Image by Mhdanthoiz via Flickr
The public learned about Scrooge McDuck’s massive wealth in 1947. The family-run Gold Buyers Melbourne has been in business since 1948. Coincidence? Perhaps. Our “bills” are shut and we’re keeping it on the Q.T.
In 2007, Forbes Magazine (yes, that Forbes) estimated McDuck’s wealth at $28.8 billion USD (the world financial standard).
Four years later, the financial magazine-of-note declared due to the rise in gold prices, it was now $44.1 billion USD. Oh yeah, Scrooge is all about the gold. He’s often says “Scrooge McDuck’s word is as good as gold.” The Scottish-born, wily, brilliant, tenacious, archaeologist, zookeeper, philanthropist, and raconteur may be the best financial adviser around. He’s just that smart. For starters, he’s a linguist: he speaks 14 languages fluently (and has working knowledge of many others), to do as many business deals as he can in a native tongue!
McDuck’s signature move is a dive into his gold-laden “money bin,” which may contain more than $27 trillion (it may just be easier to cap the amount at writer Carl Barks’ estimate of five billion quintiplitilion unptuplatillion multuplatillion impossibidillion fantasticatrillion dollars (we’re assuming Barks meant USD). That’s why we’re more than convinced that gold buyers pawn shop in Melbourne would be a frequent stop for McDuck. The notoriously thrifty Scot makes a profit on any business deal. That’s why anyone interested in money could learn lessons from Scrooge McDuck. In 1951’s A Financial Fable, he laid some knowledge on hapless nephew Donald, teaching lessons on how productivity is the source of wealth, and explaining the law of supply and demand. The story’s has significance to the canon of McDuck: great-nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie are industrious and diligent, more like him than Donald.
Image by Sam Howzit via Flickr
McDuck is a self-made canard. A poor immigrant, the Peking duck began work life at the age of 10, polishing and shining boots, and motivated by the useless-in-Glasgow tip of a U.S. dime – it inspired him, at 13, to take a cabin boy job on a cattle ship to the U.S. Like other adventure seekers, McDuck ended up in Klondike, and discovered gold: a golden rock the size of a goose egg. And McDuck’s most prized possession? His “Number One Dime.” He remembers how he got to where he is now.
The same year the family began Gold Buyers Pawn Shop (1948), McDuck made his second print appearance – he recruited his nephews to help search for treasure at Dismal Downs, the family’s ancestral castle (clearly, the family once had money, but when McDuck was growing up, they’d lost it).
McDuck continually sets new goals and faces new challenges in a positive light. Barks says, for McDuck, “There’s always another rainbow.” When in a lull between adventures, McDuck grows bored, and even depressed -- when he’s not working making money, it takes a toll on his health!
McDuck isn’t shy or retiring – he’s not a duck who rolls over. In fact, when characterized by later writers, he’s been known to be cynical and manipulative. Barks didn’t originally intend these characteristics. Still, McDuck has maintained a “personal code of honesty” and even sacrificed something he really wants (gold!) to remain honest. While he can seem mercenary, he’s actually rescued (from death!) enemies who’d previously threatened his life. In much later “Duck Tales” stories, he often says to the villain: “You’re a cheater, and cheaters never prosper.”
He’s pretty sage, too, saying bad people, only turn good in fairy tales, not in real life. And Scrooge McDuck doesn’t believe in fairy tales. He does, however, believe in earning (as he has his tremendous wealth) only through honest means, “I made it by being tougher than the toughies and smarter than the smarties! And I made it square!"
The point is, Scrooge McDuck, who often reminisces about gold prospecting -- never spends needlessly – he’s always thrifty, keeps a close watch on his fortune, and always looks to make more money. Luckily, he is a philanthropist. But if there is a single lesson to be learned from the guy who once wrote Santa, “What’s the use of having eleven octillion dollars if I don’t make a big noise about it?” – It’s easy: invest in gold and buy and sell it.
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