About Barry James Dyke
BARRY JAMES DYKE, President & Founder of Castle Asset Management, LLC entered the financial services business in 1982 with Prudential after working with RCA Global Communications and high tech industries. At Prudential, he was one of the rookies of the year. Soon after he then became an independent agent with New England Life, founded a pension consulting business in 1986 called Chestnut Green Benefit that excelled in the design, installation and funding of both qualified and non-qualified retirement plans. He has also designed, communicated and administered numerous health and welfare plans, and in 1990 set up the first self funded PPO plan for a Fortune 100 company for a major Boston HMO. Dyke also founded an administration firm in 1991, The Merrimac Benefit Group, Inc. Which specialized in flexible benefit and defined contribution health and welfare plans under Sections 125 and 105 of the Internal Revenue Code.
He has also written about financial planning and retirement plan issues in national publications such as Pensions & Investment Age and Broker World, and in self-published newsletters. Dyke is currently working on a book that addresses the inherent problems of investing in the stock market, how deregulation and the central banking system have created the “Casino Age” which shifts additional risk onto consumers.
As one of the leading agents in his field, he has worked with numerous closely held businesses, high net worth individuals and major public corporations. In 2000, Dyke founded another corporation, Castle Asset Management, LLC that is a Registered Investment Advisor. Today, he spends the majority of his time in macroeconomic financial planning for his clients to help them maximize their opportunities, expose them to the severely damaging pitfalls of traditional “accumulation theory financial planning” most often promoted by major financial institutions, their agents and the media. He also assists clients in setting up their own finance companies. An ardent student in Austrian economics, Dyke defends the market economy, private property and sound money. He celebrates the freedom and productive power of capitalism, and views government intervention as socially and economically destructive.
From the Preface of his book, The Pirates of Manhattan...
In 1997, the research for this book began. Finishing this book is just as much about overcoming obstacles as it is about educating the agent and consumer about the mechanics of the monetary system and the benefits of life insurance.
In the fall of 1999, the author’s mother died. Twelve months later, the author and his then wife and children formally separated, which led to heartbreaking consequences and a nasty divorce. Approximately twelve months after the separation, the author underwent an operation for skin cancer on a day, which will go down in infamy in American history—September 11, 2001.
During this time, the author, a financial and consulting professional, felt like the world was coming to an end. On the one hand, he was losing significant revenue as successful clients sold their businesses to larger entities, and on the other hand, competitors were successfully stealing many existing clients who got wind of the author’s acrimonious divorce. He had to let go of staff that had once helped him. The world of business was like running on a treadmill from hell.
Incoming legal invasions were devastating, like rocket attacks from the Vietnam conflict. Early morning appearances from sheriffs serving legal notices became as routine as brushing his teeth. Visits to therapists increased. Nothing seemed to help, not even prayer.
Moreover, it got worse. The author, who had built up a Tiffany credit report and a successful financial planning and benefits consulting practice over twenty years of hard work, determination, and sweat equity, watched competitors and creditors begin to tear him apart. Major banks, who are portrayed as some of America’s most admired financial institutions, got very nasty and verbally abusive. The author wondered if Tony Soprano had trained them.
Every week law firms representing banks sent certified legal notices to the author at a time when the author had no funds to defend himself. The humiliation was devastating and incomprehensible. The author’s marital home was in the process of foreclosure. The notice of public auction was heartbreaking. It was quite difficult to sleep. The American dream had not only fallen apart; it had been shattered into a million little pieces.
After the foreclosure, the author’s final divorce agreement was handed out. It was not kind to the author. However, no one wins in a divorce; the collateral damage hits everyone in its path.
One of the mortgagees who had a lien on the marital residence was not happy with the author. Creditors continued to hound him day and night at his business and home. Bottom-fishing predatory creditor counseling agencies hounded the author as well, leaving as many as a half dozen calls per day, sometimes invading the author’s privacy with automatic auto-dialers. Bankruptcy was the only logical choice and the process of filing was not cheap.
However, even in the bankruptcy court the author was hammered. After the author filed at the courthouse, the creditors filed liens against the author’s ex-spouse. The ex-spouse filed suit against the author in federal bankruptcy court. The author lost once again. The idea of a fresh start in bankruptcy was an absolute hallucination.
In addition, during the calamity of losing another battle in a courtroom, which favored the rights of a bank over the rights of an individual, the Internal Revenue Service was turning up the heat for unpaid taxes with a new salvo of registered letters, penalties, and interest. All the while, the author continued to work on this book. For months at a time, he would drop the research, only to pick it up again. Something within the author compelled him to get out his story.
On a business trip to New York, the author, while driving absent- mindedly and in a rush, slid into a guardrail in Westchester. He totaled his old car, with a laptop computer in the trunk. The car and the laptop were insured, but all the files and original chapters of this book were lost in the accident. In 2004, from memory and notes, the author started the writing all over again.
In a way, the author’s life was a modern day Book of Job. In spite of it all, the author still had a great deal of gratitude for knowing that he had his physical health, wonderful children, amazing friends and an incredible depth of experience and passion for the work he has done which has benefited others. He lives in a beautiful place. Outside his window, he can see the Atlantic Ocean. He has been given the gifts of a sharp intellect and the persistence of a prizefighter. To try to hide the author’s wreckage of the past would be a major mistake, so, Dear Reader, you now know the absolute truth—warts and all.
Where this work will take the author no one really knows, but from the bottom of the author’s heart, he is pleased that he can write a book like The Pirates of Manhattan. It is a David versus Goliath story and originates in the heart of an underdog—a persona found somewhere in all of us.
For those of you who face challenges in your life, the author wants you to know that others have gone through financial and moral devastation and have come out stronger on the other side. Ultimately, rejection and destruction have the potential to become the ultimate blessing. As Charles Dickens once commented, “the best steel goes through the fire.” Above all else, have faith and just take things one day at a time. There are literally hundreds of examples of the power of persistence, but some of the more notable examples are people who have overcome tremendous financial and devastating setbacks.
Immanuel Nobel, father of Alfred Nobel went bankrupt twice in his life. Alfred went on to become the world’s largest manufacturer of explosives and later one of the world’s greatest philanthropists with the creation of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Phineas Taylor (P.T.) Barnum filed for bankruptcy due to losses he incurred for embarking in unwise business ventures. P.T. was so devastated that at one point he contemplated suicide. After bankruptcy, Barnum organized his famous circus, “The Greatest Show on Earth.” Later, he would merge his circus with that of another famous competitor, James Bailey, to form the Barnum and Bailey Circus. Barnum would go on to make millions after his bankruptcy.
Henry John Heinz manufactured condiments and sold horseradish, pickles, sauerkraut, and vinegar using a variety of family recipes. His company would file for bankruptcy when an unexpected bumper crop gave the company a demand to which it could not live up. The company became so over-extended it could not meet payroll. After bankruptcy, Heinz immediately started a new company, the H.J. Heinz Company that manufactured a new product known as tomato ketchup. The rest is history.
L. Frank Baum is one of the author’s favorite examples of a comeback story. Baum was the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. After running a retail store in South Dakota into bankruptcy, Baum went on to become an author and write one of the most popular books in American children’s literature. At face value, it appears to be an innocent fairy tale about love and family. Yet in many circles, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is considered an allegory and a sophisticated commentary and parable of economic and political issues, which faced America during the Populist era. In part, the story was an illustration illuminating a number of issues during the Gilded Age such as the growth of Populism and the silver movement, the Gilded Age presidency, the problems of labor, and the insurrection in the Philippines. Baum wanted to make Oz youthful entertainment first but the underlying allegories are impressive and apparent.
Oz is the abbreviation for an ounce of gold. The Yellow Brick Road is symbolic for the “banker’s gold standard” with all of its dangers. The Cowardly Lion represents William Jennings Bryant—a Populist presidential candidate who at one point challenged the nation’s banking system and Wall Street. The Scarecrow was the wise but naïve western farmer. The Tin Woodsman stood for the dehumanized industrial worker of the time. The Deadly Poppy Field, where the Cowardly Lion slept but could not move forward, was considered to symbolize how the country was stuck because of the Spanish-American War and the imperialism in the Philippines. The Emerald Palace represented the White House, while the Emerald City represented a fantasy version of Washington. The Wizard, who was a bumbling old man, could have passed as one of the Gilded Age presidents. The Wicked Witch of the East stood for eastern manufacturing, banking, and Wall Street interests, which controlled the financial agenda of America, and the Munchkins represented the people they controlled. The slippers Judy Garland wore in the movie are ruby colored, but in Baum’s book, they were silver as silver coinage was a way to make the money supply more plentiful for average Americans over the interest of bankers.
Another great story is that of Mark Twain. Twain lost all of his money investing in a worthless machine called the Paige Compositor. In bankruptcy, Twain discharged all of his debts but he was determined to repay what he owed. Twain gave lectures to large audiences and spent four years traveling Europe doing so. He used the money he earned to repay his debts and wrote successful books such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Pudd’nhead Wilson.
Henry Ford’s first company also ended in bankruptcy. The second company he started ended in a disagreement with a business partner. His third company, the Ford Motor Company, almost went under as well, but then he sold his first car and the rest is history.
Milton Snavely Hershey started four candy companies that failed and Hershey filed for bankruptcy, too. Hershey, who only had a fourth grade education, started a fifth company, the Hershey Chocolate Company, with the determination that the public would buy a good product at a fair price. His last attempt was obviously quite successful.
Walt Disney, who will be discussed later in this book in regards to how he used his life insurance cash values to form Walt Disney theme parks in 1952, went bankrupt for the first time in 1923 after he had created the Laugh-O-Gram Corporation in 1921. Walt would go on to realize phenomenal success.
Charles Goodyear went bankrupt several times and he even spent time in debtor’s prisons in Philadelphia, New Haven, and Boston. With his wife’s incredible loyalty, relentless perseverance, and tenacity between jail times, Goodyear would go on to develop the process to vulcanize rubber.
Larry King, the famous talk show host, went bankrupt in 1978. King is now known as one of America’s greatest talk show hosts and one of the country’s best-selling authors.
The rock-and-roll world has its share of success stories, too. For example, Tom Petty went bankrupt over a record company dispute in 1979. Soon afterward, Petty came up with a new record contract and produced a hit album “Damn the Torpedoes.” Petty bolted to rock star fame, earning a $20 million record contract with Warner Brothers. He played with the group “The Traveling Wilburys” which included Roy Orbison, George Harrison, and Jeff Lynne and featured Bob Dylan. Today, Petty even has his own radio show on XM Satellite Radio.
Wayne Newton, the performer, went bankrupt after finding himself over $20 million in debt. Later, under a new contract with Stardust Hotels, Newton allegedly made $25 million per year under a ten-year contract, which started in the late 1990s.
That brings us to one of the most remarkable comeback stories of all time, “The Donald.” Donald Trump is one of the wealthiest people in America, but in the early 1990s, things were not looking so good. Trump’s personal liabilities approached $900 million. His three casinos and posh Plaza Hotel were forced into bankruptcy. Trump lost his yacht and his airline, the Trump Shuttle. His ex-wife Ivana snagged his mansion and another $14 million in a divorce settlement.
In late 2004, Trump Hotels & Casinos Resorts announced a restructuring of debt. Trump Hotels was forced to seek voluntary bankruptcy protection to keep itself afloat. In 2005, the company re-emerged from bankruptcy as Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc.
As we now know, Donald Trump also went on to become the executive producer of the NBC reality show The Apprentice. The first year that Trump did the show, he was paid about $50,000 per episode. Today, he reportedly earns 600,000 per episode. This makes Trump one of the highest paid entertainers in the media industry.
So keep your sunny side up. Live one day at a time. Tomorrow is another day.