When Paul Navone decided to give away millions of his hard-earned wealth to two area schools, the last thing he was looking for was fame.
In December, 78-year-old Paul Navone donated $1 million to Cumberland County College in New Jersey. He still has millions left. Navone has been a factory worker most of his life and never earned more than $11 per hour. His financial discipline has been praised in blogs and on the news. What is his secret?
1. He lived well below his means. Despite a net worth in the millions, he still frequents flea markets and rarely buys anything at full price. His wardrobe is almost entirely second-hand, he said, except for maybe the socks.
2. He allocated his time, energy, and money efficiently, in ways conducive to building wealth. Navone told Newsday, "I don't know when I buckled down and got serious about making money. It just grew into my lifestyle. With age, it got more serious. I never denied myself anything, but I certainly never spent on something outstandingly lavish." He set aside money and invested it in stocks and bonds. Along the way, Navone also bought rental properties in Millville and Atlantic City, NJ.
3. He believe that financial independence is more important than displaying high social status. Navone,who has neither a phone nor a television at his home is a multimillionaire. He has never taken advantage of his wealth in the way most people might large houses, fancy cars, lavish vacations. He drives an old-model SUV and lives in a small house in Center City Millville. And he still goes to the High Street McDonald's in Millville every day, where he announces bingo on Wednesday mornings for a group of seniors who meet there regularly.
4. His parents did not provide economic outpatient care. The middle of five children born to immigrants, Navone grew up modestly in Depression-era Vineland. His family was by no means wealthy poor as church mice, he said and his father worked as a laborer laying railroad ties while his mother was a homemaker. While his father was away at work, he said, Navone and his siblings cultivated half of the five-acre parcel in south Vineland they shared with another family, growing vegetables like sweet potatoes for sustenance. "Paul never inherited money, "[his broker] said last week. "Paul started from zero. He just worked hard." "Paul has always been the perfect client. He gave me money and never took it out," said his broker of 20 years, R. Douglas Smithson, senior vice president for investments at Wachovia Securities in Vineland. "He took my advice, he stuck to a plan, and he reaped the benefits of it."
5. He is proficient in targeting market opportunities. In the interim, he regularly worked 60-hour weeks. He made enough money to buy several rental properties throughout his life, either in Millville or Atlantic City, although he never owned more than three properties at any given time. The rental income, he said, was what enabled him to save his paychecks for a rainy day.
6. He chose the right occupation. As his wealth increased, he continued living frugally. He also never aspired to rise through the professional ranks, preferring to remain a wage earner.
Although he was only schooled to the eighth grade, 78-year-old city resident Paul Navone has had a lifelong love affair with numbers. It was that passion for math or figures, as he likes to call it that saved him from getting bored with his longtime factory job as a quality control technician at a local manufacturing plant.
Navone's broker, R. Douglas Smithson, said the septuagenarian has never received a windfall. "Paul never inherited money," Smithson said last week. "Paul started from zero. He just worked hard. He stayed the course even through the bad markets. Paul rarely ever took money out. He was the perfect client."
References:
Philly.com
Lending Club Blog
Labels: investing, Millionaire, Paul Navone, Wachovia
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