Jake Junior looked thoughtful. Then he asked, "How do I get in on this? Not just me, but the rest of us? Say you're right. What about us? Can we invest, too?"
I shrugged. "Fine by me. I have no personal problem with you investing along with me. Just remember, timing is everything, and if I get out of something, it means something. Remember, never to gamble more than you can lose."
"Okay, but it's not like a few years ago, when you bet everything on oil or silver. You're a lot more diversified now.", he pressed. I just nodded and Jake continued. "What about the Buckman Group? Can I - we - buy into that?!"
Well, that took me by surprise. I sat there and looked at him, and then looked at the others as well. They seemed surprised, but weren't protesting. "You're serious? You want a piece of the action, too? I've had my own money at risk here. There won't be a free ride."
He waved that off. "No, no, nothing like that. Maybe we could buy shares or something?"
I stared at him. I thought about my answer carefully. "Jake, I don't want to rain on your parade, but I'm worth almost fifty mill right now. There is no way you can come up with a twenty percent share of that."
"No, but you're not against the idea, are you?"
"No, not really, but it won't be free, either."
"Can you give me a week or two to think something up? All of us? I haven't asked the others yet, but now I want to!"
I cocked my head and smiled. "I sure wasn't expecting this. What about you guys? Do you want in, too?"
John answered first. "Depending on price and terms, yes, I could see doing it."
"I've been watching you since you were a kid. I'm in.", said Missy.
"I'm like John.", said Jake Senior. "It would depend on price and conditions, but yes, I'd at least want to know more."
I just nodded for a moment, as my mind went at light speed. I had never considered this before. "Okay, a few ground rules. You guys hear them out and then get together and figure this out." Everybody nodded and I continued, "Rule One - I'm the boss. I'll have the majority of the funds and I will run things. Rule Two - everybody is going to have to cough up some cash, and it won't be a trivial amount. Rule Three - if you work for the Buckman Group, you work for me, not anybody else. Think that one through."
Jake thought it over. "Give us a few weeks to sort it out. Can we do that?"
"Fair enough. Until then, we leave things as they stand. Missy, you look into that Microsoft thing. We'll meet again next week, and go over the local business items then." I was intellectually beat, and wanted to go home and think about things. We ended the meeting and I left.
Chapter 71: The Buckman Group
Was this something I even wanted to do? Right now I was worth just shy of $50 million. By 1982 standards that qualified as 'Fuck You!' money. If I worked at it, I could see myself at $500 million, which was 'Fuck the World!' money. With a team behind me, we could add another 0 to the number. When you get to $5 billion, it's 'Fuck the Universe!' money! Yet to get that kind of money, and not spend my every waking hour thinking about it, I needed a team. No man, not even one with knowledge of the future, can do it by himself.
I didn't tell Marilyn what the meeting was about, preferring to keep my counsel on it. Besides, she had very little interest in investing or Wall Street. She was much more of a hands-on practical minded person, and not one for high finance. As long as the bills were paid, and I was around to nag, she was happy as a clam.
Instead, I called John the next day, and made arrangements to see him for lunch the following day. We met at a steakhouse in Timonium.
"I was wondering if you were going to give me a call.", he said.
"Were you aware of what Jake Junior had in mind?"
"No. I'm not surprised, but he didn't ask us ahead of time, or swear us all to secrecy or anything like that.", replied my friend. "What did you think about his idea?"
"I was going to ask you the same question.", I answered.
John smiled. "It's your business, not ours. It's your opinion that's important. Do you have a problem with it?"
I shrugged. "Not in any moral sense. I mean, it's not like I would have had a problem if any of you had hung on my coat tails on these trades."
"I think that's a violation of SEC regs, for Melissa, at least.", commented John.
"Huh. Really? I guess that makes sense." I thought about that for a second, then asked, "So, what did you think about the idea?"
"It depends. I'd be in favor of the idea, but I need to know the cost and how it would be structured." I nodded; it was a nice and safe lawyer-like answer, but it made sense. John continued, "The question is how we eventually get the money out? How do we earn any income without selling shares or stocks? As it stands, the vast majority of your money is tied up in equities. Your personal expenditures are relatively low compared to the amount you have invested. You have to juggle your portfolio to buy different stocks, but it's relatively low key. You don't actively trade, day in, day out."
I shook my head. "Not my style. That just sounds like a great way to rack up trading commissions. I would much rather buy a quality stock for the long term, and hold it and watch it grow. Or the opposite, find a company in trouble, and ride it down the chute. I'll make more from the steady rise or fall than what I'll make playing the market on a daily basis, at least on a net basis."
"Exactly. The devil is in the details here. I'm most concerned with the structure and reimbursement details."
"How so?", I asked.
"Well, take me and Jake - father, not son - we're both of an age, we're stable, we've got some cash or stocks, we can probably come up with a buy in figure, as long as it isn't in the millions. Melissa, too, for that matter, although she's not as old as Jake and me. I'm curious, though, on where young Jake is going to come up with the buy-in. If he plans to use his income from the company to pay off a loan to buy his share, then how does he make a withdrawal to pay for the loan?"
I gave a bewildered look. "No idea. Here's another question - can we all get along and do this? If we do this, it's going to be fairly small and tightly held. Can you get along with everyone? Missy? Can the two Jakes?"
He nodded. "That part I'm pretty comfortable with. We've all known each other for a number of years now, except for young Jake, and I don't see him as a problem. He's ambitious, that much I can tell, but that's not a problem for a young man. You young fellows are supposed to be ambitious!"
I snorted a laugh out at that. We talked a little more about how we could structure the Buckman Group, and make it more than just a nice name on a business card. I was already starting to get some ideas of my own. By the time we finished, we were dawdling over coffee and tea, and we broke apart. I drove home, found Charlie was taking a nap, and then chased Marilyn around the bedroom until I caught her. She didn't run all that fast.
Two weeks to the day after Jake brought up the idea, he called for another meeting over at John's office to discuss his ideas. I suspected that John had called him and gone over some of the questions we had raised that day at lunch. He had been a busy little beaver in the meantime. Like John said, Jake Junior was ambitious.
I wasn't terribly surprised by this. I remember thinking, back on the first trip, how I was the same age as Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, and why was it them and not me. Now, Jake was looking at me and seeing somebody who was only a couple of years older, and he was wondering how to get his hands on the goose with the golden eggs.