I was reading a book on business, and at the end of each chapter there are some "exercises" for the reader to go through. One of them asked what you learned from your father, presumably about money and business.

I thought about that one, long and hard, because my dad wasn't a businessman, he was an employee. He worked hard his whole life, saved his money, foregoing any luxuries until comparatively late in life, and then he didn't spend too much.

So as I thought about it, I remembered that my dad always wanted me to work for myself, not for someone else. I don't remember him saying anything particularly profound about it; he just would say that it's much better to work for yourself. He and my mom always pushed me toward the medical field, and when I was not interested in becoming a physician, they accepted my decision to go into dentistry. There, as my dad hoped, I have always worked for myself.

My father was not one to take a risk. He often talked about the opportunities that came their way during their life. One that I remember clearly was when he said he was offered a chance to buy land in the Wisconsin Dells. I don't know if it was only 10 acres or if it was 100 acres (that part I just can't remember) but I do know the price was 100 dollars per acre. The Dells was NOTHING in those days, just a few attractions, a boat tour of the river, a thing called Deer Park, and some motels.

Had he done this, he would have made money (if it was 10 acres) or perhaps gotten very rich (if it was 100 acres). Land there today is worth quite a lot. More than 10,000 dollars per acre, I would guess, though I've never officially looked into it. He might have sold it for over a million.

There were other opportunities, such as buying farmland near the neighborhood where I grew up, for a per acre cost of something in the hundreds. That land is fully developed with houses and businesses today but then was served by a dirt road. (The road is a four lane thoroughfare today in that area.)

My dad was very conservative with his money - too conservative, perhaps, but conservative. He knew how hard he had to work for the money we had, and he felt that the way to keep money was to buy CDs at the bank and keep that money safe for years. It's what his parents did, and I suppose it served him and my mom well. As long as she doesn't have a catastrophic illness, she should be able to live for years on his pension and on what they saved.

He imparted his views on money to me, and I know I took them to heart. I have almost always worried that I won't have enough for my own retirement, for my kids' college, for whatever comes my way. I have not stuck with CD's at banks, as he did. I'm "diversified" in the stock and bond markets through mutual funds. I also own a business and the building that the business is in (in part, anyway). Yet I get that tightness in my stomach no matter what I do financially, unless it's just putting my paycheck in the bank.

My father taught me to work as hard as I could and to not accept less than my best, always strive to be the best I could be. I remember him being frustrated with me as an athlete, because he was a good baseball and football player, and I just wasn't. But I strove for excellence in academia, and I feel like I achieved some measure of it.