RealMoney's Best Blogs

One of the biggest blessings in my life has been the stock market. The market hasn't just provided me with a little extra money; it dramatically changed my life. I've written a little about my personal story every Thanksgiving since I've been at RealMoney.com, and many of you are familiar with it already. So I hope you don't mind the repeat.

Back in the early 1990s, I had business and law degrees from the University of Michigan under my belt and had gained a CPA certificate after working for two international CPA firms. I was struggling to build a law practice in Ann Arbor, Mich. As far as I was concerned, the stock market was nothing more than an occasional news story and the repository for some minor IRAs I glanced at once a month or so. That soon changed.

As I went about trying to develop my law practice, I had to continue dealing with a rather annoying problem. My hearing was less than perfect, which made it tough in courtrooms where acoustics were poor and in conversations with people who mumbled, or in noisy places.

It wasn't that big of a problem, but it suddenly started becoming much worse. In a matter of months, I no longer could talk on the telephone and eventually was reduced to having people write notes if I wanted to understand them.