In 1965 Amelia Island resident Pat Keogh was attending law school in Washington, D.C. holding down a fulltime job as a 21-year-old intern with the federal government’s General Services Administration and bought his first house. A few months later he bought another one. He has never slowed down.
Pat Keogh
Over the years Keogh, an Amelia Island entrepreneur, investor, developer, lawyer, and author, has amassed a great deal of wealth for himself and his family. His third and latest book: “Live The FINER Life” explains how he did it. Subtitled “Financial Independence Never Ever Retire”, the book offers readers advice on how they can duplicate his success.
Pat didn’t come from wealth. His parents were legal immigrants from Ireland. They worked as superintendents of an apartment complex in the Bronx of New York City and the family lived rent-free in the basement apartment of a building they managed as compensation for their efforts. There was no extra money for luxuries.
“Mom and Pop were tough, hardworking people who were strongly committed to the education and prosperity of their children,” explains Pat in the book. “They never owned a business or a stock, and until late in life, they never owned real estate or a car. But they raised four successful, well-educated, and prosperous children. The three sons, me included, all earned advanced degrees from prominent universities. Mike earned a Ph.D in chemistry from Purdue University, John a MBA from Fordham University, and I earned a law degree from Georgetown University.
He explains that he and his family lived in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the country but didn’t know it and he says even if they did that wouldn’t have made a difference. In addition to his parents he credits the Catholic schools he and his siblings attended with their success. “I don’t see being born poor as a handicap. The tools and opportunities were there, and our family made sure we seized every one of them.”
The rest of the book is written in the same breezy style, as he goes on to explain how readers can achieve wealth by managing their assets as a businesses. It’s not a complex formula and no seminars and phony experts offering free meals and pitching commission-based annuities are involved. It’s all common sense. Even if you’re not interested in the topic the book is a darn good read and just 139 pages long.
Keogh’s other books, “Make your Family Rich: Why to Replace Retirement planning With Succession Planning” and “Hey Kid! Wanna Own Great American Businesses?” are not written for financial advisors, real estate speculators, college professors, or hedge fund managers, although they could learn from them. They’re written for regular folks in every day understandable English in a crisp, punchy, and easy to understand style. They’re extremely entertaining and informative. And he’s not selling anything.
The new book and the others can be purchased from Amazon.com or by going to makeyourfamilyrich.com.http://makeyourfamilyrich.com Some local book stores will also have it in stock as will the library
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Telling It Like It Is: I listened to Florida’s First District Congressman Republican Matt Gaetz’s speech on the House floor following his successful maneuvering to boot Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker and found it to be brief, eloquent, and clear, one of the few I’ve heard in many months like that:
I’m not sure I agree with removing McCarthy but here’s what Gaetz had to say. What do you think?
“I don’t feel pressure from conservatives or Democrats. I feel the judgment of history. I worry that when the history books are written about this country going down, that my name is going to be on the Board of Directors here. And if this country is going down, and we’re losing the dollar, I am going down fighting. I don’t care if that means fighting Republicans, Democrats, the uniparty, House leadership, the PACs, or the lobbyists. I’ve had it.”
Could Gaetz (41), a fourth term congressman, be the next governor of Florida? Who’s better positioned? I think it’s obvious we’ll never see another Democrat in Tallahassee the next 15 years or more. Who else is in the running?
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Hot soup in your lap? That’ll be 20 percent extra.
Lousy Service Is Just 20% More: I’m not a member of the Amelia River Club and don’t particularly enjoy playing golf. However, membership isn’t required for folks to visit the club’s bar and grill for drinks or food. If you do decide to eat there notice has been served that a 20 percent gratuity will be added to the bill no matter the degree of service or quality of the food.
I received an email from Mike Block, the club’s general managers saying in part: “Going forward, all charges in the Bar and Grill will have an automatic 20% gratuity added. This gratuity will be solely for our associates as it will not be taxed. However, you are always more than welcome to tip above 20% but that is at your sole discretion.” In other words they’re charging an additional 20 percent no matter what. If customers want to give even more they’re welcome to do that.
Even if the server/waiter/whatever spills boiling hot soup in their laps like the blind hermit did to the monster in the Mel Brooks film “Young Frankenstein” and displays all the charm of Mike Tyson it’ll cost 20 percent more than the menu quoted price. Why not just put the additional 20 percent price of each item on the menu and print “no tipping”. Or am I missing something here?
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With a $75 million guaranteed six-year contract he can afford to hate the fans that pay him.
Wait! What? I’ve been a loyal fan of the National League baseball Braves since the team bounced from Boston to Milwaukee to Atlanta. The franchise has produced some of the game’s greatest pitchers and hitters ranging from Warren Spahn and Greg Maddux to Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews. The Braves have also produced one of the dumbest – current pitcher Spencer Strider, a major league moron who wants to get rid of the fans is a prime example. They’re too noisy for him he says.
In a recent interview here’s what this bonehead had to say about the folks that pay his salary: “Get rid of the fans, it’s too loud. It’s too loud, everybody be quiet. We don’t need the cheering we know you’re watching. I don’t need the fans.
“You stay outside the stadium. I mean, back it up. Let’s do like a no lower-bowl thing. Upper decks, great. Outfield, phenomenal. We don’t need you around the dugouts. Just try and be quiet.”
I wonder if management is suggesting to him that in the future he should “just be quiet.”
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Speaking Of Mental Midgets: Redstate.com reporter Mike Miller created a scenario earlier this week writing what he says the inept pygmy White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre’s response would be if she answered honestly to the question of why the southern U.S. border remains wide open:
“Look, I’ve answered this question multiple times. What this president is doing is trying his damnedest to import as many illegal aliens into this country as he can get away with — for as long as he can.”
In response to “Why?” she’d say: “Because it’s part of the Democrat Party’s overall election strategy. First, if we can’t win by the rules, we cheat. Then, if cheating doesn’t work, we try to change the rules. And if that doesn’t get it done, meaning we win every national election, we’ll continue to import as many what we see as future Democrat voters as it takes.
“Oh, and finally, we want to create a permanent majority underclass that’s dependent on the federal government — the Democrat Party, as we see it — for daily living.”
The Biden administration intentionally created the border crisis. Despite Biden’s lies and those of his administration, the crisis rages on unabated.
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Updated Advertisement: The late West Coast pundit Burt Prelutsky once described how today’s woke version of the old Charles Atlas body building ads would look writing: “The 97-pound weakling comes back to the beach after building up his scrawny body, shows off his muscles to his former girlfriend and her new muscle-bound boyfriend…and the two guys walk off arm-in-arm into the sunset together.”
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Things I Wish I’d Said: “To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.” – Oscar Wilde
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Speaking of Burt Prelutsky: Burt said he learned a lot from his dog Angel including: “Always turn around three times before going to the bathroom. I’m not sure why or even why it’s three times and never two or four. But unlike people, dogs don’t do stupid things for no good reason,” he said. “So three turns it is,” adding: “And, finally, I’m convinced that a lot more marriages would remain intact if one spouse would wag his or her tail when the other spouse comes home.”
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The Sippy Bird: What useful purpose does Mika Brzezinski, the wife of left wing TV commentator Joe Scarborough, serve? Every time I’ve ever seen his show she just sits there, mouth open, staring at her husband like a sycophant teenager nodding her head in approval of everything he says.
She reminds me of the old fashioned toy dipping birds that mimic the motions of a bird drinking from a water source.
Speaking of ineptitude, CNN’s and MSNBC’s commentators Joy Reid, Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell, the well-fed crowd at the View, etc. , not only don’t mind repeating themselves every day, but they also don’t object to repeating each other, line for boring line, word for banal word every day.
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Ongoing Beer Bust: Beer industry experts, wholesalers, and a former Anheuser-Busch executive told ABC News recently that places like 7-Eleven, QuikTrip, and Walmart may decrease Bud Light’s refrigerator space in stores.
“During a busy shopping period on a Friday or Saturday night, if you don’t have the beer available cold on the shelf, consumers pick something else,” former Anheuser-Busch InBev executive Anson Frericks, a frequent critic of his former company, told the outlet. He noted that shelf space is “the single largest determinant of sales in a store,” and warned there will be a “dramatic shift” for Bud Light.
From what I’ve read and seen I didn’t think it could get much worse for the brand, but apparently it will.
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Hat’s Off! Last night Linda and I attended a performance of the legendary Manhattan Transfer at the First Baptist Church at 1600 South 8th Street. To say the show was terrific would be an understatement. The event was part of local jazz drummer Les DeMerles’ Amelia Island Jazz Festival that runs through October 8.
Despite the fact that one of the quartet’s members — Trist Curles — became ill and was unable to perform, the show was a crowd pleaser rating many lengthy ovations. Amelia Island was one of the stops on the group’s 50th Anniversary and farewell tour.
Any show I’ve attended hereabouts that has Mr. DeMerle’s fingerprints on it has been nothing short of spectacular. In fact, he and his vocalist wife, Bonnie Eisele, opened the show with a series of tunes and their version of the classic “Sing, Sing, Sing” was as good as any I’ve ever heard by anyone anywhere. Gene Krupa and Benny Goodman would be proud.
Check out the remainder of the schedule at Ameliaislandjazzfestival.com.
Snake Oil! Get rich quick! MAGA greed and fraud!
Yawn. More of the same old trash talk.
I find it quite amusing that the Dems are now making a BIG deal out of the fact that we don’t have a Speaker, now that Israel is under attack. McCarthy gave them their continuing funding resolution and they then voted (all 208 of them) to oust him. The final vote to unseat him? 216 votes (8 Republicans/208 Democrats).
Even though the effort to oust McCarthy was instigated by Republicans, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries urged House Democrats to join them in voting against the Speaker. In a statement released before the vote, Jeffries explained his reasoning, saying McCarthy had brought this on himself by using his short tenure as Speaker to cater to extremists in his party. He pointed to the chaotic 15 rounds of voting that the House endured back in January to pick McCarthy as Speaker, a process in which McCarthy made concessions to far-right Republicans, including allowing any one member to force a motion to vacate.
“It is now the responsibility of the GOP members to end the House Republican Civil War,” Jeffries wrote. “Given their unwillingness to break from MAGA extremism in an authentic and comprehensive manner, House Democratic leadership will vote yes on the pending Republican Motion to Vacate the Chair.”
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was out of town and missed the vote, also laid the chaos at the feet of the GOP, and said Democrats had no reason to help McCarthy.
“The Speaker of the House is chosen by the Majority Party,” Pelosi wrote on X, the site formerly known as Twitter. “In this Congress, it is the responsibility of House Republicans to choose a nominee & elect the Speaker on the Floor. At this time there is no justification for a departure from this tradition. The House will be in order.”
When have the Dems EVER not laid the blame at the GOP’s feet? LMAO
Or, Fred, the Republicans can break the backs of the 8 right-wing extremists who have created this chaos in the House and side with the Democrats in voting for Hakeem Jeffries as the new Speaker. No? Gotcha. Instead, the majority of moderate Republicans will be forced to hold their noses and cave to the extremists by installing an insurrectionist, election-denying, anti-constitutionalist, and anti-democratic Republican who goes by the name of Jim Jordan. Enjoy your party.
Let’s hope not! Jim Jordan should be indicted for his role in the insurrection and for refusing to testify before congress.
Speaking of tipping, I’m currently in Iceland where you pay the price and no tips-. You pay more but it takes the guess work out and workers are paid well enough that they don’t need to work for tips. They shared that they find “tipping” in America challenging and confusing. Hmmm!
I think our AG Ashley Moody would make a fine governor. Much better than Gaetz.
Your description of communism in China reads a lot like the Trump playbook. Loyalists are rewarded.
If you knew me, and you don’t, you would have known I’m not a fan of Trump. Your comment helps us all understand your overwhelming desire to trash something without thinking it through. Keep clapping. Thank you for helping me prove my point.
“Loyalty” is an important component of business, politics and family all over the world.
In business, there is a greater emphasis on doing something useful, whereas in politics, loyalty often takes precedent.
Under Communism loyalty is required, or you don’t live a very happy life.
First,
If we all want to sell more copies of Pat Keoghs book, I would not have used his picture. And no, I wouldn’t have used mine or yours either. We could use a picture of Rachel Levine so our left leaning friends might be tempted to purchase it and learn some of the finer elements of capitalism.
Second,
With reference to the republican food fight in congress. IMHO, we are watching what used to take place between the two parties, a debate on the floor. That’s not bad, it’s a design feature. Open debate between divergent, well-found opinions is what used to move us forward. Our democratic friends move as a single block, they seldom break ranks. Their tactic might work well for maintaining control but it’s not good for a democratic process. Sort of exposes their motive. To illustrate this point, watch a meeting of the Chinese communist party. When the leader speaks, clap. And most importantly, never be the first one to stop clapping, you become eliminated.
My husband circles three time while peeing. He now goes outside with the dog.
Odd, when I hear Gaetz talk all I hear is blah, blah, blah, me, me, me, blah, blah, me, me… Gaetz is the classic narcissist who doesn’t care what history says about him, only that history says something about him. Here’s an idea. Instead of bragging to your fellow congressmen about how you can go all night by crushing blue pills and chasing them with an energy drink, get to work on the business of running the country instead of destroying it.
Nothing “Moderate” about you, Mr. Oliva.
I’m a big fan. Thanks
I’ve always heard that dogs walk around three times before doing their business to trample imagery grass and make sure there’s nothing to bite them.
I do the same !