Charting a Path of Firsts

Investing In Yourself – Using Pillars to Build Your Core	https://urbanomics.blogspot.com/2015/04/urbanomics-pillars-path-set-for.html
Setting Budgets + Saving for Black Swans	https://urbanomics.blogspot.com/2013/02/personal-finance-budget-101-free-credit.html
	https://urbanomics.blogspot.com/2019/11/hey-henry-high-earner-not-yet-rich.html
How to Open My First Brokerage Account	https://urbanomics.blogspot.com/2015/04/personal-finance-101-starting.html
Diversify your Life (Mind, Body, Soul, + Investments)	Search My Blog

Black History
I truly believe to be great you need a strong understanding of the past. To be legendary, you must chart a path that has not been taken or is fraught with obstacles. I was reviewing a statistic that truly blew my mind -- One Hundred and Fifty years after the US named it's first African-American senator (Hiram Revels) only 9 other African-Americans have been nominated to that post since then.  Why?  This Can't Be Possible?

In the era where I hear about corporate and government initiatives to Lean-In further and to focus on Diversity and Inclusion, I wonder why asymmetric numbers like this exist -- not only in our US legislature but also in our college ranks, corporate executive ranks, and across profit and non-for profit board ranks.  People ask: "Do kids know?" and the simple answer is yes. I knew that disparities existed in life that no one wanted to talk about -- except through not so helpful methods of the real world: a) scared straight lecture in Middle School (told look left and right only 1 of us would make it); b) being harassed by police right AFTER participating in Big Brothers/Big Sisters charity event with my little mentee (a charity event I posted about here over 10 years ago); c) glass ceilings I observed at work when you can count the number executives of color with your fingers and toes.  While the cool buzzword is to blast through ceilings, the truth is these institutions so well entrenched that many people cannot simply blast through this road alone, they need help...a different path.

I argue you need to chart a path that goes around the status quo. A diversified path that gives you OPTIONALITY -- options when glass ceilings rise. Like Hiram Revels, the first US African-American senator, you can learn from his path to Washington in 1870.  His opponnents challenged his ability to serve as a Senator because Dred Scott (a case that determined African-Americans were NOT citizens) was only overturned a few years before. Prior to that roadblocks back then forbade the ordained minister from "preaching" and "teaching" people that looked like him.  Revels was recruited to run for the Senate because of his education, influence, and awareness of the real-world that surrounded him.

He is showing you a path -- Education, Build influential relations, and solidify your core pillars that I write about here to be more self-aware of the real-world that surrounds you with obstacles no matter what your race, color, or creed is.  Reduce your debt, live within your means, diversify your income streams, education gives you options.

Alibaba + JD.com
One way that I have diversified my portfolio is by increasing my exposure to Chinese stocks. To some this may sound scary as you often hear the numbers and data cannot be trusted that come out of China. I won't allow my portfolio to suffer from the same mistakes I see in policy that I noted above. My journey of wanting to own businesses in mainland China started through my research of high-flying technology companies. First I stumbled upon Baidu, dubbed the Google of China. I sought out the feedback of a former colleague who was from China and he acknowledged that it was his preferred site, along with many others.  When it came time to invest in Baidu, I was scared and didn't go through with the investment. I watched Baidu take off soon after I vowed to participate as others came along. That's how I found Alibaba (BABA), the Chinese version of Amazon. I would occasionally follow articles of the charismatic leader Jack Ma and as you can see in my previous posts, I pulled the trigger on BABA. I was able to get shares very close to IPO price, or the price when if first became a public company on the stock market ($80 dollar range). My only dismay is that I didn't load up back that as BABA trades for roughly $200 today. So I set my sites out for the next high flier, JD.com (JD). JD.com is in my opinion like the little brother to BABA because it is also in the e-commerce space and also growing fast. Oddly, the Trump Administration's trade war with China depressed my investment in JD for much of last year to the point it made my worst trades of 2018. But I recognized the importance China plays in the overall global economy and once the trade war tariffs were essentially rolled back to something much less meaningful -- JD has taken off from my initial range of $30 to now settling in around $40.  I will be looking to add to both of these positions that I own, BABA in preferably $160 range (it ain't going back to $80) and JD on any meaningful pull back I find.

Be Great   Be Thoughtful   Be Diversified    Always Have Optionality

Gilead Sciences Inc (GILD) -- A Possible Solution To Coronavirus

Investing In Yourself – Using Pillars to Build Your Core	https://urbanomics.blogspot.com/2015/04/urbanomics-pillars-path-set-for.html
Setting Budgets + Saving for Black Swans	https://urbanomics.blogspot.com/2013/02/personal-finance-budget-101-free-credit.html
	https://urbanomics.blogspot.com/2019/11/hey-henry-high-earner-not-yet-rich.html
How to Open My First Brokerage Account	https://urbanomics.blogspot.com/2015/04/personal-finance-101-starting.html
Diversify your Life (Mind, Body, Soul, + Investments)	Search My Blog

How Are You Feeling -- It's Lit!
This month, I'm still riding high as Symantec/Norton LifeLock and Sprint have me toasting for more good luck to come.  Norton Lifelock offered shareholders a special dividend of $12 this month so you guessed it...we goin' to Disneyland just like Patrick Mahomes said after winning the Superbowl MVP. If you're not good at math well here goes -- if you owned 100 shares you got a $1200 deposit in your and let's say you owned 1000 shares, well you guessed it -- you'd be getting $12,000 for betting on a stodgy OLD cybersecurity company. Sprint and T-Mobile have just announced the deal will likely close by April 1st so in my world of Risk Management...there are NOT many more obstacles to overcome this deal closing as one of my biggest investments in my life closes. I hold Sprint in both my retirement and personal account and Norton Lifelock just contributed only to my retirement account.

Stop Reinventing the Wheel -- Learn From the Greats
I often joke with people that by speaking positive vibes into the world -- you can speak things into existence.  So one of the biggest lessons I've learned over time is to read and research how other greats have walked. I call it the Lexus philosophy. I recall a Lexus executive speaking at a roundtable series in college and I thought the building blocks of the company were simple and smart.  They knew who did what well. By this I mean, he noted that: German's had great engineering, American's dominated in design, and the Japanese were dominant in manufacturing without significant defects. So when Lexus set out they simply decided to borrow best practices from the best companies in the business. I use this philosophy everyday -- don't overthink it...reuse it.

Black History Moment
George Washington Carver - Some called him a botanist or an a pioneer agronomist. He developed amazing uses for plants - peanuts, soybeans, and sweet potatoes. Being born a slave didn't stop Carver, he went on to obtain his undergraduate degree from Iowa State and then he accepted a job at the Tuskegee Institute where he invented and reinvented products -- more than 300 way to use peanuts to may products like soap, skin lotion, and paint. Wow - Witness Greatness
Gilead (GILD) - Repurposing Drugs for the Next Virus
Gilead Sciences is a value stock that's right up my alley. I've owned the shares for a few years and it hasn't done a whole lot. But in life, sometimes you have to be patient with just like Carver was with his crops. They had a blockbuster Hepatitis C drug that was no longer protected by patents so they enjoying the legacy riches from that investment and moving on to others. To speed up the process they invest in Kite Pharma in 2017 to bolster their pipeline. But I'm highlighting Gilead today because like Carver, I find in fascinating that firms repurpose things to create new products. In this case Gilead is using an existing HIV drug to fight a new battle against the Coronavirus. Gilead is developing an experimental drug called remdesivir and based on the numbers that continue to come out of the region, I hope the containment measures and drugs of tomorrow can assist to limit the impact of this virus going forward. The options market appears to be betting on Gilead moving higher and I could see it move towards the $80-85 range.

NovaGold Resources Inc. (NG) - Mining for Riches

Investing In Yourself – Using Pillars to Build Your Core	https://urbanomics.blogspot.com/2015/04/urbanomics-pillars-path-set-for.html
Setting Budgets + Saving for Black Swans	https://urbanomics.blogspot.com/2013/02/personal-finance-budget-101-free-credit.html
	https://urbanomics.blogspot.com/2019/11/hey-henry-high-earner-not-yet-rich.html
How to Open My First Brokerage Account	https://urbanomics.blogspot.com/2015/04/personal-finance-101-starting.html
Diversify your Life (Mind, Body, Soul, + Investments)	Search My Blog

In honor of Black History Month, for my next few posts I am going to release some of my core positions, like Novagold, and how they got there.  I have received questions from a few readers over time which circle around -- "How does someone invest like how I write here?"  At the top of each post, you'll find the basic building blocks to get you to where you need to be -- use the links to invest in yourself and your family.  You can't build a meaningful investment portfolio without a consistent source of income - like a job, a budget (that allows you to SAVE capital or funds for your investments), opening a brokerage account (to manage your investments), and physical, mental, and spiritual fitness (that allows you set meaningful goals).

As your personal finance coach, I can't begin to help you on the march to freedom without these things in place.  For example, I have a friend who was a landlord and rents their property to a tenant. The lease had lapsed and the tenant was stalling each month by asking for extensions and stating they had an interest in buying the property.  Like a personal trainer, I tried to coach this person by asking them what goals did they set for themselves? Even more simply, what is in the best interests for you and your family??  I was surprised by the pause in response, but by asking this one question it became a lot more clear what needed to be done. Put your goals first and if selling your property is best for your family's future -- get it done.

NovaGold 
Why did I invest in Gold? Well I have been investing in gold since 2008. One thing I learned during that rough time period for America was that Gold is a safe haven. Gold, like other metals and Crypto Currencies, is not a currency backed by a government which can purposefully be inflated and deflated.  So in 2008, the market was on the path to being broke so the Federal Reserve decided to pump the economy full of money. Gold is a good asset to bet that it's value may rise if you think the dollar value is being deflated (by the Fed pumping the economy full of money).  

So why in the world is Gold doing well when we are arguably in the best economic period some claim America has seen. Well #followthemoney -- Because the economy is doing fairly well, I was preparing to exit my Gold position. The Fed doesn't need to deflate (pump money into an economy doing well) so I anticipated Gold was NOT going to do well. The strange thing that has happened in the last year is that the Trump Administration has signaled for the Fed to juice or pump the economy with money -- even while its at record low unemployment. That's a signal for me as an investor that something is wrong with this thesis -- either the economy is actually NOT doing as well as we thought OR the Trump administration is artificially manipulating the Fed Reserve to juice the economy further.  While you get political -- I prefer to get rich:

Source: Google
1) I invested in Gold over a decade again. Patience is a virtue when you begin to understand the markets. Search my posts and you'll find my previous posts on NovaGold.

2) Look at this chart above. Yes, I finally stopped trying to sell my Gold position in NovaGold and let it run. If the Fed is juicing the economy, the Wall Street world hear's the signal "The Economy is NOT as strong as we believe... when the Fed lowers or does not raise interest rates".

3) The prudent side in me says, I believe the data coming out of our government and the economy is doing well. But then I can't explain why the Fed is not raising interest rates...except coming to the conclusion that they feel coerced into keeping rates low during a period of record low unemployment. So similar to my Sprint trade, I'm just going to follow the money...why guess that the government is going to do the right thing.

Final Summary: Gold runs higher as the economy cannot reach 3% GDP growth even with the Fed juicing the market, and the tax cut boost. But new entrants into the Gold space, be careful...it has run up very fast but with fears of coronavirus, the 2020 US Presidential Elections it could run even further.

Sprint Corp. (S) - Can Ya Hear Me Now

Investing In Yourself – Using Pillars to Build Your Core	https://urbanomics.blogspot.com/2015/04/urbanomics-pillars-path-set-for.html
Setting Budgets + Saving for Black Swans	https://urbanomics.blogspot.com/2013/02/personal-finance-budget-101-free-credit.html
	https://urbanomics.blogspot.com/2019/11/hey-henry-high-earner-not-yet-rich.html
How to Open My First Brokerage Account	https://urbanomics.blogspot.com/2015/04/personal-finance-101-starting.html
Diversify your Life (Mind, Body, Soul, + Investments)	Search My Blog

Self - Made

It is February and in honor of Black History Month I want to take a moment to pay my respects to Madame C.J. Walker. In movies and music, we often boast about being the next Tony Montana or Jay Z hustlin' our way from rag to riches.  But the reality is more people would be better off following in the footsteps of Madame C.J. Walker. A woman with an amazing work ethic, she went on to be the first -- let me repeat myself -- the first woman in the US to be a self-made millionaire (no handouts). She was an inventor, businesswoman, and philanthropist, so I can just hope to reach 2 outta 3 on that list.

My path to being self-made may take a different road but I challenge myself often by asking why not me. To quote the great Fat Joe, "Nothin' Can Stop Me I'm All The Way Up".  But back to the lecture at hand.  My goal is to continue Sprinting to greatness...and yesterday I was elated when I saw in my Google news feed that the merger between Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile would finally be approved.  It was one of those moments when you say, "How did Google know I was interested in News About Sprint?"...then I read the headline, screamed for joy, reached out to family and friends and realized I'd deal with Google on another day. Why - Because Sprint Corp. was up over 75% for the day thanks to the judge's final ruling on the merger with T-Mobile. Sprint has my 2020 portfolio and retirement gains literally off to the races.

I guess the feeling is similar to a poker player pushing in a large amount of chips. It's agony waiting for the final card to flip over but when it hits and you realized your hand is the best -- the rush is like none other. I laid out the bread crumbs over the course of the last year, here is a quick recap of how Sprint put me in the limelight because I trade tight...time to get paid blow up like my last trade:

In May 2019 I wrote the following: And Sprint (S), Sprint keeps getting offers to play overseas for T-Mobile but the FTC (like the stock version of the NBA Commissioner) is telling me that the deal is unfair. Funny he doesn't say that to Verizon or AT&T the biggest cell phone carriers. Let a player get his money Commish?!?!  Approve the deal and let me bask in the glory of my draft pick prowess.

December 25, 2019, I followed up and said: Final Summary -- So even though I empathize with the states, it would look bad if the Sprint deal falls apart only to have that company FAIL in a few years. That also would result in the industry consolidating to 3 major players and the same concerns return over customer pricing. I've made a small bet once again on Sprint that this deals get done in the New Year.

December 31, 2019, you caught me saying:  Sprint (S) - Played options very well (now letting the profits ride on T-Mobile deal approval will be biggest gain if hits)

But I was most proud of the detailed analysis I shared back in July of 2019. I told you to follow the money. Like a budding NCIS agent looking for clues, I laid out ALL the evidence in a detailed post:

The contrarian in me points out two simple facts: 1) Capitalism - the deal gets done b/c a lot of people stand to make a ton of money (it is convenient Sprint's commercials say they are doing well, but the Execs say the business is declining).  I do not usually have time to listen to quarterly conference calls but I found it MORE interesting that Sprint executives have been putting their houses on the market since the end of last year. How about the fact that the Corporate Office has already been sold. 👀 Strange this has all happened and the deal is NOT even complete as of this post.  2) Less Choice - Prices have been declining ever since T-Mobile took the American wireless industry by storm with good ole "competition". So you go with the contrarian view that Verizon, AT&T, and the market has had enough of its decline in revenue due to T-Mobile's entrance and the smart investment is for them to buy Sprint. The only thing is how do you sell it to the public. 😇 Well, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has supposedly negotiated a deal for T-Mobile to sell excess spectrum to another party to create a new 4th major wireless carrier. Wait for it...who can't wait to buy cell phone service from Dish Network 💪💪

Urb Lesson of the Day: Everything and everyone has layers. Take time to peel those layers and get to the obvious truths in life. I traded Sprint multiple times in the last 7+ months and tomorrow's announcement will eventually lead to the closure of my outstanding trades.  Disclosure: I own Sprint (S) and by trading from the bottom up...I followed everyday clues hidden in plain site to reduce my risk on what some called the "unlikeliest" deal to get done.

Executives Sell Mansions Before the Sprint Deal is Done: Follow the Mansion Money

#followthemoney       #datadriventrades         #investandchill