Investing In Yourself
– Using Pillars to Build Your Core
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Setting Budgets +
Saving for Black Swans
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Diversify your Life
(Mind, Body, Soul, + Investments)
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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
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