When to Buy Stocks -- Demand Value | Don't Follow the Crowd

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:

Coming soon is a post on Health -- The Body. You have to invest and know the data about your body. Like many people of color, I get nervous about hospitals and doctors. Thanks to my corporate job, I was exposed to annual exams and blood tests. Unfortunately, when I made the shift to being an entrepreneur I didn't keep up with my annual exams. And it may be costing me...stay tuned for a future post on Health and how that impacts your Wealth. 

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)?

When to Buy A Stock

Enough talking -- pictures and videos are worth a thousand words, so I plan to move into the digital age here soon. I'm an old soul in a millennial body with a 9-5 job and a side hustle empowering underrepresented groups to find employment in the technology field (and it's cash flowing almost better than my 9-5 job!). Oh by the way, I own real estate (with tenants) and trying to grow that portfolio. So be patient as I plan to do a video series that will help you invest in yourself and #getthebag. My best asset class is my stock portfolio and yes, it allowed me to semi-retire at 37. I've documented how I've done it here on my blog (mistakes and all) for the last 15+ years. Don't believe people that say it's easy --- Trust But Verify. If they are NOT teaching you how to do it yourself --- Then You Are The Product. #facts

Leading up to my video series, which you've been asking for, here is an example of how I hunt for stocks. Sometimes I rely on my network of friends in my #MansaMusa network. They've helped me build my mini empire and I appreciate all of them as they've support me in different ways. When I got started I had a few #whentobuy rules. Last week, I shared Rule #2 - Follow Da Leader | Whale Watch | Griot Rule. Warren Buffett was great to read about, learn from, and occasionally follow but he is one smart brotha...he often requests and usually get approved the right to withhold some of his biggest trades. Why? So he can slowly build a large position and limit Griot watchers like me from following him. There are federal rules which require Warren to disclose his trades and he doesn't want his stock investments to skyrocket right away (from copycats) before he's built his large stake. I may not be a Griot yet, but like my father I'm a like to preach and teach. So I can't give everything away...I know my worth but I USUALLY try to make investments that align with my goals, risk tolerance, and personality. Two hints at what I mean and then I get to a few stocks on my subscriber list and one reveal.

Wanting Value:

  Hint 1: For years, I've written about the fact that I won't by a candy bar if I can't get it for 50c. For the longest time, that's what a Reese's or Snickers cost growing up. Yes, I believe in inflation but if you don't sell it to me for 50c or a Kings size bar for $1.00...you're not getting my money. Life is full of transactions and negotiations...I choose when I want to participate. 

A Difference of Opinion:

Hint 2: I personally like to go against the grain and as many have said...I like to walk my own path and don't follow the crowd too often. So if I see a stock getting dissed (Ex: Search for my Tesla or Lululemon trades and read my Elon Musk / Kanye West posts from years before), I tend to want to know more about the situation than just go with the crowd. Group think is very dangerous and is a primary reason why racism and oppression is what it is. Human nature is to seek the protection and worthiness from a group or gang...but it can lead to perverse outcomes - like when gangs have no rules and kids get killed, or when people with authority protect the bad apples in their group, or when people claim to have faith in something higher but the angry mob can lynch (skin color) or rape (young woman) because society or the current cultural climate doesn't communicate to them what they are doing is wrong. And then I hear the narrative, don't try and cancel those things people did back because it was a different time. I have one one --- Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them Do Unto You. I don't think in life you can ever "overlook" lynching, hate, rape, bullying ...because everyone was doing it. So When I invest...if most are doing it...I run the other way. Need one last example, we all celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and his approach to non-violence today. But in the 1960s, the FBI had him high on the list of public enemy #1s. How do you square that away...in my book non-violence teaching does not = terrorist (or communist for that matter) but they spent years watching and taping his every moves. So I take the same approach to stocks, if everyone jumps off the bandwagon I BUY:

- Elon Musk is an idiot for $420 tweet -- nice try, I invest in a genius and Tesla

- Kanye West is mentally crazy -- He's not the president, my mentor, impactful to my daily life...but IMO he seems to be savvy at music and business...oh by the way he's now worth over 5-6 Billion after a well executed clothing partnership with Gap. I don't have to agree with him to know he's going to appreciate in value: 

URBANOMICS: TESLA - MY BEAUTIFUL DARK TWISTED INVESTMENT

- Lulemon is finished after the then idiot CEO made harsh comments about plus-sized women and leggings -- He's a bum get rid of him and people still will buy ridiculously price leggings, yoga pants and clearly Yeezy's. 

URBANOMICS: Value Investing - Look4Leaders / FollowUrGut

#GettheBag - Premium Subscriber Alerts

Here are a few stocks from this Quarter's Subscriber List Premium Alerts:

• I***** - Beaten down technology company, that may get back up after being knocked back down
• M**** - With everyone jumping on the hot new thing...the old reliable has been thrown away. It may to soon to ask an old star to retire when the team isn't ready for a transition
• A**** - This company stumbled and decided not to IPO. But the SPAC route seemed like an ideal fit. No one's paying attention but the re-opening trade could have us running around like Mad Men
• F**** - Good ole fashion insurance was left out in the cold, but whoa interest rates are rising and everyone is jumping on banks, insurance and other interest rate sensitive stocks. 

Reveal - ViacomCBS (VIAC)

• V**** - Television and Advertising has been left for dead as streaming is the future. A quote taken from Barron's: "An analyst wrote that the recent run-up “doesn’t fully discount risks” from pressure on V****’s own legacy cable-network business, nor the risks to content-licensing revenue from the crumbling of conventional cable channels."

Haters gonna hate. Our Reveal is we own ViacomCBS (VIAC), recently the best performing stock in the S&P 500. Stay tuned for a "Details" writeup...but wondering when did I blog about ViacomCBS, Sept 2020:

URBANOMICS: How Being Risk Focused Allows Me to Play Defense + Offense

If you want to follow the crowd, by all means go ahead. However, I'd rather walk my own path. Reach out if you want to subscribe and monitor the trades I'm making in my portfolio. 

Also, guess the stock and I'll reveal if you're right.

Investing in Change - Colin + Collectors Universe (CLCT)

I wanted to start off with an acknowledgement that we hopefully call rally around, the simple fact that Black Lives Matter.  I knew it mattered decades ago when I first developed this blog. Urban Economics - the intersection of what it means to be black and the development (over the years) of a toolkit to survive in a harsh landscape that is not welcoming to people that look like me. Urban was used to describe the music I listen to (Grammy: Best Urban Contemporary), the neighborhood I live in, and even the way my people spoke. So it was clear to me even then that BLM I just couldn't scream it to the rooftops because we all knew about the that thing lurking around the corner called "systemic racism". Today's post is not about the many times I've been singled out by the police, those articles will come but the "FEAR" of entering the corporate world and trying to survive for your family. The fear that being too outspoken can get you singled out. How do I know --- we've seen it happen too many times especially to the good ones. Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King Jr., and yes Colin Kaepernick.  I saw that young brotha's wings get clipped too early and we all knew the unfortunate price he would pay.  

How do businesses deal with this issue, well there is a term and strategy I learned in the corporate world used to prevent them from getting singled out.  During the financial crisis it was invoked because there was a fear in the air and everyday people were taking matters into their own hands. They ran, literally into banks, and withdrew all of their money fearing one bank failure meant their bank would be up NEXT. There is a reason why the call it "A Run on The Banks"...look it up.  So during the financial crisis (feel free to read about it on my blog from 2008-2010), the people in charge (Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner, Hank Paulson) devised a plan to help the banks survive being "singled-out" for taking funds from the government. Think of it from my perspective as an investor: if my bank is taking money --- they must be in BIG trouble! If I see this I sell my stock and further I pull my money out of that bank --- hence a run on that bank begins or continues. The plan that was devised was for EVERY bank to take the bailout money (the bitter medicine even if you didn't need it) for the greater good of the banking system and the country. They call that "ring-fencing". If everyone is doing it, I can't single out one why one actor is doing it.

Fast forward to what Urbanomics has always been about. A place for all people, but in particular my People of Color to learn from each other and not be singled out in Corporate America as too ambitious, driven, or looking out for your own personal or family's best interest. My issue with the NFL, the players, and the owners is they didn't realize this simple fact when we all watched Colin Kaepernick do what was right. No one ring-fenced the young man and I was irate then and still am. Like Lebron James said...the NFL owes Colin Kaepernick an apology and I agree. If everyone would have knelt....yes you Drew Brees maybe we all could have focused on the real issue at hand and maybe just maybe he would still be playing.

So if you are new, read this blog to empower yourself. Those of us that have read over the years realize what I am saying isn't anything new --- we are uniting as a collective unit to be great parents, workers, investors, and agents of change as there is strength in numbers. And I also believe that in a capitalist society, money talks. Because when you're are a collective unit, you have strength or as I like to call it leverage and you can negotiate what's in the best interest of you and yours.

I'm sharing the best performing stock in my portfolio in hopes that the NFL and teams do right by Kaep. In hopes that we ring fence and invest in our futures together --- strength in numbers. You can read my many posts over the years on Collectors Universe (CLCT). I bought this stock when I was a young pup and it holds true to my pillars. Build a strong core, work hard, and prioritize what's most important to you. To me it's family, so my portfolio of investments simply means I prioritize time and relationships in this short beautiful life. 

Thank you #Kaepernick, yes #BlackLivesMatter, and I remind you #ifnotnowthenwhen

If you need a disclosure, yes I own CLCT and have since at least 2007. Buy low and hold on to great investments. CLCT pays a dividend and most of your investments (real estate, business, stocks, etc.) should be providing you some type of return because it's a valuable asset. Be humble and surround yourself with people smarter than you. Take but manage risks very well.