THINK DIFFERENT: STEVE JOBS and MONEY

I just started reading Steve Jobs' biography written by Walter Isaacson.  I read about one-fourth of the book only and I got so much insights already.  For one, Steve was a perfectionist, impatient a@#$!!hole who only cared about developing the best product and making a dent in the Universe....Anyway, here are some excerpts from the book and Steve's thoughts about money, pursuing one's passion and believing in oneself.

• "I never worried about money.  I grew up in a middle-class family, so I never thought I would starve.  And I learned at Atari that I could be an okay engineer, so I always knew I could get by.  I was voluntarily poor when I was in college and India, and I lived a pretty simple life even when I was working.  So I went from fairly poor, which was wonderful, because I didn't have to worry about money, to being incredibly rich, when I also didn't have to worry about money."

• "I watched people at Apple who made a lot of money and felt they had to live differently.  Some of them bought a Rolls-Royce and various houses, each with a house manager and then someone to manage the house managers.  Their wives got plastic surgery and turned into these bizarre people.  This was not how I wanted to live.  It's crazy.  I made a promise to myself that I'm not going to let this money ruin my life." 

•  Andy Hertzfeld:  "Jobs thought of himself as an artist, and he encouraged the design team (of Macintosh) to think of ourselves that way too.  The goal was never to beat the competition, or to make a lot of money.  It was to do the greatest thing possible, or even a little greater...  We said to ourserlves, 'Hey, if we're going to make things in our lives, we might as well make them beautiful."

• "We all have a short period of time on this earth.  We probably only have the opportunity to do a few things really great and do them well.  None of us has any idea how long we're going to be here, nor do I, but my feeling is I've got to accomplish a lot of these things while I'm young."

• On deciding to start Apple:  "Even if we lose our money, we'll have a company,  For once in our lives, we'll have a company."  This was exciting to Steve Wozniak, even more than any prospect of getting rich.  He recalled, "I was excited to think about us like that.  To  be two best friends starting a company.  Wow, I knew right then that I'd do it.  How could I not?"
  

• On being a drop out:  "All of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition.  I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out.  And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life.  So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out okay."

Hope this helps.

Ge

Gerald Cantor is a Registered Financial Planner graduate and a Financial Consultant of Pru Life UK.  He is also a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Internal Auditor.  Ge is proud to be an ex-OFW, a "career-shifter", a baller, a newby entrepreneur and most importantly, a "proud" dad of Gia (4yo) and Clarie (2yo).