Net Worth

My first employment after being discharged from the military was with a Finance Company. You don't see those kind of companies around now like back then. They had a legal limit on their loans of $2500. . In the business they were called "stick note" loan companies. Reason for the name was that they often took furniture as collateral and the furniture was the "stick"
It was a brutal business and I didn't stay in it very long, but I have to admit that it taught me a lot about personal finances. The following happened one day.

A well dressed man entered and I sat down with him in one of the customer cubicles. In a arrogant manner, he said he needed $2500.00 . I slide over a credit application and he pushed it back and said he already had accounts there and didn't need to fill it our. So I asked him to just fill out his name and I would pull out his account.
This was before the age of computers , and I searched the file cabinets till I found his name.. He was correct, he did have an account, in fact, he had 14 accounts.! The 14 accounts were in different stages of being paid off and all were being paid perfectly. I stopped by the managers desk, he looked at the Customers name, and said without hesitation that the loan was approved.

I prepared the paper work and started learning more about the customer. He was the brother on an internationally know singer. He and his wife were talent agents and had a combined income of around $60000. a year. (1970) They lived in a luxury high-rise apartment. They both had expensive foreign cars. Their Apartment and auto's were leased. They had no children.. The loan he was getting now was for a Club Med trip they were taking with some of their friends. I finished the paper work and the man left with his money.

A short time later, an older Hispanic man came in. We sat down in the cubicle and in a humble and almost apologetic manner, he asked if he could get $700. to buy a color TV for his wife's birthday. Their 20 year old black and white had been broken for over a month. I started to ask him questions to fill out the credit application. Where did he live.. He owned his modest home. He owned his 8 years old car. He had no outstanding loans anywhere. He worked for the School District as a janitor . Had worked there all his life and was making $10000. a year.
As I went through the application , I found out that he had five children. He Proudly told me they all had good jobs as he had insisted that each had taken technical training out of high school. They all were married with children and were all buying their own homes. On checking his credit, I found it to be perfect. I finished the paper work and he left with his TV money.

As I drove home that day, I was reflecting on the two customers and what different life styles they had.
The couple that had a huge income had virtually no net worth while the minimum wage earner had property and a great family. The lesson learned... it's not how much you make, but what you do with it.







©2010