AfroBeats - If Artists Were Like Stocks | Momentum Stock: Core Scientific, Spotify, Roblox

 

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
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AfroBeats - Artists Compared to Stocks

I cannot tell you how proud I am of the growth of African music. I have grown up all my life listening to African music and it's amazing to see the dancefloor erupt when some of our biggest African artists and songs come on at a party. Just like when Dre and Snoop, Nas, Jay, Biggie, Mary J Blige, Mariah Carey, or Whitney Houston are played -- the room is electric. Now the world gets to experience what we've been dancing and shaking to all of our lives. The global explosion of African music across the world has been amazing and I'm telling you it's here to stay. I listen to songs in different languages, slangs, and styles and one thing is universal our music makes you want to dance. And yes, I simply call it African music -- what is this AfroBeats ting?

Well, I wanted to revisit my series that helps you learn how to invest by comparing everyday things to stocks. I always say you have to start by determining what type of investor you are as that usually dictates the types of stocks you like to trade. If you had $100,000 dollars to invest, how would you invest in your favorite African artists:

Momentum Artists: Tyla | Rema | Lojay

I like to say that momentum stocks or artists are investments in something that's buzzing. Like the initial launch of Tesla, the only people that were checking for electric vehicles were EV die-hard fans. No one, I mean no one else was interested in electric cars or let alone wanting to pre-order the damn thing. Then you saw a Tesla on the road OR you heard these hits songs in the last year, and you knew they were undeniably hit songs:

Artist: Tyla ~ Hit Song: Water [Country: South Africa]

Artist: Rema ~ Hit Song: Calm Down [Country: Nigeria]

Artist: Lojay ~ Hit Song: MonaLisa [Country: Nigeria]

Tyla and Water were arguably the biggest songs in the world in the last year. It seemed like we couldn't get enough of Tyla, Ampiano and the buzziness of "Water". She followed up with a remix with none other than Travis Scott and then came for music nerds like me when she teamed up with 2 of my favorites: Skillibeng and Gunna on "Jump". 

Rema - I was bumping "Calm Down" for a minute and the song is infectious. While playing at a backyard party, I had a guest say what is this song -- I like it. The song was so big it has 2 versions, the original which is my favorite and the remix with Selena Gomez. The funny thing is I think some fans think it's Selena's song because of the way the remix was pushed out. Don't believe me, do a search for calm down and strangely you see Selena Gomez as if it's her damn song. Collectively the 2 versions on YouTube Video are easily over 1.5 billion video views.

Lojay & Sarz - Baby corner, corner waka-waka! Yes, for those of you that don't know Creole as we call it or Pidgin in other African regions -- Lojay and Sarz are telling their baby girl to walk over the corner the rest is a sultry mix of indulging in her coca or chocolate body. The song is so big, I share it and people say I've heard and like that song but don't know what they are saying. The song was sooo big that Chris Brown jumped on the remix and the buzz is still going.

Momentum Stocks

Core Scientific (CORZ) - Per their own website "Core Scientific is one of the largest bitcoin miners and hosting solutions providers for bitcoin mining in North America." I read the company recently came out of bankruptcy in January 2024. I started sniffing around when a partner of CORZ, CoreWeave made two attempts to purchase the company. They have to have some knowledge of the operations as they signed a big AI deal in June of 2024 for CORZ hosting services, I believe. While that deal was announced, they then went for the hook up and said we'd love to buy you out. Player move but looks like they are low-balling the offer. It was similar to an African engagement I recently witnessed -- one man representing the bride-to-be's family said, "The envelope looks a little bit light...please go back". I just learned the directors of CORZ are buying the stock and that is promising for a small company with rising momentum. Are they a one hit wonder or can they survive.

Spotify (SPOT) - I believe I've written about Spotify recently and boy are they on a surge. I was too early and this artist or should I say stock is now finally stringing together a 2nd and 3rd hit song. I believe in 2021 I bought around the $260 range and saw it rise and then drop shortly after that all the way into the 70s in late 2022. I liked the first song -- as they essentially a part of a cartel. I actually get most of my music from YouTube Video and only recently Music, but the big dog is Spotify and Tidal is a small fry. Sorry real music artists, streaming is here to stay -- I just wonder if Spotify can increase the price, stave off a mutiny from artists and reign supreme. I'm now in the Green and trading actively against Spotify because the option premiums are very attractive like that coca body.

Roblox (RBLX) - Is the like the new stock on the block that I nailed just right but got nervous about when the next hit song was coming out. I listened to a good friend tell me ALL the kids play on a platform called Roblox. I have no clue what this platform is but I looked into the stock and it had a rough time after creating a buzz. Sound familiar touring artists. Like a greedy music label, I saw talent when the stock stumbled to the $25 range. I owned it for much of the last months or so. It ran up on a hit song to the 40s I got nervous a 2nd hit song wasn't coming right away and sold as they came down into the 30s. Well that was a mistake because the second song is doing nicely and the stock is back at the $43 range. I am watching this one soooo closely as I want to get back in. Maybe I'll wait to see if they have a good TMZ like scandal which knocks the stock down, pick some shares up, and then wait for the 2nd album to cause the stock to move higher again.

Disclosures: I own Core Scientific and Spotify; I owned Roblox within the last year and got out too early. Also, I'm not typically a momentum stock trader. Note from my writings -- I like Roblox after they stumbled, Core Scientific only after a label came calling, and Spotify for the lane it is in. Like Shaboozey, an African boy (Nigerian) who had to genius idea of taking a classic one hit wonder song "Tipsy" (Artist: J-Kwon) and putting a country twist on it is an artist in his own lane. The world is craving for a unique sound and not many artists can fill that void yet. He's got a lot of money to make before other artists start attempting to fuse hip-hop and country.

Next Up Growth Stocks

Why are We Seeing High Inflation? -- The Block is Hot

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
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Inflation is Coming, No Inflation is Here:

I have never really looked back over time to understand when and why I post. I have a feeling it probably aligns over time with when our economy is at its highest and lowest. I've come to conclude that if I put my thoughts in writing and it has a historical time stamp on it, then eventually over time I can change minds (by looking at my past thoughts). I have molded myself over time to being a contrarian...and this means I appreciate going against the grain. I don't try to follow the crowd. The crowd is like a herd and in fact where and when I see a stampede I run away. 

I believe this is how I see risk, protect myself from negative risk, and then eventually use leverage to capitalize on risk. I take these life lessons and simply apply them to the stock market. I try to create habits and repeatable practices that can be applied to the game of life and carry these concepts over to the stock market game. Notice, I purposefully called them a game. There is an ebb and flow to everything in my opinion and you have to know how the game is played. I take time to find, learn, and observe this lifecycle in everything. Whether it's the game of life, the stock market game, sports, or our economy you will notice they all have cycles. Why this repeats OR cycles like a clock is unbeknownst to me, but I'd be a liar in telling you that understanding this concept has made me successful.

I clearly am a broken record because over the years, I've posted about how the economy roughly goes up and down in cycles. From observing the stock market, I can tell you LIKE CLOCKWORK, we roughly have periods of boom and busts that cycle OR repeat every 8-10 years. Read my blog and I think I've thoughtfully documented the following:

• 1987 - Savings and Loan Crisis | Black Monday Crisis - The stock market (via the Dow) was down 22% in one day
• 1995 - 2000 Dot Com Stock Market Soars - It gave us Amazon, Semiconductor Stocks
• 2002 - Dot Com Bubble Busts - Every business added a Dot Com and many did not survive
• 2004 - 2007 - The Hot Housing Markets Soars - Homes prices and buying skyrocket, and no interest loans become the norm
• 2008 - Financial Crisis - We lose Lehman Brothers and financial markets are in turmoil; I used this downturn to finally purchase my first house in 2010 thanks to the First Time Homebuyers credit led by the Obama administration; I also started buy stocks again when the Federal Reserve started lowering interest rates
• 2014 -18 - I wrote in 2014, that the Dow should take a bow. It reached all-time highs. I was starting to plan for a slowdown but then President Trump surprised me and many in 2016 by vocally telling the Federal Reserve NOT to raise interest rates (which slows the economy down) and he doubled down on cutting business taxes which created a Trump era boom after we already had a Obama era boom. Remember unemployment and minority unemployment were at record lows during the Obama presidency and then the set new record lows during the Trump presidency
• 2019 - COVID-19 Crisis led a to a health crisis, stock market meltdown and the entire globe was under siege
• 2020 - COVID Stimulus + Payment Protection Program + Child Tax Credits - because the Federal Reserve could not lower interest rates as they were at 0%, Congress stepped in literally made it rain. 

If you look at this historical backdrop that I documented, the Federal Reserve talked about raising interest rates in 2016 as the economy was doing great 8 years after the financial crisis. But when then President Trump vocally broke the separation of powers and vocally told the Federal Reserve in as many words to not raise interest rates...I believe it led to 2 things:

1) Our economy never really cooled down from 8 years of doing well and started to get hot. I remember in my 2017-18 search for my second home getting outbid and racing to find the next house. Only come to find out this would get even worse in 2020.

2) When COVID-19 hit and shocked our economy we could not lower interest rates. By creating all those stimulus programs and most being for businesses who did not have to pay them back, the US economy was flooded with cash. This is equivalent to pouring gasoline on an already white hot fire.

The gasoline lead to something similar to the Dot Com Bubble, only this time you might call it the Cryptocurrency and Housing rise. Don't believe just look at the headlines:

1. Gamestop, AMC Theatres, and Crypto ruled the day. haha Gamestop and AMC were virtually closed during the pandemic and they are skyrocketing more than our most valuable companies in the world. Crypto which is backed by nothing and can't be used to pay for toilet paper and groceries is now one of the most valuable currencies in the world? Notice what bubbles and inflation begins to do. It makes the unreal -- real, the unfathomable -- possible, the unrationale -- rational. 
2. The 10 richest persons in the world are worth more than 40% of the bottom 40% of the world, which is roughly 3.1 Billion people. 
3. 88 bids were made on one home; 25% of homes in the US were bought by corporations

Pouring gasoline on a white-hot economy did not cause these strange investment scenarios or market inequities...it exacerbated and amplified them. We are now at a point where the only tool we have to slow things down is the Federal Reserve. They pour water on the fire by raising interest rates and this doesn't cause slow burn rather a cold shock. For the last 5 weeks the markets have dropped sharply, convulsing their way down. Interest rates have jumped from 3% to 5%. So I started to dip my toes back into the real estate market to see if I could take advantage of the situation. Nope, the open house I went to was visited by other and I was greeted by the agent telling me this house was already under contract. This tells me the market is still to hot. To change habits, the Federal Reserve will continue to hike rates until it makes you feel sick. 

Crypto hit all-time highs of $60K and now its below $30K

ROKU was at $400 at one point, now decimated to $below $100

 The goal is to raise rates to stop your buying of homes, stocks, crypto which is fueling inflation. 

This is why I moved my retirement funds to inflation - protected investments last year in anticipation. This is also why I'm disappointed in myself when I didn't sell Spotify and ROKU at their highs. I saw it coming and didn't do enough. These stocks have been decimated and are down big time. The funniest is the Federal Reserve told you this is exactly what they wanted to do.

The Stock Market is Falling - Will I Be Gone 'til November??

Every time I make a run

Girl, you turn around and cry

I ask myself why, oh why

See, you must understand, I can't work a 9 to 5

So I'll be gone 'til November

Said I'll be gone 'til November, I'll be gone 'til November

Yo, tell my girl, yo, I'll be gone 'til November

I'll be gone 'til November, I'll be gone 'til November

Yo, tell my girl, yo, I'll be gone 'til November

January, February, March, April, May

I see you cryin', but girl, I can't stay

I'll be gone 'til November, I'll be gone 'til November

And give a kiss to my mother

Lyrics by Wyclef Jean

Gone 'til November

Many investors are finally learning that stock markets do not go straight up. I've blogged that when the market was at its hottest, I was getting calls and text messages all day. Everyone was right and every stock they bought went straight up. I just hope that you took some of those profits off the table. Remember, we are building wealth and for some of us generational wealth for the first time and our goal is not to gamble. I learned the hard way many years ago that big gains should be pocketed or banked when you can and I use a crude but simple formula for selling some shares. If I've purchased a stock and it's gone up well, what's wrong with taking my initial investment OUT, then taking another 20% out, and finally letting the rest ride. Example:

Investment: $10,000

Say this Investment Goes up to 30% and you have $13,000 in your account

Sell $12,000 ($10K Initial Investment and $2K Profit Banked)

$1,000 - Let it Ride

I appreciate the calls when you get it right but I also want to hear about how you stacked your chips at the top. 

How did this work out for me? Well, I had help last year and a little bit of luck this year. Some of my largest positions were bought out. Again, a stock getting bought out is like a sports player getting a maximum salary offer from their team or being traded in free agency for a higher salary! So for me, I was luckily able to bank most of my gains. I somewhat listened to my own book because if you recall from a recent article, I showed some discipline and in October 2021 I moved 75% of my retirement account into safety. A few months ago, I moved the remaining 25% to safety as well. I know you want to know exactly what I moved them into. Well I surprisingly found out I have an Inflation Protection investment in my retirement account. If you're wondering whether this helped or hurt, it turns out that from the highs of Q3 2021, my stock portfolio was down roughly 10%...not great but less than what the market fell. That is about as much as I can ask for. In my personal portfolio, I learned that it was built in a barbell fashion and this was great when I wanted to take risk and not so great when the market turned down. I basically had half of my portfolio in what you may call value based safer stocks and roughly the other half were in the high flyer technology stocks.

Positive Positions:

Tegna - is being bought out so even while the market is down this position has not moved materially and should not until the acquisition is made in Q2 2022. I've actually played the ARBITRAGE and added to this position in a down market. This means I buy the stock as there is still a difference between the current price and the acquisition price. I monitor this stock closely but my last update was 87% of the shareholders just approved the merger so I think investment which I own in my personal and retirement account has a high likelihood of closing. 

Negative Positions:

ROKU - I'm glad I traded options against Roku because it was a very hot high flyer and as it went higher I made income trading against my position. Now as the market has dropped, that income trading is all I have to show for it, because Roku has fallen big time. 

Spotify - Spotify has fallen as well and the losses have been big.

When times get tough, I begin to move back to the basics. I look for trends that should work during these times and in my riskier personal portfolio this is where I consider buying stocks. Sometimes I simply do nothing at all. But here is what I'm doing:

1) Watching Warren Buffett - When the market is falling and people are scared, he has been cautious and now entering back in. But what is he buying or adding too, see this summary below:

a) I find it interesting; he is jumping into Paramount a stock I recently indicated had jumped on my radar because it was trading at a discount: Feb 2022 - Paramount Post

b) My Breakdown of Warren's Q1 Buys / Additions:

2) I am trading aggressively and trying to actively get out of any stocks that will not make up a core part of my portfolio. 

3) I've been more active than I've been in a long time. I've been trading:

Oil: Occidental Petroleum, Devon Energy

Arbitrage Plays: Twitter

Stocks that Benefit from Hard Times: Treehouse (maker of store brand products)

I copied Buffett and targeted Oil plays and want to build larger positions here as a hedge and I see he copied me by focusing on Arbitrage plays. I continue to buy Tegna until they get bought out and even purchased Twitter which hope Elon Musk will stop his shenanigans and agree to the original buyout of roughly $54. But is looking at Activision Blizzard, the video game maker, because he too is trying to identify high probability trades that will likely get bought out. I don't want high risk trades at this point and this could be why we both are looking at Arb plays. VMware may be one here shortly as Broadcom has been supposedly slidin' into it's DM and there are a few others bubbling out there.

I've spent way too much time on this post and have to get back at it, but a quick brain dump of what I'm thinking at the moment. Enjoy, trade safely, and #getthebag

Who's Watching Euphoria - I'm Seeing a Stock Market in Withdrawal

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)?

Stock "Euphoria" In Withdrawal

Did you see that episode of Euphoria? While I'm watching the show, I'm really watching the stock market euphoria evaporate. I want to be completely transparent that if your portfolio is NOT down and you are not feeling any pain then you are lying or you need to win stock investing award. One of my first rules is being transparent and my portfolio is down and guess what that is a normal part of the stock market. I'd like to take some credit that I've been calling for the market to top out for a while now. But the reality is even though I was right, no human being will ever get the exact day correct, so my portfolio is getting punished just like everyone else's. Like Rue Bennett on the show "Eurphoria" is in withdrawal, this market is shaking...we call it market volatility. 

You may wonder what I'm doing in response. The simple answer is I've moved out of stocks in my retirement portfolio. You can call cap (or my bluff) but I too was surprised that I made the decision to move one quarter of my retirement portfolio in October of 2021 to safety. I chose the PIMCO Inflation Protected Bond Fund. One quarter did not stop my portfolio from declining but what it did mean that I declined less than the what the market did and I calculated my retirement account was down from it's peak by roughly 10%. I like to periodically review my portfolio's quarterly and just logged in last month. The next thing I did was analyze the current situation. I think the economy is doing well despite what you see on the news. It's pretty hot and INFLATION is up big time. How do I know, because I want to buy a 3rd property and I no likey any of the prices I'm seeing. The only price I like is the inflated value I see on the properties I own. Funny how that works ehh. 

Why is this happening? Well, the Federal Reserve is committed to taming inflation and the only way to do this is to slow demand. Take your Starbucks coffee shop, if they keep selling out of everything the store will eventually conclude they may need to raise prices because the demand is so hot. A good business operation will raise prices until the demand slows down to something manageable. That is EXACTLY what the Federal Reserve is doing at the moment. They are raising interest rates and that is making mortgage rates and the cost of obtaining cash harder to come by. The goal is to SLOW down the economy as everyone is flush from stimulus and spending like crazy now that the think COVID is over. If you need a visual, think about Rue as she was going through withdrawal, it's NOT a pretty picture. So guess what, I'm taking my ball and going home. In my retirement account I put all of my cash into inflation protected investments for the mean time. I like to play games I can win. My personal stock investing account is still in stocks and it's not pretty. I still have a lot to learn about how to better hedge my investments as some of my high fliers came down to reality. ROKU, SPOTIFY, and UBER really don't want me to retire even earlier. Those #$#$#!!

I'll write more about what I'm doing in my personal stock account to try to reduce the amount of risk and volatility. My cybersecurity business is holding up well so I'm fully investing my time there but I'll keep you guys posted on how to continue investing in stocks for a brighter future.

IMANI | FAITH - A Roadmap for The New Year

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).