Know Your Worth - Grow Your Business and Stock Portfolio

COULD YOU DEFINE YOUR WORTH

The National Football League (NFL) season is finally upon us. I never get a chance to say I told you in my line of work, risk management and cybersecurity, but at least here I can. Does anyone find is striking that the NBA setup something similar to what I described back in March and their league is thriving...a locked down bubble. As a risk management professional, I get called crazy or told I'm worrying about nothing but there is usually always solutions for my customers to reduce their risk...they just have to determine if the cost is worth it. 

The NFL has had a chance to watch the success of the NBA and they've decided some stadiums will have NO fans and others will be at roughly 25% capacity because the game must go on...but I ask at what cost. I remind you that without an NBA bubble like scenario the National Hockey League had to start and stop their league play multiple times and ended up moving their games up to good ole Canada --- a safer environment for the players health. Major League Baseball has had a number of instances where outbreaks have happened in various clubhouses as it harder to create a bubble with a much larger player base. One thing is for sure, the games will go on because there is toooooo much money to be made. Need more proof, look at the Big 10, a college conference for teams mainly in the midwestern part of the US. They assessed the risk and canceled the fall football season. The backlash has been swift --- cities, fans who are bored, and even some players are less concerned about the outbreaks on campus and more worried about Ohio State's revenue impact to the city of Columbus or the University of Michigan projected revenue loss. It would be funny if it weren't true, but I'm afraid it is --- many schools require players to sign a waiver and that's where I come in. Risk Manager to the rescue -- a waiver ensures that if any of the players get sick or die, the player (or their family) cannot hold the schools liable for their health concerns. So I ask you, how much would it take for you to put your health at risk and play a season knowing you could get sick??

Would you be like college football players --- and play for free?

If it came down to it, do you truly know your worth? That is the question I wanted to pose to my readers today. When I was a young lad coming out of college, I had these rigid set of principles...imagine that. I used to tell anyone that listened or that worked for me --- you need to test the job market about every 3 years. It's easy to get complacent and fall in love with a routine of "working" everyday while others are hustling, learning new skills and challenging companies to pay them what they are worth. There are good reasons to no rock the boat and stay put...but what's the harm in Mr. Market telling you what you are valued. I got complacent for a few years and got into a zone where your employer convinces you that it needs you soooo badly things would go wrong if you ever took vacation and terribly wrong if I ever left. Well I'm here to tell you that companies move on and time moves on...no one person is that valuable and if you are you better be sure they are paying you a king's ransom. So I reminded myself a few years ago that Mr. Market determines my value and my employer simply needs to determine if they agree whether I'm worth it...it's not personal. Many people are quietly cheering this statement at home but if I asked you whether sports players are overpaid...everyone is quick to say yes. haha I wonder if it's because the majority of athletes in some of our biggest sports leagues are minorities...people of color. 

If I asked you to work for NO pay because I'll give you pay for your training courses, would you take it?  Probably NOT. Then why do people get up in arms at college players making billions of dollars for college sports but not making a dime...even off of their likeness.

When Cowboy fans and fans in general are in an uproar about Dak Prescott rejecting a contract extension worth roughly $33 Million a year --- he's called a overpaid crybaby. LeBron is told to shut up and play ball. But Patrick Mahomes and just the other day Deshaun Watson earned contracts that far exceed Dak's offered pay package so fans should you shut up and cheer him on (oh wait that's an oxymoron). I wonder how much of it has to do with the fact that fans usually complain when the player is a person of color, a black man making big time bucks?  I find it odd that no one, I mean NO ONE ever complains at the owner. The owner of most sports teams are white, worth billions of dollars and can afford to pay one man that amount WHY --- because they are bringing in way more that that in revenue. Many owners are business persons and investors like myself...just with a lot more commas in their bank account. My investment buddies are a who's who of owning sports teams:

Investor David Tepper (Carolina Panthers), 

Businessman Tilman Fertitti (Houston Rockets)

Investor Mark Lasry (Milwaukee Buckets)

Businessman and Investor Mark Cuban (Dallas Mavericks)

WHO PAY'S YOUR FAVORITY CELEBRITY'S BILL'S?

Lucky for you the good folks over at FIVETHIRTYEIGHT asked this question awhile back too. Aside from Shahid Khan (the Pakistani-born owner of the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguar football team) and Michael Jordan (who I believe recently sold a majority or all of his stake in the Charlotte Hornets),  ALL other owners across the 3 major sports leagues are white.

NFL Ownership: 97% White

MBL Ownership: 98% White

NBA Ownership: 98% White

Source: The Institute For Diversity And Ethics in Sport

FINDING VALUE - INVESTING IN YOURSELF (GROW YOUR BUSINESS AND PORTFOLIO)

I write this post because my startup cybersecurity firm just signed it's first client and hired and placed my first employee. I couldn't be more proud in trying to accomplish my mission to place talented people of color in corporate IT jobs. I was laughed at along the way, low balled, and even towards the end the companies almost tried to cut me out of my own deal. However; I am a risk manager and with contracts and an knowledge of what I'm worth and what my team is worth --- we won't settle and we didn't. I did it all without a company website because my skillset is the product. I set a target to get my first employee and engagement where I wasn't directly involved or managing the project and determined the profits would pay for my website and official launch. Know your worth, when they laugh work harder, and always be a triple threat player. I have a 9-5 job, manage a growing startup, and actively invest in the stock and real estate market. 3 Threat give me flexibility to shoot, pass, or drive to the basket. Here are my stocks expiring within 1 month, all profitable except one and the one trade that is down is actually good. I own that stock and when that trade is down, it means my stock is up. Know your Worth: ALIBABA (BABA), ROKU (ROKU), NOVAGOLD (NG) , FACEBOOK (FB), JUNIOR GOLD MINERS ETF (GDXJ), DRAFTKINGS (DKNG), KOHLS (KSS), CRONOS (CRON) - Note: Most of these trades w/ exception of Facebook, Cronos and GDXJ were recently added in the last few weeks and are profitable. 

 

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

How to Invest in a Clinton / Trump Election Year...

First, I'll address where I've been since my posts have dried up for about a year. My answer is: "Still Right Here".  As we all know for the last few years, people continue to have to do more with less and that extends to companies. With unemployment pretty low for most big companies, they have to squeeze more out of every employee.  Good old fashion hustlin', and I got the memo and have been very busy at work and in my personal life.  The other reason, I haven't written much is because as a country and in the stock market things appear to be in a holding pattern.  I had a feeling a little over a year ago that the stock market was reaching its tops and I took my ball and went home.  For my portfolio, that meant I decided to sell some of the stocks that had been big winners. If you need a reminder flash back to this post: http://urbanomics.blogspot.com/2014/08/marketsno-longer-starting-from-bottom.html

I never like selling but if life you can't get too greedy so I parted ways with names like:

• Allergan - maker of botox (Allergan was acquired Actavis for a nice price) :)
• Lululemon - athletic wear (bought when it was in the low 40s, after some of their pants were showing too much skin and when the CEO ranted he didn't want bigger sized women wearing the clothes, and waited for them to correct their missteps)
• Caterpillar - big equipment maker (bought early and they fell, then I acquired more shares over time through patient dividend investments and they rallied above my purchase prices...just sold in the last few months for a small gain)
• NovaGold - gold miner (bought over 3 years ago and they dropped by over $50 percent; my old mentor reminded me if the fundamentals make sense buy when they are on discount. At roughly $3 I bought more and sold a good portion of it this year at just under $7. 

I felt a little over a year ago we were closing in on the top and I was just a bit early, but by planning then I was starting to set myself up for what's to come. A market near its highs, a Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump election year, and other surprises like the UK leaving the European Union have kept the markets a little uneasy. So I'll tell you what I've been quietly doing as I've sold my winners over the last few months:

Buying Top-Tier Companies (when they reached Low Prices):

• Apple (bought in the low $90s)
• Verizon (bought in the low $40s)
• Manchester United (bought b/w $13-14 range)
• Gilead (bought b/w $73-74) 
• Alibaba (low $80s)

These bigger names anchor my portfolio and should grow in good times and fingers crossed, the bad times. They all pay a dividend so they will pay you to wait :)

I then decided to begin thinking about how I wanted to thin my portfolio out to and hold higher quality names. I've been making hard decisions and here are some of the mistakes I think I have made:

• Gold - NovaGold (I still own a small portion and should have sold it all when it hit its highs)
• Oil - There is too much oil around the world and oil stocks are NOT going anywhere anytime soon. I own (British Petroleum(BP), Oasis Petroleum, Cheniere Energy) and the only good thing is the latter two, I don't hold big positions. BP pays a nice dividend so I use that to buy more shares and love that this is a long-term cornerstone of my portfolio at these levels.
• Non-Dividend Stocks, Not Growing - Lastly, I have a few stocks that don't pay a dividend!! I've held them for quite some time and they are just sitting there taking up space. For me names like:  St. Joe's Company (real estate), Nuance Communication (voice services like Siri), Hertz, and a few others just are not bringing much to the table. So I'll likely be parting ways with these names in the future.

I'm reminding you to go Vote, go Cubs, for me...go focus on higher quality names in this crazy election year.

~ Get Ur Urb On