Am I Investing or Speculating? Reinvent Technology Partners | SPAC | Joby Aviation

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. This saying was made famous because many people go Vegas to speculate or should I say to gamble. So is it okay to gamble in my portfolio???...YES if you have Kenny Rogers playing in the background. "You gotta know when to hold em, know when to fold em" --- or as I like to say be ready to lose all your money on a gamble or speculative investment.

In my inbox, I got a message today to vote on a merger, or a hook up as we like to say here. I own SPAC called Reinvent Technology Partners (NYSE:RTP). A SPAC or special purpose acquisition company that finds private companies and helps take them public.  

Let me REMIX this in regular people speak:

- A SPAC is like when all your friends pool money together in advance to ensure that everyone can attend that vacation. The only difference here is a SPAC's money is being pooled in advance to buy shares in a private company before they go public. 

- Going public is like the journey of a star high school athlete making it to the professional league. Or another example is a private company is similar to a teenager and going public is like that teen finally becoming an adult. 

Why invest in a snotty nosed teen...well because we are betting in advance that high school Lebron James will be an amazing talent we see today in the NBA or that the snotty nosed teenager will turn out to be a million dollar earning adult later in life (think Bill Gates).

I own quite a feel SPAC investments as a gamble that if these concepts win...I may hit it big. It's much better odds than playing the lottery and some ideas are even cool.

The star athlete or teenager that RTP is investing in and taking public is Joby Aviation. Joby is a transportation company looking to develop an all-electric. The vehicle takes off and lands vertically and hopes to be offering services as soon as 2024. What a concept for beating rush hour in LA, traveling Green, and moving more toward the Jetsons future.

The moral of this investment is I didn't place a large bet but I'm prepared to lose it all. That's called speculation...not investing. The company DOES NOT make money today and may never...so I can't be mad if it fails. If it hits, then hopefully I've found the next Michael Jordan, Jeff Bezos, or Simone Biles as an investment.

#getthebag

Pacaso | OutBrain | TurboTax | Verizon | Economy v Delta

  

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) HOW TO SEARCH MY BLOG:	Get Updates to Your Email When I Create A New Post:

I'm Interested

I wanted to thank the readers who are learning the game and doing their research. I've been getting a lot of texts to check out an interesting businesses and I appreciate when people get their 'Sherlock Holmes' on. So here is a few things that continue to peak my interest:

Pacaso: - Pacaso is not a public company but an interesting twist on the "timeshare" concept. As home prices surge, real estate start-up Pacaso is buying luxury single-family vacation homes and selling them to groups of buyers through a fractional ownership model as part of an LLC. I like this model and hope to learn from it. I'm a big fan of all things communal --- living, sharing, and buying assets like real estate. Also, the data shows that high-end properties have been very hot during the pandemic. With so many people and households flush with cash, regular folks need to band together and add real estate to their portfolios.

Intuit (TurboTax) - TurboTax will no longer provide their free IRS Filing Program to those who qualify for federal free filing. I think this speaks volumes about the company and is very disappointing.

OutBrain (OB) - I'm keeping an eye on this ad-tech company. My A-Billi Squad member Seth Klarman invested $200 Million in OB bonds. A fellow value investing friend, I like advertising tech companies that will profit well as the world re-opens.

Verizon (VZ) - My mentor and A-Billi Squad member Warren Buffett is buying a HUGE stake in Verizon, I believe to the tune of roughly $8+ Billion dollars. Why you ask? Because, as inflation is rising investors are moving to stocks that pay reliable stimulus checks, or as we call them dividend payments. These are paid out on a quarterly basis and a great way to earn passive income. 

Is the Re-Opening Stalled?? - The Delta virus is wreaking havoc and your reopening trades (like restaurants, airlines, retailers, casinos, oil) are slumping. This includes the meme stocks (like AMC and Gamestop) which are tumbling lower. So what do you do? Many say investing is easy, well what do you do in these difficult moments. You better know how to play poker. It's no longer a game when you have thousands of dollars on the line. You must analyze the next move, like: will the Delta variant stall the economy? If so many stocks will fall hard and the stay at home stocks may rise again. Should you sell and live to play another hand? I always saw never be afraid to take some chips off the table. A strategy I like is to pull my initial investment and a 20-25% gain out of an investment that's done really well. I let the rest ride and if it goes up I'm happy, if it drops at least I still have my initial investment and a sweet profit sitting in my account. 

My thoughts on the economy are people will not go back into lockdown mode. They are even fighting masks. So the market will be choppy on days when the news about the Delta variant is negative. You should use these down days like Monday to be a buyer if you think the economy will stay resilient. On Monday, I bought this stock below. Guess it and I'll reveal it:

All Things Investing: Gas Prices | Interest Rates | Venture Cap | Crypto

 

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) HOW TO SEARCH MY BLOG:	Get Updates to Your Email When I Create A New Post:

Also Coming Soon - a series on #HowtoInvest. People have been reaching especially after the spikes in Gamestop, AMC, and other stock to learn the basics. I self taught myself how to invest beginning at the age of roughly 18 and have never stopped. To be a good investor and ensure you are not gambling (speculating), I'll cover (hardest parts of investing in RED):

Budgeting 101 - How to Fund Ur Investments?

Why Stocks as an Investment?

What is Ur Investment Profile + Personality?

How to Pick Stocks?

When to Buy Stocks?

How to Enter My Trade?

How Many Stocks Should I Own?

When to Sell Stocks?

Am I Speculating (Gambling)?

Don't Complain About Gas Prices --- Invest

I recently reminded a cyber student training under me not to complain when they see gas prices rising. Use it as a lesson, when things are low buy them on discount. In my older posts, hopefully you noticed the trend where I began to buy few oil and gas investments:

UCO - Bloomberg Crude Oil

Par Pacific Holdings (PARR) -  a oil and gas exploration and production company

When gas at the pump was super low, that was a signal for me to buy it and store it as an investment (so to speak). My only problem as you read was trying to get to cute. It was volatile and I sold it to take advantage of what some of my billionaire buddies do, tax loss harvesting. While UCO was down I sold in at the end of the year to offset my gains and my plan was to repurchase around January 31st (because you have to wait 30 days) to buy back into it for tax purposes. Well all through January oil started to skyrocket. As my wife says, don't be cute just pay the damn taxes...yes ma'am.

Finance 101 - Interest Rates

Many on main street (that's you) don't know that their bank's mortgage rates are loosely tied to the Treasury's 10 Year Interest Rate. I won't bore you with my poor man's econ class but when interest rates drop, mortgage rates soon follow. My next reminder is be patient. I have been talking about refinancing for months now and I finally got the terms I was looking for and close in 1 week. I own 2 home both with rates at 3.25% or lower which means I have optionality going forward. More to come.

Hedge Funds | Venture Capital | Private Equity

I like to speak things into existence and I look forward to starting a wealth management fund someday. I have my hands full in the cybersecurity space but if Elon Musk can build Tesla, solar panels and SpaceX...I must learn how to build my disparate business to scale and sustainability. I was listening to the CEO of a tech firm called Bevy described how they partnered with minority venture funds and I was surprised to learned these VCs (as they are called) are prominently displayed on their website...job well done Bevy...I want to learn how to use your product too. This has motivated me to link with VCs of color such as Kobie Fuller, Arlan Hamilton, Mac Conwell, TD Lowe, Reuben Ogbonna II, Mandela Schumacher-Hodge Dixon, Baron Davis (former NBA player), Olatunde Sobomehin, and Michael Johnson (yes Olympic Gold Medalist) and others who were listed as investors or advisors to this young start up. A reminder here to save your pennies...it takes money to make money. To invest in COMPANIES you need to expose yourself to more than just stocks, investing in private companies often leads to outsized gains just ask Nas (made an estimated $100M) and Kevin Durant in Coinbase.

Cost Conscious (Value Investing)

I was reading an article which tried to give insight into Roku recent resurgence. For those of you that don't know Roku have been an amazing investment for me. It's easily in my Mansa Musa Hall of Fame and just became a 2 Bagger!! Yes major bag alert as Wendy's would say. The article is what I would call a two-fer. It discussed a rumor that Comcast might consider sliding into the DM of Roku and or VIACOMCBS. Both stocks are major holdings of mine and I've benefited greatly in the last few weeks from this speculation that Comcast needs to strengthen its streaming option called Peacock. ViacomCBS was beaten down to the point where they traded at prices I like...like getting a 50c candy bar...which is rare to find. So I buy and hold and hope others see the value in a hidden gem. Roku on the other hand is a serious disrupter. We have a Roku soundbar and love it! This is a Growth stock true and true. It's like owning Drake when he signed to Young Money, the investment just keeps delivering.

I'm not a businessman...I'm a Business

So my side hustle has been doing amazing. It sounds simple but to build a company you need to be a company that can solve someone's problem. I've found a way to do that by simply not saying NO. I used to term business away because I wasn't looking at the writing on the wall. Companies all across the country contact me for cybersecurity help. So eventually I stopped saying no and started saying how can I help you. I've hired 3 staff in the last month and this is me moving slowly because my focus right now is on my health. But nothing is more empowering that to give people hope, to give them jobs, and to plant seeds. I plan to spin-off a business that will help people get their business registered, use digital invoicing, payroll, cashflow, and bookkeeping/accounting tools. I hire all types of people but focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion goals to ensure there is diversity in tech. The biggest thing I share with my cyber advisors, consultants, residents, and interns --- is have great soft skills. Don't just be confident on your block --- be confident in a board room, meeting, or gala too. 

Cyber - Crypto, Ransomware

I've been flooded with news about Crypto. I'm still on record, what value does it serve me IF I have to convert that investment back into dollars. I could have just used Zelle, Paypal, Cash App, Venmo. So clearly the primary purpose for bitcoin until full regulation comes in for illegal and illicit activities. My investment in Symantec / NortonLifeLock has boomed as NortonLifeLock has said it will allow consumers to mine for crypto in the future. Breaches are through the roof because the hackers trade in bitcoin in hopes that their trail can't be caught...isn't that basically money laundering. But the hope of Bitcoin may be a bit oversold. Did you read the story about how US was able to retrieve millions of  ransom dollars paid in the Colonial Pipeline hack. Can anyone tell me how that happened for a secure encryption platform where the transactors are anonymous. Either the password was hacked, stolen, or those transactors weren't as anonymous as they thought. Either way I'll stick with my insured bank account for now and just Zelle you your cut of dinner. 

Peace I'm Out

Subscriber Alert - Healthcare Insurance Stock

 My subscriber's received an alert that this stock hit levels that I would be interested in buying. I do something pretty cool ---  I set aggressive buying targets and often wait until a stock I like drops to those levels. My account was set to automatically execute this trade when the price dropped. As you can see I like deals, once an $80 stock I got in at the $55 threshold.

Guess the stock and I'll confirm it:

 

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) HOW TO SEARCH MY BLOG:	Get Updates to Your Email When I Create A New Post:

Also Coming Soon - a series on #HowtoInvest. People have been reaching especially after the spikes in Gamestop, AMC, and other stock to learn the basics. I self taught myself how to invest beginning at the age of roughly 18 and have never stopped. To be a good investor and ensure you are not gambling (speculating), I'll cover (hardest parts of investing in RED):

Budgeting 101 - How to Fund Ur Investments?

Why Stocks as an Investment?

What is Ur Investment Profile + Personality?

How to Pick Stocks?

When to Buy Stocks?

How to Enter My Trade?

How Many Stocks Should I Own?

When to Sell Stocks?

Am I Speculating (Gambling)?

Investing in Your Health - Pt. 2

I'm a cybersecurity subject matter expert, and I advise companies on risk management practices. I architect, monitor, and complete assessments so that they are fully informed on their cyber hygiene or quite simply their cyber health. One of the first things I ask my clients to do is to create a baseline or what you and I might call is a benchmark of what healthy computers should look like. This principle can be applied to my pillars. I thought Naomi Osaka did an amazing job of assessing her "Mental Health" and not pulling out of the French Open and now Wimbledon, two of the 4 major tennis tournaments. She could have put profits over her health but one may argue she chose balance and I admire her for that. My last post on Investing In Your Health, Investing In Your Health Pt. 1,

talked about some of the trials and tribulations to achieve balance in Corporate America. Spending long hours sitting at a desk, worries over needing to outwork the competition just to be accepted, commuting over 1.5 hours each day collectively took it's toll on me. There is no excuse on my part but moving closer to a suburb which lacked diversity, worrying about the optics of working versus going to the gym, or quite frankly doing anything to jeopardize a well paid and respected job seemed like risky tradeoffs to a person of color. But the one thing I didn't do was properly establish a health baseline or benchmark. Historically, I played sports, thought I was invincible, and didn't grow up adhering to doctor's visits. I began getting annual physicals at work which was a godsend. The metrics were solid at first with a few minor things to work on. But the grind I described above took its toll. I remember being in London for work when I first got word that my father was hospitalized. With a 6 hour time difference, I was getting updates in the wee hours of the morning London time while trying to put on a good face in the office. Upon my return to the states, I traveled home to be with my father and didn't take any time off. I would rush through the hospital to find quiet spaces so the beeping sounds of machines didn't disturb my co-workers. During those moments of uncertainty of my father's health, we made a promise to have our first child if he could just find a way to exit the hospital. Stressful months passed and eventually he defied the odds and the doctor's insistence for us to say goodbye and finally left the hospital. So we kept our promise and had our first daughter. A wonderful blessing but it also brought finding childcare to fit our work hours, coming home to our daughter already sleeping, more responsibility at work, serving on boards, maintaining a home, and monitoring aging parents and the fact that one had already been hospitalized. My next physical was less stellar and showed that some attributes had declined instead of stayed the same or gotten better. I changed my eating habits but all the other stressors of life were still there and growing. We moved states to be closer and help my parents and I no longer had annual physicals after switching jobs and working remotely. I didn't prioritize this activity on my own and lost my health baseline. See It -- Measure It -- Respond, something I help my clients do but I had lost "sight" of my own health. Fast forward ---  a wedding, another child, two homes, starting a business, COVID gripping the country, and losing my father --- I wasn't feeling myself. I finally went to the doctor, got an annual health check which surprisingly resulted with me being hospitalized. Devastatingly high hypertension and it was unclear how long it had gone undetected. While I felt fine, my baseline was at a point that I couldn't be downgraded from intensive care unit for 4 days. I was a wreck and vowed I needed to find balance. So I changed my diet, sleeping patterns, tested my BP 3x a day, took walks, and declined work because I hadn't focused on my health. My Personal Update: I've made lifestyle changes and prioritize my health for myself and my family. I have good days and a few not so great days and every now and then my BP drops into a normal range. My goal is to keep it there and to do that I have to See It, Measure It, and Respond. 

Final Note: I recently lost a friend due to mental health issues and I urge us all to establish a baseline and respond accordingly. Whether it's physical health, mental health, financial health, or spiritual health seek balance and advice to be the best you. Thank you to my doctors for their tireless work and counsel. And to the Naomi Osaka's of the world, thank you for not being afraid to respond when something doesn't feel right.

How to Buy + Sell Stocks

I have some positive news about my side hustle as I've hired 3 people within the last month. So I've haven't traded much in the last few weeks. Here are my trades that expired on Friday 7/02/21 and that will expire in roughly two weeks. If you want to see them, guess the stock and leave a comment in the chat. Be well and stay positive: