Quotes About Finance

that the reason why Morgan & Co. are so insistent on increasing the dividend from 4 to 6% is to enable them to sell out their stocks at a very high figure on the basis of the increased dividend.

control the flow of gold into and out of the United States.

One possible reason for this contrition was that Frank was chronically in debt to his brother.

Despite the chronic friction between them, Big Bill continued to borrow money from his son and by the end of the century still had a $64,000 loan outstanding—more than $1 million in today's money.

What mattered was that people trusted the government to make good on repayment: "In nothing are appearances of greater moment than in whatever regards credit. Opinion is the soul of it and this is affected by appearances as well as realities.

the two J. P. Morgans even walked and talked alike.

Frank incessantly gambled in stocks and commodities, further alienating his more prudent brother.

and the power balance within the Morgan empire began to tip from London to New York.

But we are not, we are as much opposed to the financial policy of J. Pierpont Morgan as we are to the financial policy of the Rothschilds."14

Both Jefferson and Adams detested people who earned a living shuffling financial paper, and when Adams launched a bitter tirade in later years against the iniquitous banking system, Jefferson agreed that the business was "an infinity of successive felonious larcenies." 9 That banks could serve any economic purpose—that they could generate prosperity that might enrich the few but also lubricate the wheels of commerce—seemed alien to both men.

Yet financial differences quickly soured his relations with Morgan.

He made a cryptic statement to Hewitt that entered into Rockefeller folklore: "I have ways of making money you know nothing about.

As the Lord's fiduciary, he was responsible for seeing the money well invested.

Instead of chiding him, John steadily advanced more money in 1884, retired his debts, provided income for his family, and rallied his bruised spirits, saying, "Keep a stiff upper lip, clean up as you go, and the skies will brighten by and bye.

Though he owned 27.4 percent of Standard Oil stock—three times the amount held by Flagler, the next largest shareholder

He wanted payment in bonds, not watered stock. When

Rockefeller attributed much of his success to his quick head for figures.

The London banks didn't lend their own funds but would organize large-scale bond issues.

John loaned Frank the money to purchase the other half, keeping the mining stock as collateral.

With Peabody gone, he urgently needed to replenish his capital base

From Vanderbilt, Morgan had learned the trick of basing value not on current assets but on projected earnings.

the Rothschilds dismissed the French cause as hopeless.

He offered to pay Corrigan $168 or $169 per share for his 2,500 shares of Standard Oil, which would yield enough to retire his $400,000 in debt.

That is, the man who would be rich must be thrifty.