Читать книгу The Value of Debt in Building Wealth - Thomas J. Anderson - Страница 12

Every successful company in the world has a chief financial officer (CFO) who looks holistically at the company's finances to maximize resources and profits. You and your family are not a company, and I understand that there are important differences. But a CFO's raison d'être is to do well financially, and we can learn some important, broad lessons from CFOs as we establish our personal, financial glide path. I believe one of the important tips we can take from CFOs is how they work both sides of the balance sheet to design and implement an overall debt philosophy and establish lines of credit as part of a holistic picture.

Structuring the right amount of debt in the right way is critical because too much risk could bankrupt the company and too little debt could leave it vulnerable. Once they've found their formulas, most CFOs keep fairly constant debt ratios from year to year.10 Every corporation in the world uses debt as a tool to fund operations and leverage opportunities, and you and your family should, too.

WHO NEEDS AN AAA RATING?

Only two companies in the United States issue AAA bonds.11 AAA bonds mean a company has the highest possible credit rating and generally the least amount of debt.

Pick a large company you admire, and chances are high that its bonds do not have the highest credit rating. Make no mistake, this is a proactive choice by the CFOs and they are well aware that they do not have the highest rating. These companies could easily choose to be AAA, but they don't see the value in having the highest credit rating.

They've chosen to embrace the liquidity, flexibility, and tax benefits associated with debt. At the same time, they make sure they don't have too much debt so that they take on too much risk.

Most Fortune 500 companies find a balanced middle ground between being debt free and having too much debt.

There's an incredible disconnect between how companies and individuals look at debt: Almost all successful companies use debt as a tool to provide liquidity and a cushion for emergencies and opportunities, but very few individuals and families are even willing to think about this strategy. Individuals and families tend to either have too much debt or want to pay off all of their debt as soon as they can. In our new financial glide path, we'll take a CFO-like approach and work both sides of our balance sheet.