E-Trade (ETFC) --- Hookup Alert

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

Don't wanna go on livin' without you

I got the hook up holla if you hear me (Ughhhhhh)

And if we say bye bye bye then take my heart with you

I got the hook up holla if you hear me (Ughhhhhh)

Can we go on livin' without you

I got the hook up holla if you hear me (Ughhhhhh)

Artist: Master P + Sons of Funk ~ Song: I Got The Hook Up

So for a short period of time, I've decided to open up my portfolio to help educate people. United we stand and by investing you can be independent, self-owned and bout it bout (thanks P). You can follow wild Reddit investing pages that chronicle how one person made $1M out of his $35K retirement account but those stories never tell you how many people flamed out taking crazy risks. This is about investing in yourself and your goals for the long-term. It's about diversifying your streams of income so that you make decisions on your own terms. It's not a overnight dream, but a long-term goal that you have to plan for. Being musically inclined, I remember a time when Master P said Ughhhh but more importantly I always heard him say "independent, black-owned and I'm bout it bout".  Yes sir, I remember this like it was yesterday but it was over 2 decades ago since Master P dominated the scene. Flashback: In high school, I used to go back and forth about which record label was the best. My man Darryl Baxter was definitely in the No Limit Records camp (the record label of Master P) and so was Ed Whitney. I've always gone against the grain, so to make this a competitive debate each day I took the other side and would always say Sean Puffy Combs and his Bad Boy record label was better. I know --- two successful black men meant we all were right at the end of the day but those debates were memorable. But what they didn't know was I was in the No Limit Camp way before I was a fan of Bad Boy because my dad (being a music lover) brought home a "tape" from the "record" store back then. Don't ask me how or why but he had a tape of Master P's "Ice Cream Man" which I played on repeat over and over and over. The moral of this story is similar to Master P, I write this post to plan a seed in one person's mind just like Master P did when he had a whole generation repeating that phrase. And for the record, NO, I was not inspired to be the "Ice Cream Man" but to be independent black-owned and yes bout it bout it. Next time I'll tell you about Suave House and my clique but let's stay focused.

If you haven't noticed, over the years I've had my fair share of stock hookups. On Wall Street, we call this activity: mergers, acquisitions, and takeovers. My search for value sometimes leads others in the same direction and I get lucky if a big investor or company buys out the company I own for a nice premium --- a hookup. No long story today but I wanted to highlight E-Trade Financial. I like to do research to find my next investment and often benefit from small clues hiding in plain site. If you don't believe me go back and read my posts on Sprint. It will go down as one of my most memorable investments because it was based off of the fact that the CEO (Marcelo Claure) and the Chairman of the Board (Masayoshi Son) both sold their houses before the deal was ever close to being finalized. haha who sells a $10M crib next to Sprint's headquarters unless you're on good authority you won't need it anymore.  

Link: Sprint-t-mobile-hookup-alert.html

My trade in E-Trade (no pun intended) started from the fact that apps like RobinHood, Dough and others were massively disrupting the retail stock trading space. With 20 years of investing under my belt, I can truly tell you the hardest problem to overcome is the fees which eat into your profits when making a trade. RobinHood and others have helped to reduce those fees to $0. TD Ameritrade and E-Trade were hurt badly kinda like how record sales were impacted once streaming became a thing. So along came Charles Schwab (SCHW) who decided to hookup with TD Ameritrade. There were rumors that consolidation was coming to the industry but I was slow and missed an opportunity to trade AMTD. So I kept an eye on ETFC and decided if I couldn't get the first option, I would trade the second option. Morgan Stanley (MS) came calling and slid into E-Trade's DM. The terms are Morgan Stanley will give ETFC shareholders 1.0432 for every share of MS. This is a good example where my current trade is not yet profitable (note: it was prior to COVID-19 market crash) but you need to have patience. However, if the deal closes in the 4th Quarter as expected, this trade will become profitable once closed or when my trade expiry date (Jan 2021) hits. 

Always remember, there is strength in numbers

Hey HENRY - High Earner Not Yet Rich

Oh no, I’ve got to keep on moving.  So I was in my SUV listening to the Sirius XM service and this song came on by Puff and Mase.  A mood comes over you when you hear certain songs and this song made me feel some type of way. 

First, it served as a reminder that we collectively are not getting any younger so don’t be held down by things in life.  Need proof, this great song was being played on a new station they were debuting: Hip-Hop from the 90s-2000s.  Ha! My favorite songs are now playing on an oldies channel.

Second, it’s a reminder to get your mind, health, wealth, and spiritual core in balance.  I stepped away from blogging for a while because life threw me an upper-cut harder than the ones thrown by Mike Tyson or Floyd Mayweather.  The loss of my father this year knocked me down but his well-lived life and legacy serves as a reminder for me and also hopefully for you to NOT BE HELD DOWN.

Third, live your life to the fullest and build a legacy you can be proud of.  Towards the end of college, I remember setting a goal with a few friends that we wanted to retire by the age of 35. I joke that I am Middle-America retired, I’ll explain shortly.  I recently learned that Wall Street likes to describe many of us as a “HENRY” – High Earning Not Rich Yet individuals. So being a HENRY and coming from a humble background has allowed me to evolve and change my target goal over time. While, I still worked towards the goal of retiring by 35, I realized that I didn’t live for myself anymore. I live to build, provide, and teach my family and friends about the importance of economic security and social awareness so that for generations to come we can overcome the obstacles that life will indefinitely throw at us.  Did I reach my goal?    I can definitively say that I have and now it’s time to lean in and assist you on your journey:

Goal 1: Be Middle America Retired – Remember, your family’s humble beginnings. Start modestly and set a reachable goal: For example, having enough income to buy a home in your parent’s neighborhood with the income from your investments but still having enough saving to never work again.

Goal 2: Debt Free – Eliminate debt from you and your family’s life. Just like Kanye, I’m tryna stay recession free…and the biggest pitfall people have during recessions is usually with debt. My buddy Warren Buffet is a fan of this rule too and DOES NOT like to buy stocks on margin (i.e., with debt).

Goal 3: Savings (6 - 12 months of Salary) – You need savings for life emergencies and they will come. Anticipate car break downs, hospital bills, house repairs, and a cushion against job loss.

Goal 4: Multiple Streams of Income – This is one of the most critical areas if you are a HENRY.  Be ready for what made you a HENRY. Capitalism!! Corporations unfortunately have one master…and that’s the stock market. So if they have to deliver a good quarter or more money back to shareholders…they will cut jobs and close plants and yes that includes the HENRY’s.  Don’t get it twisted, they call it “synergies”. When I buy my competitor’s company…I make money by eliminating all of the duplicate jobs. (What do you think will happen now that Charles Schwab just bought TD Ameritrade?  I heard estimates that up to 30% of the workforce could be cut.

Goal 5: A Balanced Core Gives You Freedom – Focus on family, go on trips, change jobs, start a business wisely, and get off of social media and actually build meaningful relationships. Why because you have planned, sacrificed and have flexibility to do it.

How do you get there, build up your pillars:

· Mental Pillar – Target mental growth through degrees, certifications, and self-learning. Find problems to solve, there is always a need for these items.
· Spiritual – Be grounded in something, when life rocks you…you need beliefs and a community to turn to; Volunteer and give back…trust this will make you feel good
· Financial – Economic security creates the ability to provide for you and your family. Find work that is fulfilling but more importantly solves a problem for others. If you had to advertise your personal skills would I hire you over the next person? Buy assets that appreciate, can be passed along, and that do NOT create additional debt. Diversify your income – do you have a retirement account, investment account, rental income, and a side hustle. If yes, Can’t Nobody Hold you down
· Health – Don’t let bad habits keep you down. A strong core should allow you to hopefully enjoy your hard work for years to come. But remember life is precious, so you must work hard to prolong it

Personal Finance 101 – Starting an Investment Account

Picking A Broker

This is a quick tutorial on how to get started with opening your personal investment account.  While there are a number of choices, the average investor just getting started should only consider discount brokers. That’s because if you are no bringing a 100K or more to the table to begin with, the banks are that considered with giving you a break on fees and charges.  I am personally sending you two of the biggest players in the industry:

TD Ameritrade - https://www.tdameritrade.com/

eTrade - https://us.etrade.com/home

These two are brokers have been around since the beginning of online investing and the Dot.Com era and are still around.  There are many brokers to consider but these two do just about everything you will need them to do when just starting out. Go to TD Ameritrade or ETrade and trust me you will see a link to “OPEN AN ACCOUNT”. Click on that link and fill in the following:

Account Minimums – In today’s world the minimum amounts are going to be roughly $1,000 to $2,000 to open an account. Have this amount stocked away in your checking account before you begin your application.

Opening an Account

Personal Details:

-          Have your Social Security Number and Employer Name/Address ready

-          Name/Phone/Email

Citizenship

-          Select your status

Account Type

-          Choose “Individual” for traders looking to establish their first account

-          Choose “Buy & Hold” for investors starting off with the basics. You can always upgrade to complex trading in the later years

-          Confirm you are a “first-time” investors

Account Owner Details

-          You will be required to fill out unique account details that prove you are who you say you are and not trying to open an account through some type of illegal enterprise.

o   Employment Information

o   Financial Information (Be honest about your net worth, its likely 0 – $15K)

o   Personal Affiliations ( Select No, if you are new to investing and have no family members that work for Wall Street)

They will have you review and edit your details, agree to their terms, and eventually choose an “Account Login and Password” and “Funding Type” (how you want to fund your account). 

Funding Your account - Think “Direct Deposit” when getting a tax refund.

-          You will enter the “Routing” and “Account Number” of say your checking account into your newly established broker account.

-          Your broker will deposit a small amount of change into your checking account.

-          You will identify that amount deposited and login to your new brokerage account and CONFIRM that the two accounts have been setup to sends funds between each other.

-          Once confirmed, you will be asked to initiate an electronic withdrawal for minimum deposit amount over to your new brokerage account.

-          Remember starting off with $2,000 as a minimum is just that to these guys so be ready because the key is to meet that amount so no fees will be taken out against your account.

Happy Trading

Black Friday Shopping

Isn't it funny that someone somewhere marketed the day after Thanksgiving as Black Friday. It has become the day where no one gets any sleep and we all get up and spend money selfishly. Kinda the opposite thinking for the day day before...THANKSGIVING! How many people are out there buying things to give them away to the less fortunate. Not many is what I'm guessing, but hey what do I know. But come to think of it a new GPS navigation system has been on my list for awhile and its funny that I am bullish of this industry as I think this will continue to be the trend.

I guess I am feeling like a little bit of a scrooge today because with a little bit of a rebound today in the market (its up roughly 1%) that my portfolio isn't moving in line with the market today. I even have Best Buy in my portfolio so what gives. So on a day like this when I should be shopping, I will give you my random thoughts of stock recommendations and things I've heard as I've kept my ears to the street:

E-trade (ETFC) - The rumors are this stock may be up for SALE, what the #$%$#. How is this possible, those pesky mortgages are likely the reason. Its up roughly 20% today on news that it could sell itself to TD AMERITRADE (AMTD) OR CHARLES SCHWAB (SCHW)

The retailers are making a move today, Target (T), Walmart (WMT), Kohls (KSS), Best Buy (BBY), Circuit City (C), and others are moving higher.

Urbanomics Recommendation of the Day:

I have had this one on my BUY list but I can't remember if I have ever formally recommended it here. The stock is Electro Scientific Industries (ESIO) Buy Price @ $19.47

Back That Thang Up - Ballin' on Wall Street

Juvenile has penned hit songs like Ha, Slow Motion, Rodeo, and Bounce Back...so in honor of the former Hot Boy himself I have to recommend my "Back That Thang Up" pick and tell every to back the truck up and pick up shares of:
RadiSys (RSYS) Back the truck up on this one. The big time investor David Nierenberg
is talking, so holla at cha boy b/c I'm listening. The activist investor has a core set of rules that he follows when he makes an investment. Similar to my man Warren Buffett he looks for great valuation supported by a margin of safety, a good management team, trends, strong balance sheets, and improving sales. This has led me to RSYS a stock near its 52 weak low but poised to turnaround. The stock is covered by 5 analysts with price targets well above the 52 week low. Nierenberg has been an activist in this company and continues make this an attractive purchase as a 10% investor in RadiSys. Back the truck up and enjoy.

Buy Recommendation: $12.91
Note: I will be adding positions to this stock after my recommendation.

Another stock to watch: TD Ameritrade. There has been a lot of talk about TD Ameritrade and the phrase has been consolidation. There is talk of more consolidation going on in the brokerage sector, specifically online brokers. The potential buyer is supposed to be E-Trade. Shots out to my boy over in Cali working for E-Trade...you might be handling another conversion. Buy rec: $20