Growing Rich - Arabictrader.com

GROWING RICH WITH GROWTH STOCKS
COMING TO AMERICA
Papp’s service on the Asian Development Bank board ended when
he turned 50. He assumed he and wife Marilyn would return to
Chicago and start over. Their eldest son, Harry, was a student at Brown
University. Daughter Victoria, whom they call Tori, was in a New
England boarding school. All of their friends were in Illinois. But after
spending two years in the tropics, Marilyn wanted to live in a
warmer climate. “I like Chicago and the people there, but the weather
is awful,” Papp admits. “So we came back to the States and considered
San Diego, Phoenix, and Dallas. San Diego was scratched, because
Marilyn has an arthritis problem, and humid weather makes it worse.
I had been to Dallas a number of times and liked it, but wasn’t sure
I would want to live in the middle of the rah-rah Texas spirit. So we
chose Phoenix.” At that point, he had no job, didn’t know what he
was going to do, and was without a single friend in the Grand Canyon
State. He had never even been to Phoenix. Still, he had all of his
possessions shipped from Manila to a Phoenix warehouse. “I guess
you could say we were a little adventurous,” he adds.
Papp and his wife did fly back to Chicago, but only to buy a car
and leave their cats with Harry. They then drove to Phoenix, sneaking
in a scenic cross-country vacation along the way. Marilyn’s first reaction
was, “They do have some skyscrapers here.” She had been
worried that Arizona had only single-story buildings. The Papps
wound up buying their first condo a day and a half later. “Marilyn
then booked us on a trip to Egypt,” he recalls. “I came back early,
and I figured I better get settled. I started looking around at the town
and learned something very quickly. In 1973-1974, the Arizona bank
stocks lost 75 to 80 percent of their value. I started buying United
Bank of Arizona, which was the third-largest bank in the state. I paid
about four times earnings for it. It sold for right around book value,
a measurement that had some meaning back then. I then bought stock
in Arizona Bank and Continental Bank, and held on until 1985, when
they all were acquired by some out-of-town banks. I made eight to
ten times on my money. It worked out very well. In the meantime, I
registered with the SEC and started working as an investment adviser
from my home.” He also joined the board of directors of four corporations.
“My idea when I came back from Manila was to spend a third
of my time taking care of my own money, a third of my time on
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