OPM

This is an acronym for Other People’s Money, the core philosophy underlying many of the financial giants who drove the gold, silver, and copper frenzies in the Death Valley territory. After all, why invest all of our own money when others are willing to put in their own? The men who were notorious for scams, such as the likes of Charles Courtney Julian, were masters at keeping their personal investment in a shaky venture at a bare minimum, while unrealistically inflating the value and payout of a mining operation to such an extreme that folks were falling all over each other to hand over their money, in hopes of unimaginable wealth. Walter Scott, of Scotty’s Castle fame, was also a mastermind when it came to existing on other people’s money. He went about it in his own unique ways however, and is remembered well by most tourists today. Be leery if someone solicits investment funds for their scheme! If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Still, we all dream of that big break into financial freedom!