The super-hurricane Red Kay passed through the North Sea and moved north, rapidly weakening and dissipating.
Fortunately, there were no casualties other than a few injuries, but it left behind enormous property damage. The damage to the North Sea oil field drilling facilities was a problem, but the oil spill was an even bigger problem.
Crude oil continued to leak from the damaged pipes. People who saw the oil slick filling the sea were reminded of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in 2010.
That incident resulted in a massive 770 million liters of crude oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico, and it took months just to clean up and prevent further disaster.
It wasn’t comparable to that scale, but it was the worst oil spill accident in Europe.
Officials from Royal Dutch Shell, which operates the drilling facilities, blamed the government’s incompetence for failing to properly forecast the weather, and the government blamed the company’s poor management.
Until just before the hurricane hit Europe, investment experts and funds were forecasting a drop in oil prices. But when oil prices skyrocketed due to the aftermath of the North Sea oil field damage, everyone was dumbfounded.
In this situation, when it became known that OTK Company had in advance made a lot of spot and futures contracts, people couldn’t help but be astonished.
– Did they really know the North Sea oil fields would be destroyed?
– Could it be that they knew the hurricane’s path?
– Does that make sense? Even the top meteorologists didn’t know.
– Did they develop some kind of AI to predict the weather?
– If they knew, shouldn’t they have warned us in advance like during the Big One?
– They bet on US sanctions against Iran and OPEC production cuts, and just got lucky.
– Their luck is insane ㅜㅜ They must have been born with heavenly luck.
– Please tell me the lottery winning numbers!
Most people dismissed it as coincidence, but some people took it seriously.
They thoroughly reviewed OTK Company’s investment cases, not just this one incident, but all of them so far.
***
As fish died en masse due to the oil spill and fishing operations were suspended, environmental groups staged protests throughout Europe.
They argued that to protect the sea, all North Sea oil fields should be shut down immediately, and the EU should ban seabed oil drilling.
Who would say no to protecting the environment? Everyone agrees with the purpose, but the problem is the lack of alternatives.
Environmental groups argue for a transition to eco-friendly energy sources like solar and wind power, but the electricity that can be produced through these is limited.
Strictly speaking, they are not completely eco-friendly either.
Taekgyu crossed his arms and said, “Hmph, either way, human civilization can’t function without oil.”
He’s right. That’s why oil, along with gold, has become the king of real assets.
Senior Sang-yeop watched the situation instead of liquidating positions. He stared at several monitors, constantly on the phone.
“International speculative capital is moving. Oil prices will jump much higher than now.”
Just as water flows from high to low places, money flows from places with low returns to places with high returns. As concerns grew that supply and demand would be difficult to improve for a while, speculative capital rushed to buy oil, and WTI also surpassed the psychological threshold of $100 per barrel.
Rising oil prices once again pushed up inflation. Not only did grocery prices increase, but gas prices at gas stations soared immediately.
The situation where real assets move finance, and finance moves real assets, was repeated.
Oil-producing countries, including OPEC member states, rejoiced at the unexpected boon. A Saudi Arabian royal family member said something about the North Sea oil field damage being Allah’s blessing, but apologized after strong protests from the UK and Norway.
Like the saying that money has neither good nor evil, in front of money, other people’s misfortunes are often taken lightly.
I don’t really have anything to say either. Because I am the one who benefited the most from this incident.
The reason the situation turned out this way is because the hurricane’s path and speed were completely different from the government’s predictions.
If they had known just a few days earlier, there would have been enough time to prepare.
If I had warned them, could I have prevented it? But I also knew that the drilling facilities would be damaged, but I didn’t know that oil would spill.
I sighed as I looked at the oil slick that covered the North Sea.
“Let’s donate some money for the restoration.”
***
When I opened my eyes, Ellie was asleep next to me, covered in a blanket. She seemed to be in a deep sleep, probably because of accumulated fatigue over the past few days.
I looked at the clock, it was 2 AM. It was still dark outside.
I left the bedroom and went downstairs to the first floor. I took out a can of beer and went out to the garden. The deserted garden was bathed in soft lighting.
The sweltering heat continued even at night. The tropical night seemed to engulf the entire city. Sweat dripped from my forehead even though I had only been out for a short while.
I sat alone at the table and drank beer. It was quiet around me. Only the occasional sound of cars passing by in the distance could be heard.
At that moment, a voice came from behind.
“What are you doing alone?”
“I couldn’t sleep, so I’m drinking beer.”
I turned my head and saw Taekgyu.
“Let’s drink together.”
Taekgyu went back, brought out a beer, and sat down next to me. We used to drink beer sitting under a convenience store parasol, but now I can’t even do that because my face is too well-known.
I recalled that time and said, “Even when we first invested, I didn’t know we’d come this far.”
In a capitalist society, money is power. When you have a lot of money, your power naturally increases. Before we knew it, our asset size had grown to the level of a large corporation, and we had gained global fame.
Taekgyu nodded.
“We’ve made too much money.”
There are forecasts that Caros’s value will reach $1 trillion when the full-scale self-driving car era opens. The market size and corporate value are growing rapidly as much as that.
Besides that, the pornography business and the pizza business are also doing well.
There are plenty of places in the world that manage more capital than us.
Pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, private equity funds, investment banks, financial companies, etc., with assets under management of hundreds of trillions. Even so, we have now reached a level that cannot be ignored.
The global financial market is like a vast ocean.
Having a lot of money is just like being on a big, good ship. Someone who brags about having a slightly bigger boat on a river is just one of many boats when they come out to the ocean.
Taekgyu, hearing my words, said, “Still, an aircraft carrier is better than a raft, right?”
“That’s true.”
The bigger the ship, the lower the probability of sinking. But the larger the ship, the harder it is to handle.
Like the Titanic, it could sink because it couldn’t avoid the iceberg in front of it even after discovering it, or it could sink if it was hit by a coastal gun or a torpedo fired from another ship.
Who would have imagined that venerable giant investment banks like Bear Stearns or Lehman Brothers would go bankrupt?
Just as the sea swallowed countless ships, the market has also swallowed countless companies and money.
Regardless of which company prospers or fails, or who loses or makes money, the market will continue to exist in its place like the sea.
I looked at Taekgyu and said, “What will we be doing later?”
“Hmm. Maybe we’ll be fishing on some island?”
“Do you even know how to fish?”
“Sure. I’ve done it in games.”
“…….”
Come to think of it, he hasn’t changed much whether he has a lot of money or not. The difference is that he’s gone from being a otaku with no money to an otaku with money?
I recalled the words I heard from Warren Buffett a long time ago. He said I should think about why I’m making money.
Do you really need a reason to make money?
***
We gathered at Hyun-joo noona’s house for dinner together.
I told my mother as well, but she said she couldn’t come because she had a golf appointment. She’s been learning golf from CEO Im Soo-mi these days, and it seems like she’s starting to enjoy it.
The house Taekgyu gifted wasn’t as luxurious as the penthouse in Manhattan, but it was clean and cozy. It had a garden, so it would be good for kids to run around in later.
Henry was grinning from ear to ear, looking extremely happy. When I first met him, he looked like a nobleman or a financial elite, but now he just looks like a lovesick fool.
Was he originally like this, or did he become like this because he’s been hanging out with us?
Either way, he looks much better now. A person being happy is the most important thing.
“Welcome.”
Hyun-joo noona was heavily pregnant. The baby in her belly was growing healthily, but medical personnel were still stationed at home and at the company in preparation for any unforeseen situation.
While Hyun-joo noona went into the room, saying she was going to lie down for a while, I asked Henry.
“I have a question to ask you.”
“What is it?”
I asked Henry.
“Do you know about the Rothschild family?”
He nodded as if it were obvious.
“Of course. Is there anyone who doesn’t know about them?”
“Not just what everyone knows, but about their actual substance.”
Henry looked puzzled.
“Why are you suddenly asking about that?”
“I became curious about Jewish capital.”
The founder of Golden Gate was Erich Goldman, a German Jew. In the early days, it started as a family business run by a Jewish family.
“As you know, we inherited the family business based on ability, regardless of whether it was direct or collateral lineage. It’s not like we only married within Jewish families, so we don’t have much connection with Jewish capital anymore.”
In fact, even just looking at the management team, various races are mixed, and each branch is guaranteed a certain degree of independent management.
But the Rothschild family would naturally be run by Jewish people, right?
I told him about what happened in New York.
“I met a woman named Grace Rothschild at JP Morgan headquarters.”
“Coincidentally?”
“Probably.”
My going there was completely unplanned.
“Rothschild and JP Morgan have a deep relationship. They probably hold quite a bit of shares through foundations or nominee names as well.”
This was also already known information.
“There’s talk that the Rothschild family’s assets are worth 50 trillion dollars.”
Henry burst into laughter as if he was dumbfounded.
“If it’s that much, it’s bigger than the US’s annual GDP. You don’t actually believe that, do you?”
Taekgyu, who was listening to the conversation, had a shocked expression.
“Keueuk! The assets of the guys who are the main players in all sorts of conspiracy theories are less than 50 trillion dollars.”
“…….”
Did he actually believe that?
“Since OTK Company is attracting attention from all over the world, it’s natural that they would also be interested.”
“Because of the money I have?”
Henry nodded.
“Money is money, but your young age is also a factor.”
If you can continue to earn returns above the market rate, capital combined with time will have immense power.
“Even if your assets increase by only 10 percent each year, they will double in about 7 years. In 14 years, it will be four times, and in 21 years, eight times. If the return rate is higher than that, the period will be even shorter.”
“That’s assuming you don’t suffer a single loss in between.”
If you only pursue average market returns, you don’t have to take big risks, but if you pursue returns beyond that, risk is inevitable.
An annual return of 10 percent is a return that anyone who is even slightly good at investing can easily achieve. But how many people can achieve such returns every year without fail?
And as the scale of capital grows, the rate of return is bound to decrease. Making 1 million won into 10 million won is completely different from making 10 billion won into 100 billion won.
“Isn’t there actually someone who can do that?”
“Warren Buffett?”
That old man surprisingly earned a return of 20 percent every year for decades. And Berkshire Hathaway, which was a small textile company, grew into a giant company with a market cap of over 600 billion dollars.
“The important thing is that whether Jin-hoo can actually do that or not, people think he can.”
Anyway, since you have precognition, it’s not impossible. My current assets are about $150 billion, so in 20 years, will I have more than $1 trillion?
The Saud family and the Abu Dhabi royal family are said to possess even more wealth than that, but they are families, and I am an individual.
“No one in history has ever made that much money in such a short period as Jin-hoo. That’s something even John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie couldn’t do.”
John D. Rockefeller is the oil king who created Standard Oil, and Andrew Carnegie is the steel king who created Carnegie Steel.
Both of them had assets of hundreds of billions of dollars (when converted to current amounts) at their peak, and the companies they created still remain as ExxonMobil and US Steel, playing a pivotal role in the US economy.
Money, as it accumulates, gains power in itself.
Even a prestigious family, when you think about it, is based on the assets that family possesses. How many families can survive on honor alone?
“How much assets do they have?”
“Well, it might not reach 50 trillion dollars, but it would still be 1 or 2 trillion dollars. Maybe even more.”
The Rothschild family handles fund management and internal affairs only among family members and relatives. Therefore, accurate assets or management methods, etc., are hardly known to the outside world.
“So, what we see isn’t everything.”
Like the saying “you see as much as you know,” a person’s perception ultimately cannot go beyond the scope of their knowledge.
Perhaps the financial market I have encountered so far is just a very small part of the whole?
[Notice: Some of you might not know this but don’t worry we’ll be announcing it soon official that Moonlight Novels will be closing soon. I’ll be moving all my novels to another group for those who want to keep up with the update of the current novel “An investor who see the future” click on the image below and follow me for further updates.]
