America's Road to Wealth

"You are truly a winner in life, and this world is truly wonderful. It seems that sometimes wealth may not be a necessity. The key is to look at people..."

Santa Barbara, California.

1 Rd. San Mateo, Corona del Mar.

Early next morning.

In the breakfast room of the villa, Abel held up a copy of "The American Sun" and issued this content.

The reason why Abeldu was so emotional was because the news in this newspaper was enough to make most of the male readers feel emotional when they saw it, and the female readers were indignant after seeing it.

This is an article from the American Sun, reprinted from British news from the British Daily Mail.

To put it simply, Abel's American newspaper reprinted reports from Abel's British newspaper.

Swapping the left hand for the right hand and authorizing each other can save a lot of money.

This is also the reason why those multinational news groups can develop better.

The title of this news article is a report about "A British man lives with seven wives, and the wives do housework through a "duty schedule" and take turns with their husbands to sleep with Simmons according to rules..."

Seriously, just the title.

It is enough to make most men all over the world feel envious, jealous and hateful.

The problem is that this corrupt man is not a very rich man like Abel, he is just a second-hand furniture dealer.

This guy claimed to be the reincarnation of the Hebrew king from the biblical era. He used the ridiculous excuse that God asked him to marry 7 wives and found 7 wives one after another.

The youngest wife No. 7 is now 20 years old. She was ‘married’ to him when she was in college. She was only 18 years old at that time...

Abel felt that the man in the news was simply outrageous.

Compared with myself, this dear friend has no tricks. He is really just an ordinary person.

Unlike himself, he has unparalleled talent in finance.

There is also a super exaggerated body that barely managed to conquer the current Crystal Palace.

The Crystal Palace is even a little unstable, sustained mainly by wealth and power.

What about others?

Abel couldn't help feeling that the magic of religion was often so terrifying.

It can even replace money, power and other abilities to influence humans and make them subservient to other humans.

"Oh, are you reading this news too? Ha...it's very outrageous, but I've seen it. His wives are all average-looking, and none of them are beautiful."

Ikana and her father got up later than Abel.

The old man came in to have breakfast, glanced at the title of the newspaper Abel was reading, and said with a smile.

Abel put down the newspaper and pointed to the seat next to him, "Ted, sit down. It seems that we haven't had breakfast together."

"Ha, indeed." Ted Lerner smiled and sat down.

The old man was in a good mood.

Yesterday at noon, he and Abel rushed to Santa Barbara.

More than two hours later, Ted saw the two little grandchildren he missed so much.

The two children born to his favorite daughter are also the two children he values ​​the most now.

The main reason is that Abel values ​​​​family values ​​and treats his illegitimate daughter very well. This is not a secret among the upper class in the United States.

Ted thought that the daughter of a Hollywood female star would be loved and treated favorably by Abel.

There is only one reason why Abel likes his own daughter, the child born by Ikana, who is more loved by Abel.

Abel liked his grandson, so his grandson would naturally be more valuable.

This made Ted believe that these two grandsons were the Lerner family and the Smith family, two of the most important ties in the future.

Ted, who has strong business habits, is willing to show great affection to his two grandsons, even if it is just out of business ideas.

Yesterday evening and night, he even took turns holding Ivana Laura Smith and Andy TLP Smith for almost two hours under the guidance of nurses and baby experts.

That's right, the two children Ikana gave birth to to Abel were named this way.

The girl was born first and is the older sister. The name was finally decided to be Ikana’s mother’s name, which was the name of the child’s biological grandmother.

The middle name is the name of her "mother" and the last name is of course Smith.

The boy was born later and was the younger brother. The name is Andy, given by Abel. The middle name is Ikana's last name, which is Ted's last name, followed by Smith.

As long as the names of these two children are exposed, anyone who knows a little bit about the matter will immediately know who their father is.

This means that fundamentally, Abel never thought of hiding these two children.

He was open about the presence of children.

Ted Lerner is very satisfied with this.

Because the more Abel behaves like this, the more beneficial it is to Ted.

Dining room.

After sitting down, I took a sip of the warm beef noodle.

Then Ted asked: "Dear, have you seen the development report for plot x199? The manager of your real estate company should have told you that the project has started, right?"

Lot X199 is a real estate property developed in Manhattan Island by New Starting Real Estate Company and Ted Lerner Group.

It is close to Fifth Avenue and Central Park. It is in a good location. The only drawback is that the land area is a bit small and not enough to build a large community.

The year before last, Abel came into contact with Ted Lerner under the introduction of Ikana.

The two later looked at the land, and Abel decided to buy it and develop it into the tallest residential building in New York.

His New Start Company auctioned the land, and construction companies under the Lerner Group undertook the construction.

Both parties jointly invest, with Abel investing more and enjoying 60% of the property rights, while Lerner Group owns 40%.

It was also during this cooperation that Abel had people collect information on commercially valuable land throughout New York.

From the beginning, Abel wanted to build his own "Stark Building" in Manhattan.

It’s the iconic building in the Marvel movies with a big “A” standing above its head.

With this idea in mind, Abel discovered the plans for the Hudson Bay City Plaza in the information on these commercial real estate sites.

Abel was naturally surprised that there was such a large piece of undeveloped land on Manhattan Island.

After he understood it, he later started to vigorously implement this plan and wanted to create a spectacle in New York and Manhattan.

After more than two years of Abel’s unremitting efforts, Hudson Yards has finally taken shape.

The demolition work is almost done, even though it was very difficult in the middle and there were some accidents.

But in any case, with the efforts of Abel, Bloomberg, Morgenthau, and other collaborators.

In the end, everything was settled. This can really be said to be a huge project.

A major project negotiated with behemoths including Morgan and Rockefeller.

If it weren't for Abel's rapid growth, if it weren't for Abel's crazy expansion of influence.

Even if we can talk about success, it will not be so smooth.

Fortunately, now, it is finally completed.

Demolition work for the entire huge project is expected to begin at the end of next year or the beginning of the next year.

Around early 2005, construction began.

Completion is expected at the end of 2008 or early 2009.

Seeing the time period when it was completed, if there were any reborn people in this world, they would find that Abel had "evil intentions."

Because this project was started in New York, and even in the United States after the 21st century, when real estate was the most prosperous and housing prices were the most expensive.

By then, for this huge project, Abel will definitely engage in something like off-plan housing.

It's the kind where the property rights are sold before the house is even built.

Don’t think that it’s just China that does this, it’s the same abroad...

In other words, there are many real estate options abroad, and real estate is not an advantageous project.

Except for particularly tight real estate projects, most real estate companies cannot do this.

No matter how you look at it now, Hudson Yards is such a super-demanding project and one of the future centers of Manhattan.

Abel can take advantage of the boom in the U.S. real estate industry to push up the housing prices of Manhattan's new urban landmarks to an exaggerated level.

When maximizing profits, sell or rent out the house in the city square.

When the construction of the entire project is almost complete and the house is about to be handed over and completed.

At that time, the subprime mortgage crisis was over, and the impact of the financial crisis was still ongoing, but it was also nearing its end.

This period was also one of the lowest in the history of U.S. housing prices.

The most exaggerated place in the United States at that time was that housing prices in 2009 dropped by 4/5 from their peak in 2007.

The house originally sold for $5 million fell to more than $1 million.

Even Manhattan is no exception, just slightly better.

At that time, Abel could act like a good person and take back the house he sold at a high price at a low price.

At that time, there will definitely be a large number of investors who will have to cut their flesh and leave the market.

The meat they cut was the delicacy in Abel's mouth.

And we all know that the U.S. economy will begin to "recover" again later.

House prices, which had fallen, started to rise again one after another, returning to their peak in 2014, almost doubling in 2018, and doubling in 2020...

Sell ​​it at a high price and make one lot, buy it at a low price and make another lot.

With this effort, not only can the entire construction funds be fully recovered, but you can even make a fortune.

This is the basic operation of capitalists.

As for the X199 plot, the total investment is only a few hundred million US dollars, with a maximum cap of US$1 billion.

To Abel, it was just dessert before a meal at the Hudson Yards.

Insignificant.

But what was insignificant to him was crucial to Ted Lerner.

This project is already the largest construction project Ted Lerner has ever received in his life.

In the past, most of the real estate projects undertaken by the old man were the sale and purchase of existing houses, and at most they were renovated and renovated.

Today, the X199 project is still a landmark project, a project cooperating with the world's richest man.

Of course Ikana's father attaches great importance to it. The old man's work in the past year has been all focused on this.

Now I have the opportunity to meet Abel face to face. Of course the real estate businessman wanted Abel to pay more attention to this project.

This will also increase the visibility of this project.

When the project is completed, it can make the value of the project even higher.

When the time comes to sell the house, the offer can be higher.

The house built by Abel Smith was the first real estate project in which the world's richest man participated.

What a great gimmick. Those West Asian tycoons who are not short of money will definitely not mind opening up their pockets and spending a lot!

"Have you seen it? Hasn't the construction work already started? I remember that the progress is very good."

Of course Abel knew what her father was thinking about Ikana.

Abel smiled and said:

"It is expected to be completed in 2004 and will be available for sale by the end of the year. Ted, believe me, this will definitely make you a lot of money. And this will definitely allow the Lerner Group to establish enough reputation in the industry. In this way, wait and see When the construction of my Hudson Yards begins, I will be able to let your company join this feast openly. This is all in my plan, so you don’t have to worry."

Even though he already knew what the plan was, hearing Abel say this now made Ted Lerner feel more reassured.

Hudson Yards, as long as you can get 1% of it, it will be a huge project that can double the market value of the current Lerner Group!

Thinking of this, the old man's mood improved, and his beaming look appeared.

"Oh, of course, of course I understand! No one knows better than me..."

Mid-sentence, Ted took back his favorite catchphrase.

He felt that in front of his son-in-law, it was better not to say that no one knew better than him.

Smiling shamelessly, Ted wisely changed the topic to Ikana and the children.

"Abel, I have decided to transfer 10% of the shares of Lerner Group to the names of Ikana, Andy, and Ivana."

Abel raised his eyebrows and looked at Ted.

"Ikana is my child, my first child. No matter what, she will be one of my heirs. Then of course her children will also enjoy part of the inheritance rights of my property. This is as it should be."

Ted said with a natural look.

Abel was somewhat dissatisfied with the old man's statement.

He remembered being Ted's most outstanding child in the parallel time and space, but only because he was his daughter.

Ikana did not get much inheritance rights at all.

What she has is only part of the management rights of the Lerner Group.

To put it bluntly, she is just working for her father and earning more property for her brothers in the future.

If it weren't for inheriting her father's property, she wouldn't have much hope.

She wouldn't be so cruel as to give up so much just to marry the oil man husband she chose.

Even her eyesight is not that good.

The husband she chose was glamorous on the outside, but actually very ordinary on the inside.

A perfectly embroidered pillow, and something like "Ikana, there's you too" happened later.

In view of what happened to the Lerner family in parallel time and space.

Abel didn't think Ted was sincerely distributing part of his property to his woman and children in advance.

What the old man did was actually a businessman's habit.

What are business habits?

Pay the cost and get more benefits.

The 10% of Lerner Group shares was Ted's cost when doing "this business".

And what he wants to get, of course, is more and more.

Knowing this, but for the sake of Ikana and the children, Abel thought about it.

He still said softly: "On behalf of Ikana, Andy, and Ivana, I would like to say thank you to you."

"Ted. Let's do this. All subsequent proceeds from the X199 project will be merged into the Lerner Group in the name of Ikana and the Children. This will be the same as the 10% share, as Ikana and the Children. the property of."

Ted didn't have time to think about whether Abel's approach was more beneficial to him.

Abel had already stood up and said:

"I'm full and have to continue working. I have to go to Washington in two days. Ted, you can do whatever you want. If you want to go back to New York, I'll let my plane take you back."

Ted only had time to respond before seeing Abel turn and leave.

Looking at Abel's disappearing back, Ted patted himself with some distress.

"Snapped--"

The old man regretted that he had laid out his bottom line so early.

In fact, to put it bluntly, the 10% shares that Ted said were given to Ikana and her children were not at all as upright as Ted said.

The important reason why he did this was because he was afraid that Ikana would use Abel's power and influence to get involved in the Lerner Group with Abel's help.

The Lerner Group and he are so dependent on Abel now. If Ikana wants to do this, Abel will support it.

Ted himself and his other children would be in serious trouble.

If Ikana is more ruthless, Abel will also be ruthless.

It is not impossible for Ted and his children to be directly occupied by a dove.

Too many such things happen among wealthy people and business families in the United States and Europe.

It can be regarded as a standard routine of grudges between wealthy families.

The problem is that Ted is now reluctant to part with the benefits that Abel has brought to him. There are also various influences and a better future.

To guard against this possibility, he planned to divide the property in advance.

Give away a large piece of profit and cut yourself a large piece of flesh.

I hope to dispel Ikana's possible thoughts in this regard.

He was testing Abel just now.

Test Abel's possible attitude and position in this matter.

As a result, Abel didn't express himself at all, and he still wanted to add more weight to this matter.

The interests of the X199 project are merged into the Lerner Group, which gives Ikana a greater say in the Lerner Group.

If Ikana had no idea, that would be fine.

Abel did this purely to help Ted Lerner, allowing him to grow his real estate company faster.

If only Ikana had an idea.

By doing this, Abel was directly helping Ikana seize power.

However, Ikana is famous and capable, but her brothers are too inferior.

If this was the case, there was nothing her father could do except cut it off right away.

Thinking of all the possibilities behind it, the more Ted Lerner thought about it, the more he regretted it.

"I shouldn't have said these things... No, I shouldn't have come to California!"

Ted hates California. He feels that California is not compatible with him!

Now he was more certain of it.