entury Man Talks About Wealth

ome time ago Baron Von Lodge was the head of a small country near Switzerland known as Lilliland.

Sir Edward, a wealthy man who was officially over one hundred years old, agreed with Professor Hamblin to live rent-free in the royal boathouse apartment, in exchange for sharing some of his very personal philosophy about various topics including his wealth, his attitude about women, politics, religion, and the wonderment of nature, plus his diet and exercise plan that he had followed.

The first question the Professor asked was how he acquired his title of Sir and how he became wealthy.

Sir Edward sat on the private deck of the boathouse with the Professor as he began to answer the first question. He had been asked to speak on one topic per month. That was agreeable because the Professor wanted to see if there was information that could be shared with the Baron and Lady Angela.

Sir Edward said that it all started when he the only child of parents who owned a candy store. Sir Edward said that as a child he did not like candy or the candy store, but he loved numbers. Anything involved with numbers was his first love.

When his parents died he inherited the candy store and promptly sold it for a good price. He took the money and went into the loan business. He called it the One Percent Loan Company. Anyone with a respectable reputation could borrow a thousand dollars at one percent interest per month. It didn’t sound like much interest but over a year it was twelve percent. As the money came in he used it for more loans and it grew and grew.

Sir Edward admitted to being lazy so he rented a small office in the business area of Lilliland and opened the store up only one day a week. He had only one employee, a woman manager. The rent and salary for one person was as low an overhead as he wanted.

During the summer, Sir Edward lived on a houseboat and during the winter he had a suite at the Lilliland Hotel. The houseboat and suite were fit for royalty, or so he thought.

He was not a loan shark but a firm businessman who liked numbers. That is how he acquired his wealth. He also kept personal expenses to a minimum. He lived well below his means.