1/24/10




1st


The words I never thought I would happen to me are something that my grandfather still tells everyone today. He always says when something dramatic happens in life you can either let it really upset you or look at it as a new adventure. Well after working as a branch manager for a bank in St. Thomas, Virgin Island for 24 years the bank moved his position to another island. Not sure what lies ahead he had to leave the Virgin Islands and move to Puerto Rico. He always liked adventures but this one scared him a little bit.

My grandfather worked for the bank for six months, but my grandfather said he wanted something different in his life. The bank he said treated him very well and everyone was very nice but it was not the same. He wasn’t sure what he would do but he always wanted to go back to school and get a master in finance. He took early retirement from the bank after working 25 years with them and went back to school. While in school he also started studying for the Series 5 and Series 7 Financial exams to become an Investment Broker. The stock market at this time was doing really well and he said there was money to be made. He says it was a lot of nights and weekends but he did it, he passed the exams to be a broker. At the age of 44 my grandfather started over.

His first job was at Drexel Burnham. He was probably one of the oldest workers there. My grandfather has the personality that everyone loves so the younger brokers accepted him with no problem. My grandfather says he was like their adopted dad at work. He started to make a name for himself and moved over to Dean Witter and then retiring with Morgan Stanley after 20 years. He says being a broker can be very rewarding when you are making a lot of money or very stressful. It all depends on how the market is doing.

I asked my grandfather if he had to do it again would he do the same thing. He said what he did made him a stronger man and in his retirement financially he is doing well. If he had to do it over again he would have gone to school to be a veterinarian. He says everyone who knows him knows he loves animals now that he is retired you can always find him on his farm taking care of the animals.