Modern-Day Renaissance Man Offers Optimism and Confidence, Defying Those Who Forecast Economic Woe

Now in his seventies, San Francisco based author David Parker has spent a lifetime defying “conventional wisdom” in a variety of ways. When he began his career as a teacher in the city’s public schools more than 50 years ago, he chose to ignore those who advised him to get used to living on a tight budget and instead invested a portion of his limited income in residential real estate. Today, Parker is one of the Bay Area’s most successful residential and commercial real estate investors. When he was told that his busy schedule as a teacher/entrepreneur would preclude him from developing his talent as a musician, he ignored those naysayers too, and became a member of the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra for 20 years and then formed a six-member band that headlined at the city’s prestigious Fillmore Jazz Festival twice. When this lifelong educator chose to go back to school to take graduate level courses in History and Economics, his dismay that all his textbooks were written by academics rather than those “in the trenches” like himself inspired him to write two books, in which he shares his real-world lessons with readers. And, most recently, not content to leave the world of social media to “the younger generation,” Parker launched a video podcast series designed to put the major challenges of our time into helpful historical context.

Of his five simultaneous careers, Parker says, “I have 150 years of experience!”

David Parker’s Books

Having achieved an impressive level of success as an educator and as an entrepreneur, Parker enjoys a life that allows him to perform live jazz on a weekly basis in several San Francisco venues, spend part of every year in Paris, and even remain active (and at the top of his age bracket) on the tennis courts.

In keeping with his “can-do” mindset, after completing several thousand hours of graduate classes at Golden Gate University, Parker was inspired to share his unique insights with readers. His first book, Income and Wealth (2021), provides readers with a thought-provoking examination of the foundation on which the nation’s freedom rests. The book opens with a captivating chapter in which he demonstrates, line by line, how even someone currently earning minimum wage (“a McDonald’s employee,” for example) can create financial freedom in only 10 years. His playfully titled second book, A San Francisco Conservative (2022), is intended as “a letter to progressives,” and as a message of reassurance and challenge to the conventional political thinking of the day. Parker is careful to stress that the title of his second book does not imply that he’s a Trump supporter, but instead that he believes in the value of minimal government and is troubled by the tendency of politicians to promise costly programs without acknowledging that they all come with a price tag attached. This book also offers a much-needed reminder that the timeless principles of economics are essential to the preservation of American democracy.

Offering a Message of Confidence and Optimism as a New Year Begins

As a new year begins, Parker encourages all those who aspire to achieve financial freedom to keep a few fundamental ideas in mind, all based on decades of his own personal experience.