Image from uprising radio.org

Recently, I read about this guy who gave up his $100 million a year job because of something his ten year old daughter said.

No, it wasn’t “Who are you?” It was when she presented him with a list of 22 things that he’d missed because he’d been busy working a twenty hour day.

The man’s name was Mohamed El-Erian and you can read this article about his amazing decision, but I rather liked the question which one commentator posed:

Would you give up $100 million a year to spend more time with your family?

Well, I reckon my son would insist that I work at least long enough to buy him that Gibson guitar, but I could probably earn that in the time it took me to write “I quit” on a bit of paper. And my wife would insist that I work at least a couple of days. Just so we could clear our mortgage, buy a Jaguar and have a nice European holiday. And I think that all three of us would feel that it was only fair that I gave them a week’s notice, quite apart from the million or so that’d give us. My principles, of course, would mean that I’d have to give a minimum of two weeks notice. Hang it all, I’ll give them four weeks notice and donate a million to charity. That way, you lefties can’t call me shallow and greedy.

Hopefully, Mr El-Erian hasn’t found it necessary to spend his entire salary each year, and has managed to put a little away for a rainy day.

What did he do earn such a vast amount of money? Find a cure for cancer? Invent something that’ll improve everyone’s life? No, he was in charge of an investment company called PIMCO. Its website tells us:

PIMCO’s innovative products and strategies employ the firm’s proven investment process to help our clients capture the best opportunities
in all market environments. Our macroeconomic forecasting,
authoritative sector and security analysis and rigorous risk
management address the challenges of a rapidly changing world.

 

Mind you, it didn’t mention the probe into some of PIMCO’s affairs by the U.S. securities regulators. Neither did it (or the article about Mr El-Erian’s “amazing decision”) mention the “falling out” between him and their “star” investor Bill Gross. But, if you’re interested, you can read about these matters here.

And as I’m writing this, Bill Gross has announced that he too is quitting his job to work for a smaller company, so it looks like there might be a few potential jobs opening up for me.

Of course, I imagine that I’d have to demonstrate some capacity for investment. And I have a rather interesting new strategy for an investment company: Invest in relatively safe options and ensure that one obtains a steady, relatively-risk free return rather than gambling in an attempt to make sure that your company earns more than every other company and beats the odds year after year.

I guess that’s why I’m not being offered any $100 million a year jobs. I’ve never lost more than a few hundred dollars investing in anything!