You’ve read my series You Invest, They Win.
In a wonderful op-ed in the Weekend WSJ was “The Joy and Wisdom of Simplicity,” by Fay Vincent:
The other day I found someone citing Henry David Thoreau’s advice from “Walden”: “Simplify, simplify.” I began to think of some seemingly simple yet unusual statements I had encountered.
I once asked the late Las Vegas tycoon Kirk Kerkorian if he was troubled by the enormous debt he ran up to finance his corporate takeovers. He was then trying to gain control of Columbia Pictures Industries, where I was CEO. His simple answer stunned me. “Look, that money is the bank’s money, not mine. They have to worry about it—not me.”
In my lawyer days, a Texas oilman client had a different attitude toward bank debt. His drilling efforts had sharp peaks and valleys, but he continued to patronize the finest restaurants. When I asked how he managed to dine so well in bad times, he explained patiently: “I never let my income affect my standard of living.”
It’s not hard to see who I’d choose to do business with because, at the end of the day, it’s the return of your capital that is more important than the return on your capital.
