Peace Through Prosperity

Peace Through Prosperity

In 1972, I was flying a helicopter just south of the DMZ (the demilitarized zone), a line that separated North and South Vietnam. On that mission, my aircraft was not configured as a gunship.

Instead, my assignment that day was not to fight, but to observe the battle below and report what I saw. Unfortunately, what I saw was tragic. The North Vietnamese kicked our butts. Not only did we lose a number of aircraft, but many men lost their lives.

Tough Questions Unanswered

Back in the pilots' ready-room aboard an aircraft carrier, the debriefing began. Most of us were shaken and our spirits were low. Seeing fellow pilots shot down and men dying leave memories that can never be forgotten.

Once the debriefing was over, my commanding officer asked if there were any questions. Raising my hand, I asked, "Sir, why do their Vietnamese fight harder than our Vietnamese?"

Without waiting for his reply, I continued, "We have the most powerful military on earth. We have B-52 bombers pounding the enemy with 1,000-pound bombs. We have fighter jets dropping napalm on them. We have tanks. We have Navy battleships with 16-inch guns pounding them. We have squadrons of Army and Marine Corps helicopters armed with rockets and machine guns providing close air support. The North Vietnamese don't have much, and yet they keep coming and keep fighting."

There was a long silence in the room. I suspect some of my fellow pilots had similar thoughts. Being Marine helicopter pilots, we had a bird's eye view of the war that few others had.

"We're the richest nation on earth," I continued, "North Vietnam is one of the poorest. We give the South Vietnamese the best military support in the world, yet they're losing."

The silence continued. My original question -- "Why do their Vietnamese fight harder than our Vietnamese?" -- was never answered.

Fighting Not to Lose

Back in 1972, we all knew the Vietnam War was over. We knew the U.S. was looking for a way out. We were no longer fighting to win -- we were fighting not to lose. That made it made it almost impossible to keep fighting.

You may notice similarities with what's going on in Iraq and Afghanistan today. There are three lessons from 1972 I believe are relevant to the world today. They are:

• How powerful the human spirit is.

  Flying over the North Vietnamese in 1972, I was stunned at how fiercely they fought. We had all the modern weapons, but we couldn't beat them. Their spirit was unstoppable.
  

  Today, when I hear fellow Americans complaining about their own lack of money, or how they can't afford to invest, or how middle-class America is having a tough time, I'm reminded of the North Vietnamese soldiers taking on the richest country in the world. If you've lost your spirit, even living in the richest country in the world can't help you become rich.
  
  

• It's tough to negotiate from a position of weakness.

  It was only after the U.S. recognized we had lost the Vietnam War that we agreed to sit down at the so-called "peace table." Today, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan still rage, we're doing the exact same thing. In war or in business, it's disastrous to negotiate from a position of weakness.

• Don't let someone else run your life.

  During Vietnam, defense secretary Robert McNamara and President Lyndon Johnson called the shots from Washington rather than listening to the men on the front lines. In Iraq and Afghanistan, we have the same problem.
  

  President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and former defense secretary Rumsfeld, all men without combat experience, are calling the shots from Washington. They're not listening to their generals with Vietnam experience, generals such as Colin Powell. It appears that our leaders place little or no value on experience.

The Spirit to Succeed

The same sort of misguided leadership occurs in the world of investing. Today, there are millions of workers who put trillions of dollars in the hands of mutual fund companies even though many of these companies have horrible track records.

Many fund managers can't even beat the S&P Index. Yet, in spite of their poor investment record, many of these managers are paid billions of dollars in bonuses -- bonuses paid for with the sweat and toil and hopes and dreams of workers.

Personally, I would rather manage my own money than let strangers control it and my future.

In 1972, I saw many young soldiers lose their lives due to incompetent leadership in Washington. Today, millions of workers' retirements are at risk due to incompetent leadership on Wall Street.

But I also witnessed the power of the human spirit while flying over Vietnam -- a spirit stronger than the mightiest military power in the world, and one that beat the richest country in the world.

Today, I see the same spirit in the world of global business. America is still the richest country in the world, but countries like China and India are coming on strong. It's estimated that China holds nearly a trillion dollars of America's debt, which is more than enough to destroy our economy.

Play to Win

Financially, there are three classes of people. The rich are those who play to win. The middle class plays not to lose.

For the middle class, financial security is more important than financial opportunity. Ironically, today there's far more financial opportunity than financial security, yet the middle class still seeks security.

The third group, of course, is the poor, who often work very hard yet have lost the spirit to compete in the world of money. Without spirit, it's tough to win financially, even in the richest country in the world.

I resigned from the Marine Corps and flying in 1974, even though I loved them both. I quit because I no longer wanted to fight for peace. Instead, I believe we can build a more sustainable peace by working for prosperity. Instead of playing games of winners and losers militarily, why not work for solutions in which all sides win financially? After all, in business, it makes no sense to kill your customers.

In closing, I believe that as the scarcity of oil increases, so will the fighting. To me, scarcity in a world of abundance means opportunities for solutions. As the saying goes, "An eye for an eye makes us all blind." Instead, I ask we work for peace and prosperity -- for all sides.

Learning from the Best

Learning from the Best

Now that our book, Why We Want You to Be Rich, is out, I can tell you what working with Donald Trump has been like.

Millions of people know "the Donald" as the tough guy who says, "You're fired" at the end of The Apprentice. I've been asked often if he's that gruff in real life. The answer is yes. My experience with Donald is that he's being real whether he's on camera or off. He never pretends to be Donald Trump. He is Donald Trump.

Obviously, co-authoring a book with him has been a milestone for me -- as an author and as a businessman. Appearing on Larry King Live, The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, The Today Show, The Early Show, and CNBC with Donald gave me more credibility in the business world.

An Unofficial Apprenticeship

Yet I gained more than just recognition and credibility. I also became a better businessman and a better person just from working with Donald over the years.

Here are a few of the ways that knowing Donald has enriched my life:

1. I got tougher.

I know many people don't like Donald because he comes across as a tough guy. That's their problem. In spending time with him, I realized that I wasn't as successful as I could be simply because I wasn't tough enough.

As a businessman, I often didn't say what I wanted to say because I was afraid of hurting someone's feelings, or of having my feelings hurt. Instead of being forthright, I would be polite. Because of my association with Donald, I took back control of my business in 2005 and 2006 and fired people who should have been let go a long time ago.

The employees I got rid of weren't bad people, they were just the wrong people for my company. Today, business is thriving and people are happier.

2. I became kinder and more respectful.

One of my problems is that I'm very impatient and get angry too quickly. I believe Donald can be the same. Yet I saw him be patient, kind, and respectful in many situations that would have caused me to lose my patience.

When I asked him about this trait, he simply said, "One of the most important lessons my parents taught me was to treat all people with respect, even if I'm angry with them." Today, in my dealings with people, I do my best to treat all people with respect -- especially if I'm angry at them. Although I haven't always been successful, I believe I've become a little kinder as a result.

3. I got richer.

My wife, Kim, and I have more than enough money. We consider ourselves rich. When we entered Donald's world, however, we saw a whole new level of rich.

There's a difference between being a millionaire and a billionaire. The Trump lifestyle -- the penthouse, mansion, limos, and 727 -- gave me a firsthand glimpse into his world, and I began to understand why he constantly talks about thinking big.

Just being around him, I began to think bigger and richer. I set my sights on becoming a billionaire and began redesigning my business to become a billion-dollar business. Today, I constantly remind my staff that my job is to make them millionaires -- and their job is to make me a billionaire.

4. I became less petty.

One day, during a meeting in Donald's office, I was complaining about someone we were doing business with. I didn't like the way we were being treated. When I asked Donald about this person and voiced my concerns, he simply said, "Don't be so petty. Sometimes you have to do business with people you don't like. It doesn't mean you have to be like them or like them."

From that, I learned to think bigger and, more important, to know the difference between paying attention to details and being petty.

5. I was reminded of the value of collaboration and partnership, as well as the value of loyalty.

I saw this repeatedly as we developed the concept for our book, discovered our shared concerns and our passion for teaching, and shared the stage for dozens of media interviews.

Getting on Larry King Live and The Today Show is easy for Donald, but in booking a few of these interviews he insisted that we get equal billing. And when a show host mispronounced my name, Donald jumped in to correct him on national television. These simple acts spoke volumes.

History in the Making

About the same time our book was released, a new book about Andrew Carnegie, the richest man in the world at the start of the 20th century, was also published. The timing is ironic. I believe that when history looks back at the start of the 21st century, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Donald Trump will be seen as the Carnegies of the era.

Many historians view Carnegie as a ruthless man, and I know that many people also see these three in the same light. Yet if you study Carnegie's life, you find that he was extremely generous, and donated billions of dollars in support of building libraries and preserving world peace.

He even envisioned the League of Peace, a precursor to President Wilson's League of Nations. I trust that history will allow a space for the good that Gates, Buffett, and Trump have done, and not simply resent them for their wealth.

Donald and I got together to write our book as teachers, not just as rich men. We're both concerned about the lack of financial education in our schools. In the process of writing it, I not only became a richer person, I believe I also become a better human being. And for this, I feel privileged to have seen a side of Donald Trump that not many people see.

Educate Yourself into Riches

Many of Wall Street's elite firms were being required to pay tens of millions of dollars in fines to investors, according to media reports. The penalties are for alleged bad investment advice, courtesy of New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.
This brings me to one of my favorite quotes from famed investor Warren Buffett goes: "Wall Street is the only place that people ride to work in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway."
I have been highly critical of the standard financial planning advice -- "work hard, save money, get out of debt, invest for the long term, and diversify" -- for a long time. Such guidance is often more a financial advisor's (subway rider's) sales pitch than a solid investment guide.
But while I think it's courageous that Spitzer slaps millions in fines on a few Wall Street firms for their bad investment guidance, I believe the investors who accepted that unsound advice have some responsibility, too. Isn't knowing the difference between good and bad advice part of knowing what you're doing?
The Difference Between Investing and Shopping
The problem is, most investors don't know how bad the standard investment advice is. This mantra of "work hard, save money, get out of debt, invest for the long term, and diversify" is followed by millions of investors -- who lost $7 trillion to $9 trillion between 2000 and 2004. Many are still following this bad advice today.
Not only did millions of investors lose trillions of dollars, many also missed the boom in real estate, oil, gas, and previous metals. Furthermore, despite investors' huge losses, Wall Street paid out some of its biggest bonuses in history.
However, investors should realize it's "buyer beware." Investing is different from shopping. If I go to Sears and don't like the tool or shirt I purchased, I can generally get my money back. When we go shopping, we expect value for our money. But when we invest, we do so in the hopes of making more money -- and knowing that we risk making losses. What would happen to the financial industry if brokers were sued every time a client lost money? The wheels of world commerce would grind to a halt.
My point is: The world is filled with honest people handing out bad advice. An example of honest bad investment advice is the standard one of "work hard, save money, get out of debt, invest for the long term, and diversify".
The world is also filled with biased advice, which is why people say, "Never ask an insurance broker if you need insurance, or a mutual-fund sales person if they recommend mutual funds." Furthermore, there are many crooks and con artists as well, who intentionally promote dishonest ventures.
Spotting the Difference
So while it's imperative that we have the Securities and Exchange Commission and a brave Attorney General such as Spitzer to enforce the rules, we, as individual investors, still need to be vigilant and personally responsible for the advice we receive and what we do with our money.
In my opinion, that means each of us needs to be responsible for our own financial education so we can tell the difference between good advice, biased advice, and crooked advice. If you can educate yourself to know the differences between those three types of advice, getting rich is easy.
Or, if you take investing advice from a subway rider, don't be surprised if you wind up on the subway.