Character counts

A lack of money and smarts is not at the root of our financial problems | Joel Belz

Illustration by Krieg Barrie

Three decades ago my father, several of my brothers, and I sat with Presley Edwards, the retired top man at the A.G. Edwards brokerage firm, to quiz him over breakfast on some of the main things he had learned during his years in business. "Two things come to my mind," he mused. "First, find more start-up money than you ever think you'll need. Figure as closely as you can what it'll take. Double that. Double that again. Multiply that by 10. And then pray that you have enough."

And second? "Hire the smartest people you possibly can. Don't stint on that."

That's the conversation that might stick most in my mind when the stock market starts gyrating again. Was somebody insufficiently capitalized? Had they not been able to hire managers who were smart enough?