How Scrooge McDuck Taught Me to Be Rich - Real Life Life Lessons from McDuck Enterprises

Hanging on the wall near the desk in one of my offices is a beautiful limited edition work called “Embarrassment of Riches” by famed comic book artist Carl Barks. In it, Scrooge McDuck, his nephew Donald, and his grand nephews Huey, Dewey, and Lewy are measuring the depths of the gold and treasurers in the money bin. As I glance up from whichever investment report happens to be in front of me at the time, I often think of the lessons that Uncle Scrooge has taught me; things that are very much a part of the enterprise that I’m building now and the way my investments are handled.

It may seem unconventional to those who don’t know me well, but it’s natural that McDuck was one of my childhood heroes. As someone born into a middle-class family, I knew that it fell to me to build a fortune if I were to ever have one; even winning the lottery had little appeal because it wouldn’t felt earned or deserved (my parents worked extraordinarily hard and that was instilled in each of the kids). As I studied Peter Lynch, Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, Ben Graham, and the rest of the greats, Scrooge inevitably made his way into the integrated framework that became my investment style. It was partly the lessons I learned from him that allowed me to go from an upstart with no capital and little experience working from a library cubicle with Value Line reports, a Bic ballpoint and a pad of paper to my current situation with gold-rimmed china, fine fountain pens, and an on-demand research system that lets me monitor my commitments from the comfort of an art-filled sanctuary.

This light-hearted read has some serious investment and wealth-building wisdom that can assist you in your path to financial freedom.