I gotta tell, you sometimes I read a story that warms my heart. It often has to do with extraordinary individuals who manage to beat the odds by virtue of their own wits. One of those individuals is Andrew Beal.
If you haven’t heard about Beal, he’s a got a great write up in Forbes. Evidently, Beal, sole owner of Houston based Beal Financial managed to duck the real estate meltdown. His company stopped making loans in 2004. In 2004 he switched to focus on raising capital by increasing deposits. By 2008 he was sitting on a huge pile of cash, $2.9 billion. When the bloodletting started, Beal was there to pick up the pieces. His bank is currently on track to becoming a $30 billion dollar organization – all largely without TARP or other forms of federal assistance. Talk about creating wealth.
So, he’s just another rich banker – so what? Well, Beal is also an amateur mathematician and is responsible for a contribution to number theory based on Fermat’s last theorm – the Beal Conjecture. Beal also launched an Aerospace company – Beal Aerospace in 1997 which later folded in 2000, due to regulatory intransigence. Andrew is a champion gambler and has been cited as participating in some of the highest stakes poker of all time. To top it all off, Beal is frugal. He drives a used Ford and flies coach – despite having a networth of over $300 million dollars. Interesting guy, sure knows how to live frugally.
More importantly, his bank – Beal Financial – has been rated by bankrate.com as offering 1.1% on 1 and 2 month CD rates, the best rate so far of 2009. So, if you are looking for a good short term to spot to stash your cash, check it out.
Beal’s write up is at Forbes.
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