"--with all your responsibilities, and I hope I'll be able to answer
all your questions on modern estate planning. That's what I'm here
for!" He smiled as if he were pausing for questions, but he didn't
pause.
He intoned, "The man of wealth has a special responsibility in our
society. He is the trustee of invested capital, on which our economy
rests. His proud charge is to direct and build his holdings wisely;
and natural economic laws have justly placed the nation's considerable
estates in the hands of men equal to the charge.
"At the same time, such men owe themselves freedom from deprivation.
And they owe themselves a financial plan adapted to their
own--er--preferences and tastes in freedom from deprivation. This is
why we speak of _personalized_ estate planning. Maybe this will be
still clearer, Mr. Borch, if we look at an example."
* * * * *
Here we go again, I thought, as he hauled a packet out of his brief
case, opened it out into a little stand on the table, and flipped up
the first chart.
"Take the case of Robert Jones, who inherits $25,000,000 from
his father. The inheritance taxes are all taken care of by
investment-incentive deductions, so Mr. Jones has $25,000,000 in liquid
assets to invest."
Right on the ball, I thought. The hypothetical 25 million was just
about twice the publicly known size of the Borch estate, therefore
right in the league he could figure I'd like to be playing in. And the
hypothetical Jones on the chart, confidently facing the future, was
handsome and dignified, but not _much_ more so than I was.
"Mr. Jones has a wife and one young son." They appeared beside him on
the second chart, and they looked very pleasant. The salesman knew Jed
Borch was unmarried. "He has planned to his satisfaction a way of life
appropriate to his standing." On the next chart the Jones family was
backed up by a half-acre bungalow, a lake, and wooded hills.
"His desire is for security, to ensure this pattern of living to
himself and his wife, and to his son. His personalized Statistomat
plans his finances accordingly." On succeeding charts, Jones changed
only in subtle lengthening of the firm lines in his face, his wife
didn't change at all, but his son sprouted to a six-footer and the
bungalow grew some too. A bar graph superimposed on the picture kept
track of the investment. By the time the boy was full-grown it had
risen to a modest $100,000,000.
"On the other hand, consider Michael Thompson. Starting with the same
sum of $25,000,000, he may just as legitimately view different goals.
Mr. Thompson is unmarried, and has not yet chosen to what station he
will aspire." Chapter Two of the charts had just as admirable-looking
a man (different color hair). I was curious how much Statistomat would
finagle for him, but not curious enough to sit through another dozen
charts. When the salesman said, "Naturally he's willing to risk--" I
interrupted:
"I don't want any risk. Can't afford to." I smiled slyly.
"Responsibility to society."
"Of course, of course, but you might be willing, like Mr. Thompson,
to--er--look beyond the more accepted channels of finance for the sake
of the larger returns that can be realized by breaking new ground, as
it were--participating in pioneering enterprises."
"Oh, sure. Don't want to miss any bets."
* * * * *
So far you couldn't see anything to complain about in his pitch,
considering it alongside the pitch for General Computers' Incomac. In
fact it essentially _was_ a General Computers pitch, with the brand
name changed. Let's get to the point, I thought. I pointed to the odd
suitcase. "Uh ... what's that?"
He was adaptable enough to give up the Michael Thompson story and open
up the suitcase, promptly and proudly.
"Oh, the computer," I said, almost encouragingly.
But he didn't let that stand. "No," he admitted, "this is just a
life-size facsimile of the new Statistomat. I'm afraid the real thing
is too valuable and too heavy for me to carry around, even to such an
important interview as this."
"How heavy?"
"I'd say about ten times as heavy as this one," he evaded neatly. "Now
on this facsimile I can illustrate the ideas we've been developing.
Here, you see this screen and these knobs. I'll turn this switch on and
we can watch this part of it just as if this was the real computer."
My surprise was genuine. His demonstration mockup was a live one. I
wished my brother could see it.
"On this screen we record your time-dependent utility function. For
your convenience, the input is mechanical, but from this point on all
the Statistomat's computing is performed digitally."