is that, what happened to all that money? He never learnt the art of making money his slave and did not know the characteristics of money.

When I tell this story to many a people , they then conclude that money is not good and is evil. But the fact that someone wears his suit upside down does not guarantee you to do the same.

This article is a continuation  of my chit-chat with you about money,so enjoy reading it and learn some useful lessons from it.

We would focus on three main lesson we can draw from money in my next post .

What Next?

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