Boston.com: The wisdom of John Spooner
John D. Spooner is interviewed on Boston.com.
Jun 18, 2012
Boston.com
By Beth Teitell
Published June 09, 2012
“The epitaph that I would want, if I had a stone, which I ain’t gonna have, would be a line from ‘Scaramouche’: ‘He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.’”
John Spooner, perhaps the world’s most youthful 74-year-old, was enjoying a chicken salad on rye from the “underpants place,” so named, by him, for the way the deli folds the white paper wrapping. The nationally recognized investment adviser and best-selling author was the very picture of a Boston WASP, with bow tie and Harvard suspenders — except that he was bar mitzvahed at Temple Israel, and sometimes wears high-top sneakers, in red.
Besides riffing on takeout origami, Spooner was happily chatting about his latest work, the recently published “No One Ever Told Us That: Money and Life Letters to My Grandchildren.”
It’s addressed to the two eldest of his five grandkids, Alyssa, 19, and Wesley, 17, and contains advice that goes all the way from “Buy, don’t sell stocks during panics like 9/11” to “Don’t be a pain in the butt around the house.” The 234-page book also includes lessons drawn from “Antiques Roadshow,” Katharine Hepburn, and his own stern father (“Never expect anyone else to do anything for you”).
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Jun 18, 2012
Boston.com
By Beth Teitell
Published June 09, 2012
“The epitaph that I would want, if I had a stone, which I ain’t gonna have, would be a line from ‘Scaramouche’: ‘He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.’”
John Spooner, perhaps the world’s most youthful 74-year-old, was enjoying a chicken salad on rye from the “underpants place,” so named, by him, for the way the deli folds the white paper wrapping. The nationally recognized investment adviser and best-selling author was the very picture of a Boston WASP, with bow tie and Harvard suspenders — except that he was bar mitzvahed at Temple Israel, and sometimes wears high-top sneakers, in red.
Besides riffing on takeout origami, Spooner was happily chatting about his latest work, the recently published “No One Ever Told Us That: Money and Life Letters to My Grandchildren.”
It’s addressed to the two eldest of his five grandkids, Alyssa, 19, and Wesley, 17, and contains advice that goes all the way from “Buy, don’t sell stocks during panics like 9/11” to “Don’t be a pain in the butt around the house.” The 234-page book also includes lessons drawn from “Antiques Roadshow,” Katharine Hepburn, and his own stern father (“Never expect anyone else to do anything for you”).
Read More