Quote

I was a writer for 'New York' magazine. I had been to business school, but what did I know? Still, everybody from the receptionists on up to the editor would ask me what they should do with their money.

Andrew Tobias

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Andrew Tobias
Age: 77
Born: 1947
Born: April 20
Journalist
Writer
Stills
Editors
School
Magazines
Still
York
Would
Writer
Everybody
Asks
Receptionists
Business
Editor
Money
Magazine

More quotes by Andrew Tobias

Image
Not surprisingly, the insurance lobby recoils in horror at the prospect of automatic coverage (including, when it was first proposed, Social Security), no matter how efficient it may be. Automatic coverage eliminates sales commissions and profit.
Andrew Tobias
Image
In short: Readily available low-cost life insurance would be a threat to the industry, and whatever threatens the life insurance industry threatens America.
Andrew Tobias
Image
But successful investors tend to be not too self-destructive. They tend to be patient, they tend not to follow the crowd, and they tend not to be too guilty about winning.
Andrew Tobias
Image
The larger the deductible you choose, the less insurance you are buying. Insurers want to sell insurance.
Andrew Tobias
Image
The life insurance policies advertised on the radio with the line You cannot be turned down for this coverage! are actually saying, For policies this small, it would cost us more to decide whom to turn down than simply to accept everybody - and make them pay through the nose.
Andrew Tobias
Image
There are only two things as complicated as insurance accounting and I have no idea what they are.
Andrew Tobias
Image
Having no national system of catastrophic health insurance, we have, through the courts, managed to patch together pieces of a not very satisfactory one.
Andrew Tobias
Image
Nobody wants campaign finance reform more than me. It would save me a fortune.
Andrew Tobias
Image
There's no question young drivers have far more accidents than older ones - but is it our aim to keep them off the roads? Or to allow only rich young people (who can afford the premiums) to drive?
Andrew Tobias
Image
There were no jobs created in America from 1945, when the war ended, through 2003. How could there be? Taxes were too high. Preposterously so under Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Reagan (who left office with a 28 percent rate on long-term capital gains) and Bush the Elder.
Andrew Tobias
Image
The best thing I have are 5 percent bonds from 1780, denominated from $1 to $20. As far as I can tell, they are obligations from the United States of America, so I should be able to walk down to the Federal Reserve and redeem the uncanceled ones. With 217 years of accrued interest, for a $20 bond, that's about $800,000.
Andrew Tobias
Image
What kind of bank gives back 65 percent-often less-of what you deposit? Indeed, when you compare the services of a bank and an insurance company, common sense suggests something is out of whack.
Andrew Tobias
Image
One of the advantages of the book's having been out there for more than a quarter century is that there's been time for people to report back on what it's done for them.
Andrew Tobias
Image
People don't need to find reasons to justify their not giving. What they need to find is the inspiration to give. And those who don't, but could afford to, are missing out on one of wealth's greatest luxuries.
Andrew Tobias
Image
Life insurance in America has traditionally been dominated by mutual insurers. Twelve of the fifteen largest life insurers are mutuals.
Andrew Tobias
Image
Still, most people don't have much money. So finding ways to come out a couple of thousand dollars ahead every year still matters.
Andrew Tobias
Image
No wonder lawyers, who control the legal system, have fought so hard, and with great success, against no fault insurance. No fault, no lawsuits. No lawsuits, no lunch.
Andrew Tobias
Image
Rule of thumb: The more trimmings an insurance plan has and the harder someone is pitching it, the faster you should run.
Andrew Tobias
Image
You want 21 percent risk free? Pay off your credit cards.
Andrew Tobias
Image
I think a lot of people would rather have more control over their life than less.
Andrew Tobias