If you didn't know who he was and you saw him walking down the
street, you would never guess that Rick Snyder has made a boat load of
money. There are no $2,000 Italian custom-made suits, no flashy rings,
and no expensive car. He comes off as a millionaire you can relate to
but did you know where he honed his skills to get here?
Turns out he owes it all, pretty much, to his mom and dad. Isn't
that the way it is always is.
At the age of 11, Dad Snyder hired a stockbroker to consult with
this bright son. Then mom and dad turned about about $2,000 and told
their son, "invest it."
"There's a difference between parents making decisions for you and
letting you make them yourself," reflects the governor who knows what a
blessing it was to have this freedom.
He promptly used the freedom to buy shares in Kellogg cereal.
Being from Battle Creek he really had no choice.
And when he counted his cash, he had enough to get through
college and put a down payment on his first house.
But there is more to the story. It was actually at age 5 or six
that he got into the money thing. Turns out whenever he went to lunch
with his mom, she would hand over the check and had him double check
the math just to make sure they were not over billed or under billed
for that matter. And sure enough, often times when he added everything
up, he caught the mistakes.
"It was actually pretty funny," the grown-up governor now
recalls. "Here was this five year old telling his mom, this doesn't
add up."
So based on those early childhood lessons he learned at the knee
of his mom and dad, he sits here today with enough in the bank to keep
his family secure for the rest of their lives.
Oh btw, he also tipped 10% once he got the bill figured out.