How to Be a Financial Grownup. Bobbi Rebell
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for it, as Kevin does. And by the way, having interviewed Kevin a number of times and gotten to know him a bit, I can tell you that he’s enjoying himself in the paying part of his career as well. Making money is a lot of fun for him.
Be willing to make sacrifices to support your goals
Being a financial grownup means proactively focusing on your finances. Doing a good-enough job will allow you to follow your passion. Later in the book you’ll read some other stories of super-successful entrepreneurs who had passions that would never pay enough to be their primary source of income. Don’t cry for them. By following a profitable and financially more-realistic path, they are now able to achieve their dreams. Kevin’s co-star on Shark Tank, Mark Cuban, for example, is now the owner of the Dallas Mavericks. He’s one of the most outspoken and passionate sports team owners out there. He achieved that dream by making money as a driven and relentless entrepreneur. Use money to achieve your real dreams.
There are, however, passions that can pay. Many people truly love what they do to make money.
Like Kevin, Sir Martin Sorrell, who heads WPP, the world’s largest communications services group, also got advice as a teenager from an older mentor. His enthusiasm for the field of advertising is so strong that his passion and means of financial success did become one and the same.
• CEO, WPP
MY FINANCIAL GROWNUP MOMENT
I was 14 years old. My father used to run the radio and electrical retail division of a big industrial holding company, which was one of the first conglomerates in the U.K. He ran the retail division. Rather like Circuit City (That was!), but it had 750 stores throughout the U.K. And the guy who ran the holding company, which was an engineering company as well as retail, had a massive country house down in Sussex, I remember, near the White Cliffs of Dover. It was called Warninglid. We were at Warninglid walking around the estate and the man, whose name was Sir Charles Hayward, as he became known, said to me: “What do you want to do when you grow up?” (It was rather like The Graduate’s “plastics moment.”) And I said, “Please sir, I want to go into business.” And he said, “Well, if you want to go into business you should go to Harvard Business School.” And that sort of stuck in my mind.
Find something you enjoy
I was at Cambridge University in 1964, going to the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City. It was the “Lyndon Johnson Coronation,” as I called it. You had the poster outside the convention with the Barry Goldwater slogan saying “In Your Heart You Know He’s Right.” It was Goldwater against Lyndon Johnson one year after the terrible assassination of John F. Kennedy. And anyway we were there for the convention and the platform hearings in Washington, DC, and I decided that I would go up to Boston, while I was in the U.S. It was the year of the World’s Fair as well, in New York. I decided I would go up to Boston and register my application for Harvard Business School, which I did in 1964, and received entry in 1966. And ’66 to ’68 I was there, so that was the moment of awakening. That was The Graduate Dustin Hoffman “plastics moment.”
MY LESSON TO SHARE
My view is find something that you enjoy. The most important thing is to find something you enjoy doing from a career point of view. Not something that is work. In other words there is all this debate about work-life balance; I am not sure I buy that. Because if you can, find something that is almost like life, as opposed to work. In other words, a thing that you enjoy. So, for example, I worked for Mark McCormack, who founded and developed IMG and managed Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus at the beginning. What he did is sort of exemplary of what I’m talking about. He was a scratch golfer. He was at Wake Forest. He met Arnold Palmer. He thought golfers needed professional advice so he thought: Wouldn’t it be good – he was a lawyer – if he advised golfers like Arnold about golf and about their career. And since he was a scratch golfer it wasn’t work for him. As he used to say, it was fun. So you find something that is fun where that division between work and life is not apparent. You develop a reputation in that industry, as my father used to say. It doesn’t have to be a reputation such that Reuters would interview you. But you develop a reputation, you know, amongst peers, and then if you want to do something on your own, which I did when I was 40 years old (which was probably a little on the late side), you go out and start something on your own.
Don’t be in a hurry. You know the conventional wisdom is to flit from flower to flower. You know, get experience in many companies. I disagree with that. I think you should build a reputation with one company, build a career with one company, then if you fancy doing something on your own, having got knowledge or a reputation in that industry or particular industry, then go ahead and do it. I’m biased because I’m trying to run a company and build long-term brands, but I think focus, rather than flitting, is probably the best.
FIND MENTORS AND ADVISORS
FIRST AND FOREMOST, Sir Martin Sorrell looked to older, more-experienced friends and family for advice when he was a teenager. He went on with his life, but he remembered that conversation from when he was just 14 and acted on it when the time came. He prioritized his education. Sorrell then focused on finding a career that was enjoyable, so that working hard didn’t feel like working at all.
Having mentors and advisors is one of the best ways to become a financial grownup. Get advice from anyone who will give it. Ask a lot of questions. Be curious. I’ve done that my whole career, and in many ways Financial Grownup is the manifestation of that philosophy. I set out to bring you, my readers, the best advice from the most successful people in a wide range of businesses. When I look at the list of incredible people who shared their experiences for this book, I can’t help but smile. These folks had a million better things to do, but they took the time to tell their stories and give advice, in most cases simply because they were asked. So ask. Find someone you admire and talk to them about themselves. Most people enjoy sharing their experiences.
Don’t be in a hurry
Use what you learn from their stories to stand on your own to make your own personal plan. That’s the advice from Steve Lacy, who is expertly bringing media conglomerate Meredith Corporation into a new digital age with old-fashioned business smarts.
• CEO, MEREDITH CORPORATION
MY FINANCIAL GROWNUP MOMENT
I realized the need to develop a personal strategy when I was 33 years old and my first child was born.
MY LESSON TO SHARE
The critical path to becoming a “financial grownup” is self-sufficiency and education. No longer can employees – especially the upcoming millennial generation – rely on corporate America for long-term financial security and wellbeing. Each individual must take full advantage of educational opportunities to understand and carefully select their employee benefits and map a near- and longer-term plan for individual financial self-sufficiency.
The near-term plan for millennials would include elimination of student loans, management of their credit, and a savings plan for home ownership.
The longer-term plan would include family financial security around disability and life insurance needs, along with longer-term college and retirement savings plans.
IT’S TIME TO EDUCATE YOURSELF
STEVE LACY’S POINT: It’s on you. You must be responsible