Hotmail‘Gift to My Children’ teaches about money, life
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Take a good look at men and women who have been successful in their fields. Now, anyone can get lucky once, but I’m talking about people with sustained records of success. Whether they are artists or musicians, high school teachers or college professors, they all approach their work in a refreshingly original way. This is true of companies too. For example, look at Apple Computer. Steve Jobs and Company refused to accept the conventional wisdom that they would be flattened by the giants IBM and Microsoft. Apple continued to produce high-quality, innovative products and has since been removed from the corporate endangered-species list. In fact, the company is thriving.
I want you to pursue your own desires and aspirations with that kind of courage and devotion. Your father succeeded as an investor, but that doesn’t mean that you must be investors too. What I want is for both of you to be your true, original, unique selves.
Above all, be ethical
As you continue to grow to adulthood, I will continue to offer you guidance. There may be times when I disagree with your choices, but you do not have to accept my advice merely because I am your father. I look at you as independent human beings. Others may say that you are too young to decide for yourselves. I say do what you want, as long as you use your own judgment to determine what is right ethically.
But while you need not concern yourself with conventional wisdom and other so-called established notions, you must respect and follow the rules, laws, and ethical practices without which society cannot exist. This is expected of everyone. It is not simply the proper way to live, it’s the smart way. Honorable people don’t find themselves entangled in legal problems, and they always come out on top in the long run. There are smart people who have gotten themselves in serious trouble because they tried to make money the easy way, or sometimes illegally. Had they applied themselves, they probably would have earned even greater profits legally.
Save
You will meet people who will urge you to spend your money freely; they will tell you, “You can’t take it with you!” As you get older, you will probably have friends who eat at expensive restaurants every night, buy the latest gad- gets or fashion trends, and spend vacations at fancy beach resorts. You must avoid the trap of spending money willy-nilly simply because you can. Not only is this a road to financial ruin, it can cause you to forget what’s important in life.
I am not saying that you should never travel or buy anything nice. I am merely suggesting that you should think wisely about whether the thing you are contemplating doing or buying is really worthwhile or whether its benefits will be, at best, fleeting. I was once married to a woman who was always nagging me to buy a new sofa, a new TV, and so on. I’d explain that if we saved and invested wisely, one day we could afford ten sofas or whatever. Needless to say, we did not stay married long, and now I am lucky to have your mother, who shares the same attitude toward personal finances.
Happy, you already have five piggy banks, and you love putting money into them. Please continue to save. Those who save and invest wisely will face fewer financial woes throughout life. And please help us teach your new sister, Baby Bee, the importance of saving.
Excerpted from "A Gift to My Children" by Jim Rogers Copyright © 2009 by Jim Rogers. Excerpted by permission of Random House Group, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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