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my family. The world of the farmer is very tough and there are many risks but all farmers know that they must save. The propensity to save
in those years was much higher. It was a much poorer world, with a lot less wealth but the propensity to save on a lower wage was higher
than it is now. It is a question of mentality.
3.Saving is important, but naturally you cannot only concentrate on that because without investment you cannot create wealth.
Have you ever taken out a risky investment that didn’t allow you to sleep at night?
Saving is fundamental for investment that needs to be undertaken by companies and entrepreneurs. This is why it is necessary to have an
intermediate between the saver and the investor. These are the banks and the stock market. My risky investment was when I set up my
company. It was a bet that paid off and became a bank, insurance company, management company and sales network. I started off with
a sales network that didn’t need much investment and then a bit at a time we moved forward and gradually as the results came in we were
able to create the trust, the fund management company, to buy a small insurance company and finally to set up the bank. I have to say
that I was totally convinced and enthusiastic and if I was awake at night it wasn’t because of worry but for the ideas I had. My best ideas
came to me at night, also at 5 o’clock in the morning. When you have rested and you are alone in the dark the mind begins to work and
ideas are formed. So I have never had sleepless fromworry, just as I have never liked taking risks. I have loved doing business. But doing it
with the necessary know-how and skills in order to be able to know the best way of facing the risk. My company started off slowly. First I
worked in the bank, then as a promoter and so I learnt a different job from the selling of funds. Working in an insurance group taught me a
lot about insurance. In the end I had a lot of know-how so I was very familiar with the bank, funds and insurance. Working for third parties
I put my skills to the test and getting results I understood that I could transfer those results into my own company. It was a slow process. I
didn’t suddenly throw myself in at the deep end.
4.Our customers are part of the world of agriculture linked to the earth and its traditions: what advice can you offer them about
saving at this moment of crisis in the Chinese and Arab economies with the fall in the price of crude oil? Will water become the
most precious commodity?
It is clear that we are living in a different era. The world born in 1973 when the Arabs decided to control the supply of crude oil by keeping
it lower than demand in order to maintain prices high came to an end in 2014. During the oil crisis, we still remember that we spent
Sundays on foot and the cities were dark at night because they had to turn off the streetlights, and with the terrible economic crisis there
was a transfer of wealth from the West to the exporters of crude oil who then accumulated immense wealth. This went on for 40 years.
Technology today allows us to find oil or gas -the famous shale oil or gas oil – in zones that were previously inaccessible. With vertical,
shallow wells and with jets of water and other compounds they are able to break the rock and free the oil. This has led to an abundance
in the supply of oil which has caused a fall in prices. This drop in price has an immediate negative effect in an economy because exporters
do not supply the same quantities as before. Not having the revenue as before they are forced to sell off previous investments. Those
sovereign funds that seemed able to buy the world are now selling. In addition to these negative effects there are also long term positive
effects. The cost of energy is a lot less and therefore so are manufacturing costs, inflation is low so interest rates are low and money costs
less. These elements bring an enormous advantage to the West. If we think about Italy, which is an importer of energy. Think how much
we save filling our tanks with petrol. This extra money in our pockets can be spent on goods. If we think of this effect influencing the entire
West we can begin to see these phenomena as positive. The slowing down of the Chinese economy is due to the fact that when there is
rapid growth a slow-down is inevitable because imbalances are caused which need to be dealt with. After a period of strong growth there
is always a period of stasis and crisis before the world takes off again. The same thing has happened to the markets for other reasons.
When there was the attack on the Twin Towers we were in the middle of the internet bubble which had burst, the crisis which would
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