3 Lessons About Building Wealth From an Investing Legend

If investing was easy, everybody would be rich

In 1891, a fourteen-year-old boy from Acton, Massachusetts decided he wanted to escape country life. His father ordered him to quit school and work on the farm. But he didn’t want that.

He was a frail boy, good with numbers and equipped with a bright mind. He’d learned to read by age three and a half, and he devoured every reading material he could get his hands on. He couldn’t stand the thought of spending the rest of his life doing manual labor. He wanted to use his mind to earn a living.

Growing up, he read about Paine Webber, a Boston-based stockbroker. He read the old newspapers strewn around their house and learned that the financial world thrived in Boston. So he wanted to go there.

Eventually, the boy asked his mother for help and they forged a plan for him to escape to Boston.

His mother knew her husband wouldn’t budge and allow the boy to stay in school. It was painful for her, but she helped her son escape.

When his mother helped him escape in July of 1891, all he had was five dollars and an address of his mother’s friend where he could stay.