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
