A Story About Ron Pollack Making Money at a Young Age

I am often asked how I got interested in managing money. I have discussed this topic with many other friends in Wall Street and it seems we all had a knack for business at young ages. Even though, technically, my resume starts at Yale, I did have many previous so called "careers". When I was 12 I became a candy trader.

My mother, some friends and I were reminiscing recently. Moms love to tell stories about their children, and me being the baby of the family, my mom, Shirley, has a lot of fond memories of my childhood. She remembered when she was called into school by my principal.

I switched to a private school in the suburbs from a public one in Detroit in 6th grade. Near my old school, where I still lived, was a specialty candy store that had hard-to-find items that my new suburban friends were literally drooling over. I was preparing for my Bar Mitzvah at the same time at a hebrew class at our synagogue that had the best bubble gum shaped like coins. That Israeli gum really drove my friends crazy. I started to buy in bulk (and in fact would buy out the synagogue’s entire supply of gum as soon as it arrived), and then resell it to my friends at a substantial mark-up. My friends ended up funding most of my capital needs by paying me in advance. I did however have great selection and offered free delivery (outside of class, before morning homeroom).

Soon, my business selling candy grew rapidly. I was raking in the profits, until the principal realized something was going in his school, and my mom got a call to come see him. I got the message. I sold the rest of my inventory at low prices to my friends shortly after. I truly learned how to profit by analyzing supply and demand and when to move on as my first business venture came to it's end.

It is ironic some of the stories I hear about how others got their start at their career of choice. I mention other people who have greatly influenced me on my Ron Pollack blog.