Happy New Year to you all. On the 7th and final day of Kwanzaa, I want to remind you that you gotta have faith -- I won't tell you what in...but in something. A deeply rooted belief that will serve as your guide or as your beacon. Because one thing I do know is life has its moments that will truly battle test you. Imani is special to me because this is the name of my 3 month old daughter. And the meaning of her name is rooted in one of my core pillars -- Spirituality.
I was watching one of those morning shows and each year people are fed the same thing over and over. Get ready to make your list of resolutions or let's look back and see what I accomplished against last years list. I believe this exercise great for marketing, especially for gyms (Planet Fitness), exercise clothes and equipment (Peleton), and dating websites (Match) BUT it's mainly a waste of time. The first thing you learn in math, statistics which is recited in the financial stock market is: "Past Performance Does NOT Predict Future Results". So most of the short term goals that people make year to year are arbitrary IF they are not stitched together to support some type of higher plan or roadmap. I wanted to pause and repeat this, setting goals are good. But you need a larger roadmap that says this is where I am today and this is where I want to be in 1, 3, 5, 7, 10 years. The interim, or short term goals, you set each year are good to write down but they should support this larger mission. This larger mission must be flexible and give you multiple paths to succeed or you will be backed into a corner by your own goal planning. Planning, road mapping, or charting your life like this take faith. As the great boxer Mike Tyson once said: "Everybody does have a plan until they get punched in the mouth. The real key to success is to have the right kind of plan to be able to move forward after they get hit."
It takes IMANI, a faithful commitment, because when adversity sets in how do you respond to that punch? Are you able to lessen the blow through advanced planning (i.e., preparation). This planning allows you to access the situation:
Do I find ways to lessen the blow? (block the punch)
Do I take a different path due to advanced planning? (change strategies)
Or do nothing? (this is my favorite strategy: keep fighting, reassess later, get guidance)
How to Develop A Roadmap
Be Realistic - Most kids dream of being rich, but the stock market given you hundreds of years of free data. Most investments, NOT ALL, will return roughly 7-10% a year. Why not start will something based in data? (Example: At the end of every year, I compare ALL of my investments and how much they've returned against this benchmark). And if someone promises, guarantees you something higher, yes they are likely lying.
Be Flexible - I argue do NOT label me. So my goal is not to be a professional athlete (like I and every poor kid dreamed of in my day). My goal now is to learn the business of sports, while focusing on being an athlete. My goal now is to learn the music industry, while focusing on being an artist. I can videotape games (millionaire Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra's path to being a championship coach), I can be an agent, I can coach...and it just so happens I can ride my god given talents on the court or field for as long as I am allowed. Why, well the thing with very specific goals is if you fail...many lose their way or motivation or fight. If you have a multiple path roadmap --- my options are limitless. Need Proof: LeBron James had an HBO Documentary, Student Athlete, and he has brought a light to what I'm saying: Student Athlete reveals that of the 91,775 men who played NCAA basketball or football in the 2016-17 academic year, 303 were drafted by the NFL or NBA.
I can learn the business of music and while I look to drop my mixtape, I can learn about contractual rights, sample clearance, and how distribution work. I appreciate all my favorite musicians BUT my billionaire buddy Dr. Dre became super wealthy when he branded headphones...something we all had been using for years. He made them premium, exclusive, different and made more money than he ever did of the Chronic (no disrespect). Next, is my billionaire buddy, Daniel Ek. He is the creator of Spotify and with a net worth of $4.5 Billion he makes more than any of my favorite musicians do and he can't rap?? But he set out to solve a problem. My generation was growing tired of radio and ads, we loved the ability to download free music (see Napster), but he recognized the industry and artists would jump at a new opportunity to distribute music over the internet (while not having it stolen for free). I am fan of royalties, but think of it like this --- the artist get's paid every time their song is played...Spotify and its shareholders get paid every time music is streamed.
Have Optionality - For me, I have faith in my probability/stat class in college. It was the best course I've ever taken in life. I understood how people made decisions, why they took the risks they did, and how people are often overconfident because they've miscalculated the situation. So you learn about what's called a decision tree. As I flashback, my plan at 19 is still going strong:
Use the power of my degree and university to find decent paying job:
Outcome - I appreciate networks and humans wanting to belong to a tribe. I had an internship all 3 years in school until I graduated and most were tied to previous alums proud to recruit from their alma mater. Do NOT under estimate the power of networks getting you a job
Build personal wealth through an investment portfolio:
Outcome - At 19, I took out a loan from college, evaluated the rate and understood what the stock market normally returned (see above). To me it wasn't risky...most people didn't look at the data. It also helped that goal #1 was to find relevant work. My internships helped pay my school debts so my loans could be used to begin building my personal wealth. Do the math, give me a loan for 4% and if I make the standard 7-10%, I can afford to pay back the loan and that just $$ seeded my first portfolio with Datek, which was eventually bought out by TD Ameritrade. I even introduced a few of my roommates on to my theory back then.
Multiple Streams of Income (to reduce risks from systemic oppression):
Outcome - I grinded hard in Corporate America for many years. Have a very tiny pension to show for it. My first year they ended the program...just my luck. But it gave me the ability to build a massive 401K plan over the years, partially paid by my employer. So check the box for retirement goals. I already discussed my personal investment account above, so my income from work was split into a savings account (rainy day ONLY) and a personal use account for my weekends of BYOB restaurants, sports bar, and of course clubbing. I had dream of real estate but I had no experience in the industry so I held off. Accidentally my dream home became my first investment home. I bought during the lows of the 2008 crisis and thank goodness for the lessons I learned early. I disagree with most real estate professionals - like stocks the most important thing in real estate is Price, Price, Price (not location). My real estate gave me, equity, flexibility to rent. and is appreciating because of the price where I bought it. I had people in my ear for the previous 5 years saying buy a home, I thought prices were inflated. Glad I waited.
Have Imani - Faith that you will find a way, but it starts with the spiritual guidance I learned from my parents. The guidance from the teachings of African culture, such as Kwanzaa to respect my elders. This ability to treat others how I wanted to be treated showed up in my job reviews. It allowed me to study, build relationships, and execute even though I was surrounded by people who may not look like me. It gave us something in common once they opened their hearts. For moments they would forget and tell me things like you're different. I politely reminded them, I'm not --- you just have to open your heart to being around more people that don't look like you (like you've done for me and vice versa).
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