banking

What would it be like to open and run a bank? This question has swarmed in my mind recently.

I keep thinking about business opportunities that would make me happy with my current situation. I would prefer to work for myself for a future of my making than that of someone else. This is the narrative that I repeat quite often when I'm not doing something that requires thought. Lately, that's been a lot of my time.

So far the dream looks like a mom and pop savings and loan company. I guess viewing 'It's a Wonderful Life' inspired me. I had intended to go to my dad's to pop the question regarding running a restaurant with him then. Instead, we watched that movie and discussed politics.

In addition to the mom and pop angle, I see the institution as one that is utterly transparent. The returns would be rather low and slow--my investment strategy would be U.S. savings bonds. I am unsure of the year commitments but this would require me to have cash on hand while the purchased matured. I had considered how employees and/or investors would get specific percentages of the profits garnered from that investment. It's a slow and rather meager way to grow a lending institution. It needs work, research, thought.

I just like the balls that are implied in opening a bank. Here I sit, at 5:30 in the morning. The streets are covered in snow. My car needs to be defrosted. I am scheduled to help install glass at a hospital a few towns over in freezing weather. That sounds like no fun, but I guess it will give me time to think and to dream. Strange really, what good is it for a man who fumbled his PhD aspirations to end up doing manual labor and thinking of a more illustrious future. It's no different than what I began doing once I started college--dreaming of a better tomorrow. It's just a fun mental exercise not unlike when I'd dream of having a radio-controlled flying device with a camera.

What's in a dream? Last night's meal I suspect.