So here is a story I will tell you all, of two people from different walks of life,
who were brought together as one family but remained separated by class and wealth, and character.
You see, both these men were part of my family growing up and I got to know them both very well.
My Grandfather on my mothers side was J.P. Morgan and he was a crude businessman, sharp and witty and cunning and ruthless as they came.
My Uncle on my fathers side was Henry Franco. One side from England, the other from France. Neither one liked the other very much, and as time went on, the family feud got even worse.
My Grandfather was in the stock business, and a banker by trade, and my uncle just a dirt poor farmer, by trade.
Morgan offered up a stock one day that my uncle knew was going to be a big hit in the near future. My uncle bought in, knowing that it would rise in value. He had a dream of growing rich one day. However, he wanted to do it on his own,
My Grandfather, Morgan, had a completely different plan. He knew Uncle Franco was hard pressed for cash, and did not have much extra to spend or invest. So he devised a simple but cunning plan.
When he offered the stock up, it grew in value, leading uncle Franco to believe it would continue growing. The stock grew to a value of 1 1/2 times Uncle's original investment and Uncle Franco became very happy about his decisions. However, Morgan employed the press to ridicule these investments and this led the public to believe they were toxic and needed to be sold soon, for the fear of loss would ruin. Many people sold their stocks in this company because they could not afford to lose what little they had.
Morgan, a Banker by trade, had known exactly what would happen, and bought these stocks up at nearly .10 cents each when they were pretty cheap. he had a portfolio of over $1,000,000. A decent sum at the time by anyone's standards.
Uncle Franco, by contrast, has invested his last $25,000 into these stocks at around the same price Morgan had, so Franco felt he had about the same chance as Morgan to make it big, albeit not as much in profit, maybe.
Then as the fear grew in the press and the public reacted, the stocks began to tumble. They tumbled so much so, that Uncle Franco felt he better sell his stocks soon, for fear of loosing his whole farm. When it went down below what he paid for them, he panicked and realized if he did not sell soon, he would not be able to go on and support his family.
So, Uncle Franco sold his stock at 20% below what he bought it for, taking a huge loss, but he felt he had no choice.
Grandfather Morgan, by contrast, had so much money, when stocks went below what he invested, and even at the loss of around $200,000 of his 1 Million, he had no worries because this was "play money" for this fellow. He knew perfectly well how to take over the world, and it was one kingdom at a time. With patience and high capital investment.
So, Morgan held his stocks and my Uncle sold his for a loss, and shortly thereafter, they regained their high position of value, and Morgan profited heavily, while my Uncle lost everything. The main reason was because the dip was one thing for J. P. Morgan, but for my Uncle Franco, it was an entirely different world, and his decisions were life and death, and Morgans were all in a day's fun.
The moral of this story is simple. Don't be scared to lose something, once you have already lost it, or you are in the process of losing it, potentially. Just be patient, wait till it recovers and whatever you do,
DO NOT PANIC SELL!!!
