(The writer is a Reuters contributor; the opinions expressed are his own.) <\/p>\n
FILE PHOTO: Founder and Chairman of the Charles Schwab Corp, Charles Schwab, watches play on the 14th green during the first round of the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am golf tournament at the Monterey Peninsula Country Club course in Pebble Beach, California, February 6, 2014. REUTERS\/Michael Fiala\/File Photo<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n By Chris Taylor <\/p>\n NEW YORK(Reuters) – When Charles Schwab stares intently at his smartphone, you can be sure of one thing: He is checking the stock market. <\/p>\n The 82-year-old has been in a heated love affair with stocks and capitalism ever since starting his brokerage back in 1971. <\/p>\n Schwab sat down with Reuters to talk about his latest book, \u201cInvested,\u201d in which he talks about the bumpy, winding, unlikely path that landed him where he is today. <\/p>\n A few key lessons he learned along the way: <\/p>\n 1. While you\u2019re young, get out there and work every job you can. <\/p>\n You might be surprised to learn some of the wacky gigs from Schwab\u2019s teenage years: Plucking duck feathers, raising hens, collecting Coke bottles from under grandstands, driving a tractor at a sugar beet farm, working as an oilfield roustabout. Those early moments taught him as much about human nature as anything else in his career. <\/p>\n \u201cDealing with people on that level, you get a real understanding of them,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I was working on the beet farm alongside Hispanic agricultural workers, they may not have been able to speak any English, but they were real people with real families and real feelings. I\u2019ve been lucky to have experiences like that, and I think all parents should get their teenagers out doing that kind of stuff.\u201d <\/p>\n 2. Take the risk \u2013 even if you are not totally ready. <\/p>\n When trading commissions were first deregulated decades ago, no one \u2013 including Schwab himself \u2013 truly knew how a low-cost brokerage strategy was going to play out. But he went for it, and his current $7.8 billion net worth (according to Forbes) indicates how well that bet paid off. <\/p>\n His motto: \u201c85% ready is good enough,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you\u2019re 85% of the way there, then make the decision to go for it. Hesitation doesn\u2019t do anybody any good.\u201d <\/p>\n 3. Turn your weakness into advantage. <\/p>\n Many might not know that Schwab is dyslexic, and still reads slowly today. Even at 82, you can tell that his childhood experience cut him to the quick. \u201cDyslexia wasn\u2019t even defined when I was a kid,\u201d he said. \u201cYou were either slow, or stupid. People said things like, \u2018Why don\u2019t you do better? Just work harder!\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n But a remarkable number of people with learning differences, such as Virgin Group\u2019s Richard Branson and Apple\u2019s Steve Jobs, turned into extraordinary business leaders \u2013 perhaps because of that ability to look at things differently, process events in new ways, and see things others don\u2019t see. <\/p>\n 4. Do the hard things. <\/p>\n Another of his lowest career moments: When the Schwab board let go former Chief Executive David Pottruck. Not only because it was a delicate situation with a longtime colleague, but because it meant Schwab himself had to reassume the title of CEO. <\/p>\n \u201cThat was a really down time,\u201d he remembered. \u201cIt felt like a fire hose of water coming at my head, becoming a CEO again at sixtysomething.\u201d But a public company\u2019s primary responsibility is to its shareholders, and even though it wasn\u2019t comfortable or easy, Schwab did what he felt had to be done. <\/p>\n 5. Do not think in terms of family dynasties. <\/p>\n Schwab has five kids and 13 grandchildren, so you might think that he envisions an army of next-gen Schwabs taking over the company after he\u2019s gone. Not so. <\/p>\n \u201cThey have to follow their passions, whatever that might be,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you want to be a teacher, be a teacher. There\u2019s no need for them to work in finance. In fact only one of my children is in the business – my eldest daughter Carrie, who runs our foundation. She actually started for us as a file clerk.\u201d <\/p>\n For whoever ends up running the show, he hopes that this new book can be a sort of GPS, steering them in the right direction. \u201cI know full well that there is an end zone out there for me someplace,\u201d he quipped. \u201cI wrote this so that employees and customers would know where we came from, and understand the values we talk about. Maybe it could be a kind of Bible going forward \u2013 for the next chapter, after I\u2019m gone.\u201d <\/p>\n Reporting by Chris Taylor; Editing by Beth Pinsker and Jonathan Oatis; Follow us @ReutersMoney or here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n