[PDF]Pearson B. Serious Money. How To Make And Enjoy It ( 2005)

BARRIE
PEARSON


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Serious Money


How to make and
enjoy it


Barrie Pearson


THOROQOOD


Published by Thorogood Publishing Ltd
10-12 Rivington Street

London EC2A 3DU

Telephone: 020 7749 4748

Fax: 020 7729 6110

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© Barrie Pearson, Realization 2005


All rights reserved. No part of this publication may
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without the prior permission of the publisher.


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acting or refraining from action as a result of any
material in this publication can be accepted by the
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.


PB: ISBN 1 85418 310 9


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With huge thanks to my family, friends, work colleagues,
business acquaintances, and countless other people
who inspired and helped me to become richer and truly happy.


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The Author


Barrie Pearson was not born with a silver spoon but with cerebral
palsy and hemiplegia, acute paralysis of his left arm and leg. At
the age of six, he was offered a place for life in a residential home
for the seriously mentally or physically disabled. His parents were
a labourer and a domestic cleaner.


But by the age of six he could write and read much better than his
parents, and had a demonstrable flair for making money. He already
had the overwhelming belief that his disability was an unfair advan-
tage which would help him to become seriously wealthy and truly
happy.


The rest of his life to date is truly inspirational. He graduated in
Theoretical Chemistry, became a qualified accountant, and enjoyed
outstanding success as an executive in multinational companies.
In 1976, he founded Livingstone Guarantee, the first corporate
finance boutique in the UK which became the largest and most
successful in the industry, before he sold it for a substantial sum
in 2001. Then he formed Realization, to provide world class
mentoring and coaching to help entrepreneurs to groom their
company for sale and to realize their wealth.


In his spare time, he has been a worldwide seminar presenter,
written a dozen books, and has spent 20 years as a leading restau-
rant critic - even though he is unable to use a knife and fork.


More importantly, along the way he has helped many people to
become seriously richer and truly happy. He knows he was born


lucky. This book has been written to inspire you and to show you
how you can become seriously wealthy and truly happy. He passion-
ately wants some of his inspiration and good luck to rub off on you.


Contents


Introduction


Achieve the wealth and success you dream about


1. Take stock, and set your financial goals
Take stock of your financial situation
Prioritize and address your financial problems


Review and reorganize your financial
assets and liabilities


Consider the income and wealth you want to
be much happier


Decide your commitment and sacrifice
Set your income and capital goals


Create your personal 10 year vision for wealth
and happiness


Commit to a month by month action plan


Key point summary


2. Vital touchstones to create serious wealth
Get to really know yourself
Turn your dreams into conviction, belief and reality


Identify and lock onto the jugular vein of opportunity


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Rehearse success daily

Develop your self-esteem

Good luck is an attitude of mind

Exploit your talents

Regard disability as an unfair advantage

Assess the upside and downside of risks... always
Respect people and beware arrogance


Key point summary


Do yourself some valuable favours
Meet and learn from the rich and influential
Network seriously


Become image conscious and invest
in your appearance


Develop your poise and charisma
Improve your skills and qualifications
Find a rich life partner (if you are single)
Create a will

Commit to a personal action plan


Key point summary


Become richer with spare time opportunities
Proven opportunities

Investment opportunities

Risky opportunities


Key point summary


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Get to the top... or higher than you thought possible 89


Be unswervingly honest, loyal and reliable


Become a resultaholic not a workaholic


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Maximize your enjoyment and minimize stress
Benefit from a mentor and coach

Make yourself redundant or reinvent your role
Think, talk and act strategically

Be at IT’s leading edge

Sharpen your decision-making skills
Demonstrate leadership

Improve your financial know-how

Invest in a world class MBA

Really learn a second language

Market yourself, internally and externally

Ask for shares or share options


Key point summary


CONTENTS


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108
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Become self-employed or start your own business 111


Procrastination is your worst enemy
Opportunities are staring you in the face
Mundane chores are a route to success

Test your idea in your spare time

Personal traits for success

Skills needed for success

Research your market and your competitors
Write a convincing business plan to raise finance
Cash flow is life or death

Become a franchisee

Buy an established business

Decide when to cash in your chips


Key point summary


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Pursue a management buy-out (MBO)

or buy-in (MBI)

A committed top management team

A Suitable business

A carefully handled request for an MBO

Appoint an experienced corporate finance adviser
Write a convincing business plan

Select a compatible private equity house or investor
Set a realistic timetable

Appoint expert lawyers and tax advisers
Satisfactory due diligence

Professional fees involved


Particular requirements of MBI’s


Become truly happier as well


8.


Manage your health
Weight

Diet

Exercise

Sleep

Stress management
Relaxation techniques
Create work-free periods
Leisure and holidays
Alcohol

Smoking

Drugs


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10.


CONTENTS


Gambling
Positive mental attitudes
Consider investing money in your health


Personal action plan


Invest time in family and friends

Your partner or spouse

Your parents

Your children

Your other relatives

Your friends and acquaintances

Coping with separation and divorce

Coping with bereavement and terminal illness
Finding a partner

Gifts that count


Family and friends action plan


Reinvention not retirement

Dismiss any thought of retirement, think reinvention
Develop ideas and interests well ahead

Ease down to part-time work

Start a part-time business or self-employment
Consider charity work

Build mental stimulus and social contact in your life
Learn for the hell of it

Keep abreast of technology

Exercise sensibly

Avoid a golden oldie ghetto lifestyle


Personal action plan


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11.


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Enjoy your wealth

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket

Don’t attempt to walk on water

Use an expert wealth manager or do-it-yourself


Give your children and grandchildren
the ultimate gift


Tax effective giving

Reward your own achievement
Maintain a value for money attitude
Be generous but avoid hangers-on


Key point summary


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Introduction


At any age from your teens to a senior citizen, this book has the
power to guide, to motivate and to inspire you to become seriously
richer and happier, regardless of whether you are in dire finan-
cial straights or already wealthy. It has been written to channel your
imagination and to galvanize you into action so that inevitably you
will be seriously richer and happier.


The book is gimmick free, because there are no workable gimmicks
for wealth and happiness, instead it is crammed full of simple, prac-
tical and proven techniques which have worked in abundance for
me and countless other people I have helped. You probably feel
you really would like to believe this book will make your seriously
richer and happier, which you really long for, but remain sceptical.


You have to admit, however, that being born with cerebral palsy
and hemiplegia, severe paralysis of my left hand, arm and leg, to
parents who were a labourer and a cleaner did not promise wealth
and happiness for me. Importantly, my parents were very happy.
Even more importantly, there was absolutely no reason why I could
not become seriously rich and happy. At six years old, I was offered
a place for life in a residential home for severely physically and
mentally disabled people. What nonsense! By then I could walk,
attended school, could read and write well, but already had the
knack of making money as well.


In our village, it was a tradition that children visited houses on
Christmas morning to sing a carol and receive money. My singing
voice has always been awful but it did not deter me, and there was


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an even more lucrative tradition that the first carol singer at each
house received more money than those who followed later. I got
up really early and only sang for the eight largest houses. My pals
would open their presents first and sing at every house until they
lost their voice, but earned less than me. I quickly learned not to
brag about success and never shared my secret with them.


A golden key is


Always identify and pursue the jugular vein
of opportunity in any situation.


My father had a large garden and was so passionate about his
beloved daffodils, tulips, roses and dahlias that he would not let
my mother cut any flowers for the house because it would spoil
his display and might weaken the plants. At seven years old I had
a great idea, namely to sell the flowers. He was appalled, I
persisted and persisted, but he eventually relented and accepted
my offer of 25% of all sales for himself.


Every Saturday and Sunday morning, I sold the flowers door to
door in our village, carrying them in an old zinc bucket filled with
water to demonstrate their just cut freshness. My 13 year old sister
refused to help me because she felt it was too embarrassing. Fortu-
nately, we lived on a busy main road, so I put up a sign and displayed


INTRODUCTION


the flowers. My sister was quite happy to serve the customers and
take their money.


Another golden key is


When you have a sure fire idea to make

money don’t just persist, make Robert

the Bruce look like a premature quitter
if necessary.


By the age of 36, I had enjoyed a successful executive career in multi-
national companies. So much so, that a top headhunter told me I
was so highly paid that I had become virtually unemployable by
another company. This was in the 1970s, when the approach to
executive pay was much more age related and conservative than
today. Then someone said to me ‘if you start a corporate finance
advisory firm, my company will be your first client’. [had the requi-
site skills and experience from my executive career, but had never
been a professional adviser.


I made an instant decision to go ahead, which was rash despite
the successful outcome because I did no research whatsoever. I
bought a cheap desk, located it in our dining room, and persuaded
my wife to learn to type and become my secretary. If it did not
succeed, I was confident I could resume my executive career, not
necessarily at the previous level, but older and wiser. I told four
firms of headhunters that I was taking a calculated risk and asked


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for their help to get another job if the need should arise, and all
readily agreed. Fortunately, Livingstone Guarantee had become the
largest independent corporate finance house in the UK when I sold
it in 2001.


Another golden key is


Always assess the downside risk and have
a deliverable contingency plan in case of
failure, even if the possibility is remote.


Many years ago a stunningly beautiful young woman worked in
my team in a routine clerical role, which she really hated. She asked
for my advice because she said she had neither qualifications nor
skills, and was doomed to suffer boring jobs. She admitted to a
dream of working in a glamorous industry such as ‘fashion’. Other
women in the office recognized she had a real skill with make-up
and would ask her advice. I persuaded her to take a specialist course
in make-up and to set her sights on a job in television. She quickly
became a senior make-up artist and then her talent landed her a
lucrative make-up job and international travel in the world of major
feature films.


INTRODUCTION


Another golden key is


Recognize your latent ability and be
prepared to seek advice and act upon it
if it makes sense.


A friend of mine started an information technology support
services business and it grew steadily and profitably for 10 years.
Then he decided to go for rapid growth and hire several expensive
staff, the expected sales growth never happened, a major contract
was not renewed and there was a sharp downturn in the sector.
The business plunged into loss and the bank was pressing for a hefty
personal guarantee to support the increased borrowing. He said
“Y’m going to let the business fold, walk away and start again ina
different business”. The situation was curable and I persuaded him
to chop the overheads drastically in order for the business to survive
and to save as many jobs as possible. Within six months, the business
was back in profit and has progressed further since then to
achieve a record annual profit.


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Another golden key is


When you face major problems, stiffen your
resolve, don’t procrastinate and be
prepared to take calculated and drastic
action as necessary.


There are many, many more real life success stories I could tell you,
but we need to concentrate on helping you to become seriously
richer and happier, without delay.


It is important at the outset that you understand the available routes
to becoming seriously richer and happier. When you begin to think
about it you will profit from the secrets in this book because they
are so simple and obvious.


The legal ways of becoming seriously richer are really
quite mundane, namely:

saving

investment

achieving more career success


becoming self-employed or starting
a business


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INTRODUCTION


a management buy-out or buy-in by senior
executives


finding a rich spouse or partner


but definitely not by pure gambling!


The real secret is to become seriously richer, and happier as well.
Some people do become seriously richer, and seriously unhappy.
The price of wealth could be mental breakdown, stress, divorce,
alcoholism, drugs and so on.


The first part of the book will guide you to achieve the wealth and
success you want. The second part deals with creating a really happy
and healthy life and retirement. It is a huge mistake to sacrifice every-
thing for wealth first and only then to seek serious happiness, because
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