The Life of Peter Munk

Peter Munk 1927 – 2018

The founder of the world’s largest gold mining company passed away a couple of days ago at the age of 90. Peter Munk came from humble beginnings. He fled his home country of Hungry during WWII when it was invaded by Nazi Germany. Soon after he boarded a boat from England and came to Canada when he was 20 years old.

With no skills, money, or influence Peter and his family had to start from nothing in a foreign country. But that didn’t stop him from wanting to achieve great success. After graduating from the University of Toronto in 1952 Peter thrived in the business world. He helped to build multiple companies, including resorts, an electronic manufacturer, and mining companies. His biggest career move began in 1981 when he formed Barrick Investments, which would eventually become Barrick Gold (stock symbol ABX) the largest gold miner in the world. The company currently produces about 5 million ounces of gold per year across its many operations around the world.

Among other things, the billionaire entrepreneur is also known for being one of canada’s most significant philanthropists giving hundreds of millions of dollars to charity such as hospitals. He also established the Munk School of Global Affairs, the Munk Debates, amd was named a Companion of the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honor.

Last year he was included in the New York Stock Exchange Wall of Innovators, alongside Warren Buffett, Jamie Dimon and Jack Ma. In a remark that captured the two leading pursuits of his life—business and philanthropy—Peter Munk said. “You can create wealth. You are entitled to the joy of this creation. But ultimately society makes it possible, and this wealth should flow back to society.”

Being independently wealthy is nice and all. But doing something meaningful with that money is more important. Having money doesn’t make our problems go away. It merely replaces one problem with another. For example Elvis Presley’s daughter inherited $100 million from her father’s estate in 1993. But that’s when the problems began. Through years of spending and mismanagement the funds have nearly dried out. This year only $14,000 remains of the initial $100 million fortune. Ouch. 🙁  Having a lot of money also created many problems for Jeane Napoles and her family. Peter Munk has 5 children and 13 grandchildren. I hope they can make their inheritance last longer. Financial management education is important for everyone, but especially so for children who come from wealthy families.

The idea that rich people don’t have money problems is a myth. Everyone has money problems from the single parent living on social assistance to the CEO of a large company. The difference is the CEO just has better money problems. Or maybe worse, depending on your perspective. 🙂

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