Meet Mr. Earl
The Incredible Story of Earl Crawley
“Earl
Crawley should be honored. He should have his own postage stamp!”
Ben Stein
Earl Crawley’s story is featured in the second episode. His real-life tale of how one parking lot attendant, earning no more than $20,000 a year, has amassed a retirement nest egg of over $500,000. Despite being poor, uneducated, and dyslexic, Mr. Earl overcame these odds and taught himself to become a skilled and savvy investor.
Today, Mr. Earl is living a good life. He owns his house and has no credit card bills or debt. He was able to put his three children through private school, and now Mr. Earl is “paying it forward” by reaching out to his fellow churchgoers and teaching them how to invest their money.
How did Mr. Earl do it? His parking lot sits in the middle of Baltimore’s financial district, where over the past 44 years, he began talking to his well-heeled customers – bankers, lawyers, financial planners, and investment bankers. Mr. Earl started asking questions and listening carefully to what he heard.
In the ‘70s, when he made $80/week and had to support a wife and three young children, Mr. Earl bought some government and savings bonds. As he learned more about investing and the power of compound interest, Mr. Earl did his own financial research and bought stocks in a few “blue chip” companies such as IBM and Coca-Cola. Mr. Earl says the secret to his wealth building is to, “Stop working so hard and then let the money work for you.”
In this MoneyTrack episode, Pam and Jack discover from financial experts Ben Stein and the University of Connecticut’s Economic Professor Pat Terrion that Mr. Earl has three characteristics in common with some of the world’s richest investors including Warren Buffett – a disciplined approach, patience, and the ability to listen.
“Mr. Earl is living proof that you don’t have to be born rich to wind up that way,” said Pam Krueger, co-anchor and creator of MoneyTrack. “Mr. Earl challenges us to rise to the occasion. He’s saying to us, ‘If I can do this, then anyone can.’ Then, he takes it to the next level and reminds us how meaningful it is to give back.”
