History shows that Andrew Carnegie was, at one time, the richest man in the world, but he wasn??™t born that way.? His story is a true American rags to riches tale of a Scottish immigrant without a penny to his name rising to become a millionaire industrialist and this country??™s ???King of Steel.???? How did he do it?? How did a poor immigrant, who got his first job working in a textile mill for about $1.20 per week, rise to become the richest man in
While working for the Pennsylvania Railroad under a superintendent named Thomas Scott, Carnegie learned about the American stock market.? He was making about $35.00 per month at that time and invested his extra money in stocks.? As he was paid dividends on those stocks, he invested further.? Soon he had the funds and the opportunity to go into business for himself and found success in the steel industry.
One might argue that Carnegie??™s success story doesn??™t mean much today.? After all, Carnegie died almost a hundred years ago.? When he was a young man, the nation was young as well.? There were opportunities then that don??™t exist today.? No one can mimic the success of Andrew Carnegie in today??™s world.? Phooey.? While it??™s true that the world is very different today than it was back in Carnegie??™s day, and his story is rare (if it was so easy for everyone to become a multi millionaire, they??™d be everywhere), there is much in Carnegie??™s story that we can learn from and emulate today.
The nature of investing and investing well is really not much different today than it was when Carnegie started buying stocks.? By following his example, we can also turn pennies into dollars, dollars into hundreds of dollars, and so on.? By seeing the stock market as a long term investment opportunity and not a ???get rich quick scheme,??? people in today??™s world can also take command of their destinies just like Carnegie did all those years ago.? Will everyone become powerful captains of industry and be among the richest people in the world?? Probably not.? But there is no reason why each and every one of us can??™t take control of our own financial lives and start building today for a more secure tomorrow.? That is the spirit of what Carnegie did and it is alive and well today.