– Jamaican millionaire tells how he did it
(Jamaica Gleaner) If you walked past Garfield Plunkett on the road or in the corridors, you would hardly be able to tell that he is a millionaire.
Not that he’s shabby. In fact, he is far from it. He dresses dapperly but the ‘bling’ watch and jewellery you might expect of a wealthy man, who is not yet 40, are absent.
Save for a US$20 watch, Plunkett’s hands are bare. He wears no bracelets, no visible ‘cargo’ chain and no big gold or platinum ring.
“Although it cost me only US$20, it tells the time like a Rolex. I can buy a Rolex, but why do I need one? I don’t have to wear my money,” Plunkett says.
“I travel, sit in the back of the plane like everybody else, even though I can afford a first-class ticket. When I am in Jamaica, I go to Tastee, buy my patty like everybody else, and sit and eat,” Plunkett told The Gleaner.
He boasts of having the most expensive house in the subdivision in which he lives and a Mercedes-Benz. He said that “it is part of success but outside of that, I am not going to show it off”.
“I am a workaholic. I don’t stop to count money … I can do that later,” the young Jamaican millionaire said.
There was almost an air of grand optimism intermingled with the scent of opportunities and success as Plunkett sat down with The Gleaner last week and told his story.
At the time of the interview, Plunkett had hardly spent a week in Jamaica, the country from which he emigrated in 2000.
Desires to stay
But while he admits a desire to stay a little bit longer every time he is here, Plunkett said the demands of his fledgling real-estate and home-improvement businesses in the United States mean he has to be there to service the large clientele which he has built up.
Nine years ago, Plunkett quit his job at GraceKennedy and emigrated to the US. His aim was to realise a mission of not saving a dollar before age 40. His goal was investment.
When Plunkett arrived in the United States, he said, he was considered for and offered a job at Met Life Insurance as a financial analyst. However, he told The Gleaner he refused the offer and took a job, he said, that was paying him barely more than the minimum wage.
“I basically stepped backward in order to move forward. I turned down US$85,000 per year at Met Life to work for US$14 per hour,” Plunkett said.
In his head was a massive plan. He was not fazed by his take-home pay as working at Home Depot was opening up a whole new life for him.
No ‘baff hand’
No longer was he a ‘baff hand’. He quickly learnt home improvement
crafts and laid the platform for his business and life as a millionaire.
“By the time I left Home Depot, I was a tiler, an electrician, carpenter, plumber … as while they were paying me $14 per hour, I was learning as much as I could learn,” Plunkett said. “That is where I launched my construction business from. When I went to Home Depot, I could not even drive a nail. When I left Jamaica, I knew nothing about ceramic tiling and now I am the best of the best.”
