want to make a small fortune, anywhere from two to A ten million, and be out of this business by the time I'm 40," says 35-year-old David Ragan of Houston. And if that sounds brash, Drexel Burnham Lambert's top commodities broker also states, "what I do now is make the rich richer it's not what I consider a major contribution to the world."
    If Ragan's investments (not to mention his attitude) differ from Texas' top stockbrokers, his gross commissions are equally large; well on his way to that "small fortune," Ragan grossed $1.5 million in 1979.
    A former college philosophy teacher, the stocky and contemplative Ragan credits his success as a broker to his philosophy background. What's more, when he retires, ostensibly right away, he wants to build a philosophy school for the common man. "Philosophy," he says, "has taught me how to analyze situations faster and better than other brokers and economists. I'm interested in bringing philosophy out of its ivory tower, though, so more people can learn to apply it to their lives."
    Ragan came to Texas via Tulane University; originally from the Midwest, he fell in love with the South's climate and people while he was a student at the Louisiana school. As an undergraduate, he thought a professor's life on $25,000 a year would be "great." Later, when bills began mounting, he "soon learned that a professor's income was ridiculous." (Now, in his best month as a broker, his tax bill is 10 times his yearly professor's salary.) So, he decided to investigate the banking business, but soon decided banking was "a safe and secure place to go broke."
    He finally ended up in Merrill Lynch's school in 1973, after talking to several investment firms, determined to become a stockbroker. But soon, he switched to commodities. "I learned that that was where the action was. Commodoties is where the 1980s and 1990s are going to be," he says. "Hogs, wheat and corn never go out of business. When you invest in stock, you're investing in a piece of paper; commodities, on the other   hand,   are   the   real  world,  real

down. We just want to know when it's going up and down." Clients of Ragan's can expect equal frankness when dealing with him; they must be willing to let him control their accounts. They have to give up the ball. With 75 clients his average account between $150,000 and $250,000 and five assistants, Ragan rarely talks to clients himself. If a customer demands to talk to the broker when he feels it's unnecessary, he may not be a client much longer. "It's a big game out there," states Ragan, "it's not for little old ladies in tennis shoes."
    So far, his clients have no complaints about how Ragan treats them. "They feel I'm just as careful watching their money as I am mine. They always get an honest, intelligent answer from me, not a simplistic, 'let's make a few bucks today' response. I don't even know what the commission structure is in this firm," Ragan adds, "and my clients know I don't know." Also, Ragan doesn't socialize with clients. "All my friends are too poor to be my clients," he laughs.
    A rampant overachiever, Ragan shuns vacations, preferring to work a 10- or 13-hour day six days a week. He says simply, "It's unfair of me to be gone when the market's open." This hasn't left much time for his wife and family, he admits; last year, though, he took one or two Fridays off to give himself long weekends in Bermuda and Hawaii. So far, his only extravagance in life seems to be his 1979 white Excalibur Phaeton. Otherwise, with a home in Houston's A-Leif an area he says has good schools but isn't exclusive and three other cars, (all Dodges) you can't tell how close Ragan is to his "small fortune."
Editor's Note: In a telephone conversation with Mr. Ragan to obtain his permission to publish this article, he requested that I make it "perfectly clear" to our readers that, the author of the above article chose to take editorial license with the in- formation he gave during a three- hour interview, and sometimes exaggerated and other times prevaricated to give the story a stronger impact.

trade."
    Ragan further feels, "Today's stock market is going into the tank. We're headed for a world recession in 1980 or 1981, and the stock market will be affected by that and go down 100 or 200 points. We'll have more inflation, more conflicts with poor countries and greater internal conflict as a result of our economic dependence on foreign countries. Those small, oil-producing countries could shut the United States down in the next decade if we don't start planning our moves rather than just reacting to each specific crisis." Ragan sees atomic fusion which can turn water into energy as the main possible escape from oil dependency. "Only then (when we have developed nuclear power) will we have infinite resources, and we can tell OPEC to eat the oil," he concludes.
    "Admittedly, the commodities market will be affected by the recession too, but not to the extent of the stock market," says Ragan. "In commodities," he explains, "we're not prejudiced against being short; we don't care if  it  goes  up  or