Chapter 81: Friendship is Friendship, Business is Business

Mr. Jones mentioned by Carter is the oil tycoon Douglas: Mike Jones.

From the south to the north of the city, plus the west, there are a total of three gas stations, all of which are owned by this "poor" gentleman. Hearing Carter's promise to approach Jones for a partnership, O'Neil's confidence also increased significantly.

Or, what could he do even if he lacked confidence?

In 1979, the United States didn't favor anything like "Black Lives Matter". If something serious happened and authorities intervened, it was hard to say what the consequences for Trifalli and his crew would be. But O'Neil was sure of one thing: he would fare much worse than Trifalli and his crew.

In other words, O'Neil had no real choice. The issue of race unexpectedly played into Carter's hands, not only successfully convincing the first merchant to settle in their commercial district but also successfully selling favors to another group within the Black community.

After discussing business matters, Carter didn't linger any longer. The police only asked him to deliver a message, but he managed to persuade O'Neil as well. Mission accomplished, with a little extra cash in his pocket, Carter returned to the bank contentedly.

"Carter, Mr. Robertson called. Seems like he wants to talk to you about silver. Silver's been going crazy lately!"

"Hahaha, to destroy someone, you must first drive them mad! It's normal. Let me go see how things turned out."

Carter laughed heartily. He had been keeping an eye on the silver market lately. After all, he had invested half a million dollars in it. In just one month, the silver price, already high, had doubled again.

As of yesterday, the price per ounce of silver had surpassed the $23 mark and was approaching $24. There was no sign of it slowing down. Whenever there was a silver sell order on the market, it was snapped up almost instantly. In other words, his half a million dollar investment was likely paying off. Julian's call was probably to deliver this good news.

What do you call a stroke of good luck? This was it, double luck: making a profit from the O'Neil incident and the silver investment.

"Hey, Julian. I suppose you have good news for me, right?"

Feeling elated, Carter walked up to the second floor of the bank, spun around in his chair. He leaned back in the chair, his long legs propped up on the table, not the most dignified posture, but he felt good! This might be what they call "happily celebrating good news"!

"Of course, even the fools on the streets of New York know that silver prices are soaring. How could we not make a profit?"

After exchanging a laugh with Carter, Julian got down to business:

"With the initial investment of five hundred thousand, I initially planned to invest in futures. But after acquiring contracts worth three hundred and forty thousand, New York and Chicago suspended silver futures trading. So, with the remaining one hundred and sixty thousand dollars, I invested in spot trading. After selling the spot contracts, the total income was three hundred and forty-six thousand. Futures brought in a little more profit than spot, with a total income of seven hundred and eighty-five thousand."

"According to the usual practice, deducting two percent for management and transaction fees, plus five thousand in interest, your net income is three hundred and sixty-three thousand four hundred. Let's round it up to three hundred and sixty-four thousand! Do you want it transferred to your account, or should we keep it in the company's account?"

Borrowed five hundred thousand, invested for a month, and got back three hundred and sixty-four thousand.

Although taxes hadn't been deducted yet, Carter was still amazed. The silver price had gone crazy! It had only been a month!! The return rate had already exceeded one hundred percent.

Thinking about his past experience buying funds on Alipay, funds with an annualized return of over 10% were considered high-risk funds. The madness of the American financial industry in the 1980s had already been glimpsed in 1979, showing a hint of what was to come.

Amazed, Carter suddenly paused, the five thousand in interest?

It wasn't too much, it was too little! Five hundred thousand in principal, only five thousand in interest, that was one percent interest. Although this was monthly interest, it was still very little. Considering the process of this profit:

Julian called him in, lent him the principal, managed the operation, and now he was reaping the profits. To him, this three hundred and sixty thousand was practically like picking up money for nothing. This windfall of income made Carter feel a little guilty. He smiled and said:

"Why round it off like that, Julian? Just give me three hundred and sixty thousand, the rest is yours!"

"Haha, there's no need for that, Carter. Friendship is friendship, business is business, you must understand this. Don't feel like you owe me anything. When I asked you to join in, didn't I say? It was also to spread the speculative risk."

Julian was wise enough to realize immediately that Carter wanted to erase the four thousand dollars as a reward or compensation for himself. The reason? Naturally, feeling like he didn't do anything, just lying around and taking the lion's share.

"This is our situation where we made money, and you feel like I'm losing out. But what if our investment fails? I won't make up the difference for you. My little friend."

"I never denied our friendship, Carter. I can give you the lowest management fee rate, and I can also give you the lowest loan interest rate. This is friendship. Of course, initially, it was because of your six million dollars that we treated you differently as a big client, no matter where you are. But to this day, we've been cooperating very happily. When you received my call and agreed to my proposal without fully understanding the situation, it showed your lack of experience and sophistication. But I was moved, very moved. Child, I'm glad to know you, and I hope that in the future, we can still maintain this trust and friendship."

"Whether you're poor or wealthy in the future. As long as you have investment needs and come to me, even if you only have a thousand dollars, I will give you the lowest management fee rate. Likewise, maybe one day in the future, I will make a wrong investment decision and lose the trust of my clients. At that time, I hope you can help me, can trust me once again, Julian."

"Friendship is demonstrated here, not in business. In business, we follow the principles of the contract. We agreed on the rules beforehand, and after the fact, regardless of profit or loss, we abide by the rules. No matter how much you earn, as long as it's what you should get, you take it. If you lose, you bear it."

Julian seldom talked so much. At this moment, he didn't seem like a financial tycoon reigning on Wall Street. Instead, he seemed like an old man next door, speaking slowly and intimately, giving advice to his juniors.

Actually, halfway through, Carter understood what Julian was trying to convey. Looking back, Carter realized that he did indeed have many shortcomings.

For example, this investment: when Julian mentioned he should join, he didn't even consider studying the BY market. Instead, he was calculating if he could withstand losses. Finding out he could, he immediately agreed.

For a normal business investment decision, his decision-making process was incredibly immature. Not studying market trends, not judging future trends, not investigating historical origins, and even not knowing who was behind it all, he just made a decision.

Even going back to the short selling in New York that summer, most of the work was done by Julian. In fact...

If it hadn't been for Julian at the time, or if he had other intentions, let alone making 1.5 million, the six million would have vanished within a month!