Fame & Fortune: Author Stephen
Pollan
His motto: Live rich, die broke and stiff
the undertaker |
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Bankrate:
Was your father a lawyer?
Pollan: No, my father
was a butter and egg salesman. I was living his career; I always
have been. I was his vicarious other self. He never graduated from
high school; he took one of these high school qualifying things.
My father had no education at all; he was a more or less creative
person and a marvelous artist. What he did was go out to New Jersey
and buy eggs wholesale and then "candle" them in our apartment
in New York and then sell them to policemen on the beat. He was
a salesman all his life.
Bankrate: Why did you
return for your bachelor's degree after you were already a household
name?
Pollan: I became a professor
at the graduate school of business at C.W. Post (a campus of Long
Island University) about 10 or 12 years ago, and I had to finish
my degree at night because you can't be a professor unless you have
an undergraduate degree. And the reason I was able to do that was
because the dean, who was newly appointed, was my old boss when
I was in banking. He was the president of the bank that I worked
for.
Bankrate: (Laugh) Did
you study finance?
Pollan: I didn't study
finance. It doesn't do anybody any good to study finance. You have
to learn finance.
Bankrate: Were you good
with money as a young man?
Pollan: Yeah. My mantra
was: How much and when? Does that make me good with money? I loved
to earn money! I was taught that it's the icon of success. I was
taught that we measure people by how much they have. That comes
from my dad, who got it from his father.
Bankrate: It certainly
seems unlikely in retrospect that you of all people would ever advise
people to spend it all, as you do in "Die Broke."
Pollan: The "Die
Broke" thing, people believed they were being measured by the
size of their estates. That's truly American; that's the American
heritage. I was climbing Mount Olympus, but now I realize what's
important. And what are important now are 11 grandchildren and four
children and four kids-in-law and a spouse and doing what I'm doing.
Bankrate: In light of
the impression they may have of the "Die Broke" plan,
new readers may be surprised that you're such a strong advocate
of insurance.
Pollan: Oh no, certain
insurance is very important. In "Die Broke," I'm the guy
who recommended disability insurance, which in my opinion is the
most important insurance for anybody. I think insurance is extremely,
extremely important. Just don't be a schmuck about it.
Bankrate: You've been
a major proponent of guiding your own career, even while being a
model employee. How did "Fire Your Boss" change employer-employee
relations?
Pollan: This is a very
counterintuitive book. For instance, your biggest ambition on the
job should be the ambition of your employer; your job is mostly
to watch your employer's back. You renew your vows daily, but you're
always fishing for another offer. There's a huge condemnation of
the former relationship between employers and employees. You're
out for yourself now, but you want to hold on to your job for as
long as possible, and the moves have to be seamless.
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