Next up we’re going to look at the
“Successful Businessman” claim. A wise and well educated lady named Judge Judy
states “If it doesn’t make sense it can’t be true” so let’s look at my
brothers’ ‘claim’.
A man starts a business in 1966 and
it becomes successful and grows into a chain of stores and laundromats. He
works that business hard for many years and in time he turns the business over
to his son to operate so he can live a happy retired life in Florida with his
long time and wonderful girlfriend.
The son is at the time 42 years old
and the stores and laundromats are sold in 2002 maybe 2003. Well after our
"successful businessman" found his 'God' and could 'quote' scripture
at the drop of a hat and use those scriptures to justify his thinking and actions.
If the business was still
‘successful’ and the son is operating it properly at what is considered a
relatively young age one would conclude that the business would continue to be
held and operated as things were all well and good in the world of successful
businesses.
Why would the stores and laundromats
end of the business be sold? If the stores were doing well and all was good it
would only makes sense that things would continue as is and everything would go
on as they had for the previous decades. Make sense in this writer’s eyes and
hopefully in yours as well.
But the stores were sold. The 42
year old vice president is now without a business to operate. The son gets a
large portion of the proceeds and the father continues to live a happy life in
Florida without having to concern himself with the ‘success’ of what he built
over all those years and life is good one would assume.
Two years later the son is fired
from the board of directors and the other son replaces him at the father’s
request. If things were going well after the sale of the stores and laundromats
(there are remaining business interests) and all was good in the business world
why would the one son be replaced, with the other son? The other son had built
and operated his own business interests’ far away in Tennessee and was the
President and CEO of a global business concern and had built another company
that held other business interests. This only makes good business sense as a
solution to a problem for a man that only wanted to live a happy retired life.
Life is full of choices folks. You
have a problem you find a solution to the problem! One son had, over the years
used his education, and experience, to be able to stand on his own and operate
many successful business interests. The one entrusted with being a competent
and “successful businessman” had the stores he was entrusted with sold and left
alone to do as he pleased after being made ‘wealthy’ from the sale of the
stores.
Last but not least. If the then 42
year old son had a large chunk of cash was a “successful businessman” why would
he, at a young age, simply ‘retire’? It just doesn’t make sense to this writer
and I don’t think it does to any of you readers out there. If you were a “successful businessman” wouldn’t you start your own
business?
Just my opinion and I could be wrong
but the ‘logic’ just doesn’t work to retire at the young age of 42. I’m 52 and
still going strong building my humble little piggybank (we’re far from Bill
Gates wealthy!) into something that I hope will last my lovely wife and I long
into our years as a ‘retired’ couple. We can’t count on anyone other than
ourselves in life! Having seen first hand what it takes to live comfortably and
with good financial reserves for health care and life in general I don’t want
to stop helping our piggybank grow ever larger.
We’ve been lucky (and maybe a bit
smart) in using our educations, and experience, to avoid taking big hits
in the last two recessions. We don’t have a desire to stop even though we’re in
our 50’s now. We’re not ‘greedy’ we just don’t feel the need to stop until
necessary.
That’s it folks. Figure it out for
yourselves. I’ll try to address another ‘claim’ before we start preparing for
the “pagan rituals” (see the Eric’s God Page) of entertaining, and housing,
friends from all over the country, and locally, over the upcoming NASCAR
Bristol Motor Speedway Race Weekend. Meals for 22, or more, anyone?
As usual we look forward to parking
at a Volunteer Fire Hall nearby BMS where I made it possible for a BRAND NEW FIRE
TRUCK to be parked in the building. What has the “successful businessman” done
in any way similar for his community?
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