America's Road to Wealth

Even Abel himself didn't expect it.

An accidental suggestion of his own made David Mellon take it seriously.

Later, David Mellon even called all relevant senior executives of the company for a meeting.

At the meeting, Abel mostly listened.

But Abel also heard it, the senior executives of Smith Capital.

They all support Smith Capital’s Internet brokerage.

This should be related to the fact that this direction was proposed by the boss Abel.

In addition, the senior executives of Smith Capital are generally around thirty to forty years old.

This age group belongs to young people on Wall Street, and they belong to the most enterprising group.

What's more, the reality is also here.

Smith Capital's foundation is too poor.

If you want to develop like investment banks like Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs, with business offices and branches all over the world.

Without more than ten years of accumulation, it would be difficult to do it.

One business location and one branch, even if it is opened.

If you want to obtain certain customers in the local area, it will be difficult to do so without a certain amount of time of word-of-mouth accumulation and network building.

After all, people are always more willing to believe in things they are familiar with.

In other words, if you want Smith Capital to be similar in size to Goldman Sachs in every aspect.

If we follow their path, it will take at least ten years.

I still don’t know how many hurdles I have to pass and how much hardship I have to endure.

But if it could be like what Abel said.

If it becomes the first investment bank to commercialize an Internet securities firm.

It is likely that this distance can be greatly shortened and the time required is reduced.

If it is really possible to obtain a large number of customers on the Internet.

Then Smith Capital does not need to open a large number of business offices across the country or even around the world.

Instead, we only need to set up some companies for after-sales support in those more important big cities.

Compared with having business locations around the world, this approach can more easily reduce time and investment costs.

And it soon became clear that someone on Wall Street was already doing it.

Interactive Brokers has already started to try this, but it has not yet begun to promote it vigorously.

What's more, it has the support of the boss, it has certain feasibility, and it looks like a very good future.

Someone is already doing it now.

Smith Capital had no hesitation at all.

With Abel's approval, the senior executives determined the company's new development path for the future.

Internet brokerage!

No need to go through Buffett's shareholders.

Who knows that Abel himself is the largest shareholder, and he still has absolute control.

His will is the company's will.

As long as Abel makes the decision, he can go directly.

By the time Abel came out of the Smith Building after the meeting, it was already dusk.

In New York in May, the weather is neither cold nor hot.

As long as it doesn't rain, this can be said to be one of the most comfortable and pleasant times of the year in New York.

Looking at the sun setting in the west in the direction of Manhattan, Abel couldn't help but sigh.

I might have to sleep alone tonight.

Just now, Ikana called him.

A vicious incident occurred at a YKM store in Los Angeles.

A gangster broke into the store, shot and killed a customer, and subsequently triggered a zero-dollar purchase.

Although no one wants this to happen.

Isn't this also YKM's fault?

But now is the period when this brand is on the rise.

When something like this happens, Ikana, the general manager, cannot remain indifferent.

She went over there to deal with it.

Paris, her best friend, also followed.

Abel had no choice but to call his people on the west coast and ask them to help Ikana as much as possible.

After all, Ikana is his woman, not to mention that he is still the largest shareholder of YKM.

If something like this happened, of course he couldn't stay out of it.

When Ikana was not there, Abel wanted to go to Carnegie Hill Mansion to rest.

This was his and Annie's love nest in New York.

Annie is filming in Queens and will come back here to rest if there are no night scenes.

However, what disappointed him was that Annie had a night scene tonight, and the crew was expected to shoot all night.

Anne won't be back tonight either.

As night fell, Abel was too lazy to go to Thirteenth Road in Royal Point, New York.

He simply lived on the eighteenth floor of the Carnegie Hill Building.

After dinner, he came to the master bedroom.

He walked into the bathroom and took off his clothes, put on a bathrobe, and walked into the steaming bathroom.

In the large, white and smooth bathtub, Abel took off his bathrobe, stepped up the marble steps, stretched out his feet and tested the water temperature. It was just right. He lay down in the warm water, relaxed his whole body, and enjoyed the pleasure of bathing.

After taking a bath, Abel had just walked out of the bathroom wearing a bathrobe when the maid came over with a cup of fragrant coffee.

After taking the coffee and saying thank you to the maid with a smile, Abel walked leisurely to the sofa in the living room and sat down, picked up the remote control and turned on the TV.

The maid brought over a plate of fresh fruit and a plate of dried fruit for Abel to make a midnight snack, and Abel silently changed the channel to his favorite program.

He first switched to his own AMC TV station.

AMC TV station is a cable TV station and charges the same fees as many other TV stations.

Tonight, AMC TV station is broadcasting the latest TV series called "Mad Men".

Abel didn't know that in a parallel time and space, "Mad Men" was AMC's first self-produced original drama.

Before that, AMC TV stations, which did not have the financial support of Abel, mainly purchased products from external TV companies.

After the AMC TV station in this time and space was acquired by Abel.

Not only did it receive resource support from MGM, it also received a large amount of capital injection.

Coupled with the three new policies requested by Abel, three TV series with a single episode investment of more than US$3 million should be launched every year.

AMC TV station, which is under great pressure and rich, after Richard Plepler, a TV maniac, came to power.

The action was fast and numerous, and the first self-filmed drama was produced in just a few months.

That is, the "Mad Men" in front of us.

Before his rebirth, Abel didn't watch many American TV series.

He has only watched a little bit of The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Broke Girls and Prison Break.

Because he had impressions of these four American TV series, he told Richard Plepler about these impressions.

It may be that Richard Plepler is more confident and doesn't follow as blindly as Robert Iger.

The new TV series produced by AMC are not the ones Abel mentioned.

But the one in front of me seems to be more in line with the current market mainstream "Mad Men".

I have to say that it was indeed very well shot, at least from Abel's perspective, it was interesting to watch.

After watching most of the episodes, today's TV series is over and I have to watch it again tomorrow.

Abel took the remote control and kept changing channels and watching several TV programs until he couldn't find the TV program he was interested in.

Abel walked back to the bedroom calmly, opened his arms and fell directly on the big bed, took off his nightgown, got into the warm and soft quilt, turned off the bedside lamp, and fell asleep.

In the morning, Abel woke up early.

After washing up, I changed into a set of tight and comfortable running clothes.

He put on a hoodie on his upper body and tight sweatpants on the lower body, which clearly outlined the muscles of his legs.

As soon as Abel left the door of the apartment building, he put on his hoodie and looked at the street, which was empty of people at six o'clock in the morning. He ignored the camera lens sticking out of the window of a business car across the road.

The reporters who can appear next to him and photograph him are privileges that can only be obtained by passing the safety certification of Rock Security.

And generally reporters from The American Sun.

His personal safety was absolutely guaranteed, so he didn't bother to care.

Abel took his four King Kongs and trotted across the street and ran into Central Park.

Behind and around him, rock security staff also joined one after another, forming an invisible protection network.

In Central Park in early summer, the trees were green and the lush lawn was full of life. Two squirrels were jumping back and forth on the bench under the black tree. When they saw Abel running over, they were not afraid, but minding their own business. Playing.

Abel exhaled air regularly from his mouth. Other morning joggers in Central Park were not surprised by the combination of Abel and the five of them.

This is Manhattan, and there is no shortage of billionaires taking their morning jogs with bodyguards.

If they try to get closer, they will soon discover that this rich man has more than four bodyguards.

And later, this number increased.

Half an hour later, a petite girl appeared next to Abel.

It was little Laura, Laura Bush Lauren, Laura Lauren Smith as Abel called her.

If anyone observes carefully, they will find that after little Laura arrives, there are more people following Abel.

For example, next to Edward was a white-bearded middle-aged man who was also wearing sportswear.

The middle-aged man has strong muscles and a tattoo on his neck. The tattoo is a trident.

"Hi, good morning." The middle-aged white man greeted Edward while running: "My name is Marcus."

"I'm Edward." Edward responded.

"SEAL Team?" Marcus said.

Edward nodded, and then said: "Secret Service?"

This time it was Marcus' turn to smile and nod.

Edward knew it in his heart, he knew the extra people around him.

In addition to the rock security staff, they were all Secret Service staff who followed little Laura.

The Secret Service, or USSS for short, is now part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

In parallel time and space.

It will be placed under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in two years.

The agency's primary responsibility, initially, was to prevent and investigate counterfeiting of U.S. dollars and bonds.

Later, new tasks were added.

The new task is to protect the Grand Commander, Deputy Grand Commander, Grand Commander-elect and Deputy Grand Commander-elect, former Grand Commander and their spouses (unless the spouse remarries), Grand Commander candidates and deputy Grand Commanders determined within 120 days before the election. Candidates, children and grandchildren under the age of 16 of current and former commander-in-chief, visiting foreign heads of state and heads of government and their spouses, personal and national special security events designated by the commander-in-chief.

It's the American version of Rabbit XX Sea Bodyguard.

Little Laura is the granddaughter of the former commander-in-chief, although she is already sixteen years old.

But doesn’t she have an uncle who just became the commander-in-chief?

It's just a minor problem. It's normal for her to enjoy the protection of the Secret Service.

Marcus looked at the surrounding rock security staff and combined it with the information he had seen about the security company.

Marcus couldn't help but whispered to Edward:

"Hey, you guys look really professional. If you were more powerful, you could probably compare with some government agencies."

Edward said calmly: "We don't have your privileges. We are the protectors of private property."

"Hahaha~" Marcus laughed, "Okay. Don't be like this, friend. We may have to work together for a long time in the future!"

Edward was silent, he knew what Marcus said was right.

Abel has confirmed his relationship with little Laura.

After that, as long as he was with little Laura.

In fact, you can also enjoy the protection of the Secret Service.

This virtually increased Abel's personal safety.

From this point of view, Edward thinks this is also very good.

In front of the two captains, the two running men were also talking.

"You've been running for almost an hour?" Little Laura gasped softly and said softly, "Aren't you even tired?"

"For me, this level is just a warm-up." Abel told the truth.

Once he was bored and tried to run on a treadmill, wanting to test his physical limits.

As a result, he ran on the treadmill for nearly five or six hours.

The total distance displayed on the treadmill has exceeded the 42.195km of the marathon.

But he didn't feel tired yet.

At that time, he knew that his physique was indeed abnormal, especially in terms of resilience.

"Bragging." Little Laura curled her lips, "But you can't run for too long. Running for too long will hurt the meniscus."

Abel nodded and looked at little Laura who was out of breath after running for a while, "My dear, you need to exercise more. With your physical strength and quality, how are you going to be able to withstand me in the future?"

Little Laura was also happy because of Abel's "darling".

Later, because of his ambiguous and vulgar words, his face became hot and he said coquettishly:

"What are you talking about whether you can bear it or not! In fact, I have very good physical strength. If you don't believe me, you can try it!"

"Really let me try? Now that your cold is gone, I won't be polite."

He looked completely rude, even a bit direct and rude.

Little Laura finally really blushed.

She murmured for a few moments, then said seriously with a blushing face:

"You can give it a try if you want. But it has to wait until after we get engaged. Before that, it's impossible."

"Okay, okay." Abel compromised: "Then you must exercise well. Don't catch a cold so easily."

"Yes." Little Laura responded softly.

The two ran for a while, but little Laura's physical strength was still not enough.

I guess I only ran three or four kilometers before I was out of breath and couldn't run anymore.

Abel supported her and sat down on the wooden bench next to the park track to rest.

"Look, your physical strength is still weak." Abel said with a smile.

Compared to himself who was out of breath and sweating profusely, he looked at Abel who was calm and calm without breaking a sweat.

Little Laura somewhat believed that Abel's physical strength was indeed very good.

But she still said stubbornly: "This is because my cold has just recovered. If I didn't have a cold, I wouldn't be so tired after running so little!"

"Okay, okay." Abel said in a coaxing tone: "Yes, I believe you, you are very strong."

Little Laura could hear that he was perfunctory, but she also enjoyed the couple's little fun.

"Hey~ look over there."

From the corner of her eye, little Laura saw a street painter setting up a stall on the lawn opposite the runway.

She recalled Abel's status as a Rice University fine arts graduate.

"How about we go watch him paint? I remember you are also very good at painting. You have a lot of your works at home. If Emily hadn't told me, I would have thought they were the works of some great painter."

Abel looked along her fingers and saw the street painter.

Abel felt a little familiar at first glance.

Then I remembered, wasn't this the street painter I met when Ikana and I were running last year?

Is this old man still setting up a stall here?

It also happened to be the same place, the same street painter.

The girl next to me has been replaced by another one.

"Well" Abel was worried about the street painter talking nonsense and didn't want to go there.

Although this little red flag showed great generosity, he was allowed to fly the colorful flag outside.

But when it’s all said and done, Abel thinks it’s important to pay attention.

He thought so.

Little Laura didn't think so.

"Okay, okay, okay."

Little Laura had already pulled his hand, stood up and said coquettishly, "Let's go over and take a look, or can you help me draw a picture?"

Other women than Abel.

Little Laura has an equal status and a very young age advantage.

This made it natural for her to act coquettishly in front of Abel, and Abel also benefited from it.

Abel couldn't help being pulled by her and walked towards the street painter.

The people from the Secret Service and Rock Security naturally followed suit and made preparations.

To take precautions, Abel quietly made a gesture.

Edward, who saw this gesture, cleverly sent Lin from the Four King Kongs over.

Lin certainly knew what to do.

He ran to the street painter faster than little Laura and Abel.

Lin quickly pulled out a few "Franklin" cards and said gently:

"Old man, for four hundred dollars, sell me your set of things."

When the street painter saw someone rushing towards him, he thought he wanted to buy him for zero yuan. The old man was shocked.

Wait until Lin draws four Franklins, which is four hundred dollars later.

The old man calmed down and looked at Lin, and then he felt that he looked familiar.

"Oh oh oh, I remembered it." The old guy said, "Last year."

For a moment, Lin's eyes turned fierce, looking terrifying.

The old guy was frightened.

"Take these four hundred dollars, leave your things and leave."

Lin said in a very low voice: "Or shut up and say nothing. Or else hahaha."

Without saying a word, the old man took the four Franklins from Lin's hand, turned around and left, not wanting anything else.

When little Laura came over with Abel in hand.

I saw the old man who had fled, and the half-new painting tools that the old guy left behind.

"Eh? Why did he run away? He doesn't want his things anymore? Hey, he doesn't want your things anymore?!"

Little Laura was surprised and called the other party several times.

The more she screamed, the faster the old guy ran.

Little Laura turned to look at Abel, who smiled and said:

"This is a very poor guy. I often see him cheating when I come here for running. Watching him paint, it's better for me to paint. I asked my bodyguard to buy his tools, how about I paint for you?" "

"Of course that's better." Little Laura felt that the truth might not be like this.

But the truth is sometimes not very important.

Abel was willing to paint for himself, and little Laura was even more happy.

She looked down at the tools left by the old guy and said casually:

"It's just that four hundred dollars is a bit much. These things look like they're worth only a hundred dollars at most, maybe not yet."

"It doesn't matter."

Abel smiled and said, "Let me help you draw."