This quote is an excerpt from Donald Trumps book, "The Way To The Top" is from a top GE executive who managed some $180 billion when asked as to who was his strongest and most influential investor in his life.
"...But probably the most influential investor I've known — certainly the most eccentric — is a guy whose advice and counsel I seek out every day. His name is Bernie Feshbach, and to me he's been the lost and found of Wall Street. Bernie was a World War II Purple Heart award winner selling used cars, selling women's dresses, and working as a stockbroker. He's very well traveled and very well known throughout financial circles; he always wears his bow tie and his designer suits; and he knows all the maitre d's and concierges at the best restaurants and hotels all over the world. But more important, he knows where all the hidden closets are on Wall Street and where all the bodies are buried.
Bernie's about to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of his fortieth birthday later on this year and as such has experienced more market cycles than anyone I know. Every deal I ever did with him or recommended by him was a success. But Bernie's real value to me can't be measured by the deals we did or didn't do. It's my having the ability to pick his brain. Bernie's never been shy in voicing his opinions to me or of me, and his thoughts are incredibly valuable. Everyone needs a truly independent sounding board, preferably one that knows what he's talking about and without a personal stake in the outcome. Every business leader needs to find a Bernie Feshbach..." who was wounded at Okinawa. He grew up in the Bronx and after the war tried his hand at pig-farming, oil wild-catting,
Monday, February 23, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Living on the Edge...of Money
If I knew that I was going to live this long I would probably have taken better care of my money. Ah where did the many, many millions I earned go? 'Cause I don't have even a small itty, bitty, little bit of it left. Profligate spending? No respect for accumulating money? Always spent at least a little more than I made? Guilty as charged of all of the above and more.
Did I enjoy being constantly overdrawn at the bank? I must have because I was constantly overdrawn. Me and keeping a record of the checks written while keeping a record of my bank balance weren't even kissin' cousins. I was totally arrogant about my ability to make money and my arrogance was well founded. A banker once asked me what I was going to do with the money I wanted to borrow. "Spend it" I said. He thought that I was being a smart ass, and he turned me down. But how did I make many millions of dollars disappear? No problem for this old, lower case jew.
While I did spend mucho bucks on myself, the bulk of the money was spent on others. My wives before and after divorces (a half of a half doesn't leave a whole hell of a lot). My four kids and the Ice Princess plus my second ex wife were my prime targets. The Ice Princess complained, sometimes bitterly that I spoiled the kids. But my cry was that I was not "schizo" and that I couldn't give her (#1 ex wife) everything she wanted (and she wanted plenty starting with being a born again clothes horse) and not do the same for the kids. How she adored and loved I Magnin's. I loved every spending minute of it. I was pretty much consumed with love and affection for kids and yes, even for the Ice Princess and wife #2.
I also pissed away a ton of money on people I hardly knew or even cared to know. One of my kids had a tennis shop. God only knows how many warm up suits and tennis rackets I bought for flight attendants that I saw just once and didn't care to see again. I was trying to support the tennis shop and most flight attendants became brain dead while on that job, so I seldom pursued them. I was a real money sump pump and just loved it. The seventeen years between marriages were also terrific for spending money. Would I do it all over again? For sure!! My disrespect for accumulating money never included lack of recognition of what money was doing for my beloved family, good and casual friends and yeah even a few enemies.
Redundantly, I have lived a long and rich life and, thank God, always on the edge.
Did I enjoy being constantly overdrawn at the bank? I must have because I was constantly overdrawn. Me and keeping a record of the checks written while keeping a record of my bank balance weren't even kissin' cousins. I was totally arrogant about my ability to make money and my arrogance was well founded. A banker once asked me what I was going to do with the money I wanted to borrow. "Spend it" I said. He thought that I was being a smart ass, and he turned me down. But how did I make many millions of dollars disappear? No problem for this old, lower case jew.
While I did spend mucho bucks on myself, the bulk of the money was spent on others. My wives before and after divorces (a half of a half doesn't leave a whole hell of a lot). My four kids and the Ice Princess plus my second ex wife were my prime targets. The Ice Princess complained, sometimes bitterly that I spoiled the kids. But my cry was that I was not "schizo" and that I couldn't give her (#1 ex wife) everything she wanted (and she wanted plenty starting with being a born again clothes horse) and not do the same for the kids. How she adored and loved I Magnin's. I loved every spending minute of it. I was pretty much consumed with love and affection for kids and yes, even for the Ice Princess and wife #2.
I also pissed away a ton of money on people I hardly knew or even cared to know. One of my kids had a tennis shop. God only knows how many warm up suits and tennis rackets I bought for flight attendants that I saw just once and didn't care to see again. I was trying to support the tennis shop and most flight attendants became brain dead while on that job, so I seldom pursued them. I was a real money sump pump and just loved it. The seventeen years between marriages were also terrific for spending money. Would I do it all over again? For sure!! My disrespect for accumulating money never included lack of recognition of what money was doing for my beloved family, good and casual friends and yeah even a few enemies.
Redundantly, I have lived a long and rich life and, thank God, always on the edge.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Being A Garmento 1953
One way for a marriage to stay in tact is for one or both of the spouses to travel a lot. It takes a lot longer for the couple to get bored with one another (aka sick of one another…and this is Noah talking about the flood). My first bout with getting out of the house for at least four or five days at a time was in peddling dresses on the road (aka travelin' man living). It was wonderful. The Princess didn't have to worry about having sex with me, and I didn't have to worry about pleasing her. I was, to turn a phrase, "pussy whipped". Also I couldn't figure out whether I was a lousy lover or that the Ice Princess didn't care about sex. Carries over to that old line that the best way to stop a married man from masturbating is to get him a divorce.
I had no dress selling competency. I got the job by convincing the bosses that I was a powerful salesman and that they should take a gamble on me. I spent three weeks working in the showroom (1440 Broadway) to learn. I had volunteered to work for nothing but the boss couldn't handle that so I received a small retainer.
My first territory was Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Eastern Kansas, Wisconsin, and Eastern Nebraska. A lot of two lane roads, 60-70 miles between towns. I could drive through a target town without realizing that I had gone through it. I then had to turn around and go back to the fucking town. When N.Y. sent me sample dresses, they would enclose a note describing the fabric. It was not until I covered N.Y. and Pennsylvania that I started making money and really loved the work. The joy of not having to be pussy whipped by the Princess was huge as well.
In the Midwest, you would get to some no name town with three dress shops. The owner of one would be out of town, the owner of the second wouldn't look at my line and the third would look but wouldn't buy. Very unpleasant. Every night in the hotel room, I would bang out thank you notes on a Royal Portable typewriter. "Sorry I missed you", "Sorry you wouldn't look at my line" and "Sorry that you didn't see anything you liked". The next time I hit that no name town, each of the owners greeted me with open arms (if they were there). I became a top salesman, but the biggest pay period I would have had turned to shit when the corduroy factory that produced the fabric for my hottest selling dress burned down.
The Ice Princess' father just plain didn't like his kid being married to a garmento travelin' man for sure. The fact is, he just didn't like me. Sadly it took me a very long time to realize that the dislike ran in the family including the Princess' sister. The Mother had died so I was relatively safe there.
I had no dress selling competency. I got the job by convincing the bosses that I was a powerful salesman and that they should take a gamble on me. I spent three weeks working in the showroom (1440 Broadway) to learn. I had volunteered to work for nothing but the boss couldn't handle that so I received a small retainer. My first territory was Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Eastern Kansas, Wisconsin, and Eastern Nebraska. A lot of two lane roads, 60-70 miles between towns. I could drive through a target town without realizing that I had gone through it. I then had to turn around and go back to the fucking town. When N.Y. sent me sample dresses, they would enclose a note describing the fabric. It was not until I covered N.Y. and Pennsylvania that I started making money and really loved the work. The joy of not having to be pussy whipped by the Princess was huge as well.
In the Midwest, you would get to some no name town with three dress shops. The owner of one would be out of town, the owner of the second wouldn't look at my line and the third would look but wouldn't buy. Very unpleasant. Every night in the hotel room, I would bang out thank you notes on a Royal Portable typewriter. "Sorry I missed you", "Sorry you wouldn't look at my line" and "Sorry that you didn't see anything you liked". The next time I hit that no name town, each of the owners greeted me with open arms (if they were there). I became a top salesman, but the biggest pay period I would have had turned to shit when the corduroy factory that produced the fabric for my hottest selling dress burned down.
The Ice Princess' father just plain didn't like his kid being married to a garmento travelin' man for sure. The fact is, he just didn't like me. Sadly it took me a very long time to realize that the dislike ran in the family including the Princess' sister. The Mother had died so I was relatively safe there.
Monday, February 2, 2009
No Thaw
After being married a relatively short period of time (11 years) and having, during that time, helped manage a tanning and dyeing plant (converting sheepskin into mouton lamb), being a "travelin man" (sold dresses on the road), farmed, I traveled for a wholesale automobile auction and was selling cars. I arrived home one night and announced to my then wife that I had taken a job as a stockbroker. She broke down in tears (she could cry a river just looking at me). That poor woman's life's dream was to have a quiet, table top smooth life, and I was giving her none of that.
Her idea of "living" was slow suicide for me. After moving from Mason City, Never Live There, Iowa, I was making a damn good living pushing new and used cars out the door. I was one of the top 3 West Coast Pontiac salesmen with yearly earnings of some $25,000 per year in 1957 dollars ($195,191 in today's money). And I was giving it up, with a wife, four kids and a dog (A Sheltie) for a starting draw (against commissions) of $1,200,1957 dollars a month. Why?
Well we lived next door to a very smart guy who was a Security Analyst with Fireman's Fund and was investing personal money. He kept telling stories about his big stock market successes, and I thought "Shit, I'll never make 'real money' peddling cars." So I went looking for a brokerage firm who would hire a car salesman who didn't know a stock from a bond.
And I found one that hired me. I promptly went on a self education binge and developed into one of the top broker/salesman/security analysts in the US and made more money than I deserved. But even that didn't help the Ice Princess 's attitude towards me. She had developed an ingrained dislike of me. Being slow (but not stupid) it took me some 30 years to recognize her dislike. But I refused to accept it and continued to try to get her approval until she passed away.
She, while dieing in the hospital, gave my kids instructions for me, not to phone, come by or send flowers. And when she left this world for the next, I was not to be allowed to her memorial service. Wow…I just never ever made it with the Princess.
Her idea of "living" was slow suicide for me. After moving from Mason City, Never Live There, Iowa, I was making a damn good living pushing new and used cars out the door. I was one of the top 3 West Coast Pontiac salesmen with yearly earnings of some $25,000 per year in 1957 dollars ($195,191 in today's money). And I was giving it up, with a wife, four kids and a dog (A Sheltie) for a starting draw (against commissions) of $1,200,1957 dollars a month. Why?
Well we lived next door to a very smart guy who was a Security Analyst with Fireman's Fund and was investing personal money. He kept telling stories about his big stock market successes, and I thought "Shit, I'll never make 'real money' peddling cars." So I went looking for a brokerage firm who would hire a car salesman who didn't know a stock from a bond.
And I found one that hired me. I promptly went on a self education binge and developed into one of the top broker/salesman/security analysts in the US and made more money than I deserved. But even that didn't help the Ice Princess 's attitude towards me. She had developed an ingrained dislike of me. Being slow (but not stupid) it took me some 30 years to recognize her dislike. But I refused to accept it and continued to try to get her approval until she passed away.
She, while dieing in the hospital, gave my kids instructions for me, not to phone, come by or send flowers. And when she left this world for the next, I was not to be allowed to her memorial service. Wow…I just never ever made it with the Princess.
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