Higher -- Investing, Learning, Purpose

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

Higher

I am writing this post with a heavy heart but also with a continued sense of purpose.  The last few days and weeks have been filled with stories of growing concerns for the coronavirus, the tragic death of basketball legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and 7 others in a helicopter crash, and the many tributes at this year's Grammys Award for those we have recently lost -- including Prince and the young brotha Nipsey Hussle.

If there has ever been any doubt as to why I write this blog I hope to clearly shine a light on that today.  My mission is to be free, have optionality, and create long lasting memories of my family, friends, and community that will be cherished for a life time.  With a laser focused work ethic like the legendary Kobe Bryant, I believe this is achievable by building a strong core.  A core built on pillars that will provide you and your future generations a feeling of social awareness and economic security.

After losing my remarkable father in 2019, I still wake up everyday with a continued sense of purpose of not letting his hard work go in vain.  How can I slack off when I have a Spiritual belief that we were put here for a reason (first pillar). If I told you of the obstacles my parents had to overcome just make it to America from Africa you would understand where my determination comes from. I think Nipsey Hussle said it best in 'Higher': "Pops turned 75, he proud what we done; In one generation he came from Africa young" (I changed the age from 60 to 75 in this lyric b/c we almost lost my father when he @ 74 when doctors told us to say goodbye -- but how grand his recovery was and magical seeing him celebrate his 75th)

He and my mom's instilled in us a Kobe Bryant like work ethic when it came to being Mentally strong, my second pillar. Kobe was the ultimate competitor -- he was often described as having ice in his veins.  I was mesmerized by Kobe because I had seen that look before...in my father when it came to education. Occasionally sharing experiences of being discriminated against (even after receiving his PhD magna cum laude, and being questioned in interviews as to how he did he do that; or being told a foreigner would never be a tenured professor), he told us the great equalizer in life is your mind. So it was no shock that one year, I received all 'A's' and stumbled with 1 'B' and I was punished more than my siblings who had NOT even met that mark.  It was a less than gentle reminder that we can't waste the moment, the opportunity to go higher..  John Legend from Higher: "Oh, Lord Can you feel it?  My shoes are scrapin' the sky   I'm so high  We keep goin' higher" 

A strong physical core (3rd Pillar) is always a part of the competitive formula for taking your game higher. Besides the insurmountable chores we were given as kids, my father always found time for us to play and enjoy. The sprints in the yard, the dedication to build a basketball goal in the back yard, and the countless sporting events he drove me to was admirable considering I was a 3 sport athlete in my large high school (HS). In one fail swoop, my father taught me real strength and a need for balance when he took on my legendary HS basketball coach.  No one ever questioned the man who was recently inducted in the HS basketball Hall of Fame and has our HS gymnasium already named after him...and he's still alive. However, my African father did that one summer day.  Being a 3 sport athlete, I am constantly practicing and playing all year. Then in the summer, we were not so SUBTLY reminded of the importance of participating in the optional summer basketball league (where they tracked attendance).  I had never been so afraid in my life when my dad went up to the school and told my soon to be Hall of Fame coach, that his African son had reached 14 and had to have a job.  To me it was like watching David take on Goliath, but for the first time at a young age I saw a person of color showing me a path of optionality.  When your mind is free and strong, you don't buy into the mindset that sports is your only ticket in life. My father was reminding me of the need for balance and that I had responsibilities to my mission...my family and my future.  Strangely after that summer, I didn't experience a drop off (like one would expect)...I went to summer basketball when I could fit it in after work, I still outworked everyone by doing drills at home, and the next summer guess what: my coach offered me a summer job, imagine that he helped me reach my goals and his. Not only was I empowered with options in my life but I was stronger physically:

• Graduated HS Male Athlete of the Year
• Football All-State (Academic)
• 3 Sport Athlete (Football, Basketball, Baseball)
• Recruited to play at the college ranks
• Honor Roll + National Honor Society

Finally, my fourth pillar is Financial. If you're not living in a bubble, we live in a capitalist society. I watched my parents struggle but scrape together the basic building blocks to provide a better life for themselves and their kids. By living within their means, they were able to pay off a very small home (3 bedroom, 1 bath home accommodating 6 people) by working multiple jobs.  They ushered 4 kids off to college and assisted immediate family who relocated from Africa. How does this make the financial pillar? By living within their means and focusing on education, they had 4 kids who paid all that hard work forward. We assisted my parents financially which allowed my mother to retire early, my parent to fix our small home (when needed), and to work a little less harder in their golden years. My future path to economic security is slightly different. Like Kobe, I've been taught to compete at the highest level and diversify my future so I'm less reliant on one boss, one company, or one downturn deciding my fate.  61% of Americans said they don't have $1000 dollars to cover an emergency situation. I am saddened by this stat.

This blog is a road map if you're believe in a path of social awareness and economic security. But please come with your mamba mentality! If my father could achieve a PhD, why should we stop learning. Currently I have a Bachelor's degree and two industry accredited certifications in my field which are like master's degrees because they require extensive testing and re-certifications (studying for my 3rd).  If my heroes can learn the stock market and write books, I can at least pick them up and read. Since I was 18, I made it a personal mission to learn the stock market (it looked important) and understand how to invest my income so that it could become Capital for me. Many of the people I know don't have any capital or investments that make them income outside of their core job. My mission is to ensure we are on a path that doesn't rely on a boss, a company, or a government to give us our freedom, our optionality, or determine when we can have time off to make memorable moments. Hopefully you agree and you keep reaching HIGHER...but don't you know that the devil is a liar  (Thanks to DJ Khaled, John Legend...and Rest In Peace Nipsey Hussle)

Rest in Peace Kobe Bryant

Fitness Tracking to Slimmer Pants & Bigger Profits

What's the point of  these Urbanomics Pillars: “Spiritual”, “Financial”, “Physical”, and “Mental” if I am not applying the tools that have made me successful in business and in the stock market to my health. Are you going corporate on me??....Quite simply, yes :)  When I sit back and reflect on what things made me college recruited football player, I circle back to one word: DISCIPLINE..not a fad or a diet or a quick fix.  I'm getting OLD but the one thing every gym rat had in his or her hands before phones and fitness trackers took over...was a WORKOUT SHEET. This sheet tracked my progress and told the story if I got stronger, faster, and more agile.  I still used a spreadsheet up until a few years ago because it was built into my DNA. But with a very busy schedule at work I noticed I was declining into a part-time gym rat, I'd go for a few months...then stop because of work or life imbalances.

I decided to stop making excuses and use the same tools that I use to track my investments:

Health Goal: While I would like to retire financially fit and early...let's add physically fit

Budget: While I have a financial budget, I needed to have a health budget (Higher Calories Burned minus Calories Being Eaten = Healthy Rewards. Keep it simple

Risk Management - In the stock market, Warren Buffet has 1 rule...never lose money. So why not transform this rule simply to: Don't Gain Weight. If I stick to my budget (above) some days I might not lose weight but ultimately I won't gain unhealthy amounts of weight.  If I am thoughtful, I can CHOOSE to just eat a little less OR more of something healthier. I choose to not invest in RISKY Penny Stocks so why not cut back on risky foods :)

Benchmark: You're not managing your money wisely IF you don't know what the average market returns.  So to understand the averages, I purchased a Fitbit health tracker and used their baseline. 8-10K steps (3-5 miles), climbing 10-20 stairs a day, walking at least 3-10 minutes an hour (during the 8 hr workday). I added in basic government calorie consumption guidelines and ATTEMPT sleeping 8 hours a night. 

Tracking: I have an fitness tracker that tracks my portfolio because I need to BEAT the benchmark to be financially fit. My goals are set to the benchmarks above and it creates a "no excuses" culture. I couldn't believe early on what the reader was telling me. Sometimes with work, I might not move within an hour...what!!!  I've lost over 10% of my body weight, wear clothes that didn't fit, decreased the waistline, and more importantly watched things like my resting heart rate drop.

The path to bigger pockets is being active and clear: mind, body, and soul, so get moving and don't let unhealthy habits drain your riches in your later years. I share my health goals with others so its no longer weird when I excuse myself for a 10 minute walk/break, jog at random times in my house to reach my goals, look forward to cutting the grass each week to pad the ole stats. I'll tell you more about my eating adjustments later but a low carb/Keto/S.Beach like lifestyle has grown on me and even allows me to FAST now for multiple hours in the morning, still feel great, and many times I feel sharper when making business and investment decisions. If you've cheated yourself...get back in balance and slimmer pants and a calmer mind could mean bigger pockets.

I'm Tracker Agnostic so tell me if you're a fan of Fitbit, Apple Watch, Samsung Gear, Garmin, AND more importantly what you track.  For now, I'm gonna "Walk It Out" to my goals:

Walk It Out

Urbanomics Pillars - The Path Set For Stability and Financial Freedom

I have not written much lately because my focus continues to on working thoroughly on the Pillars I have written about so much over time. A quick recap of those principles that are grounded in the following Pillars:

Spiritual - a belief in something (for me that is God), love for your family, and a willingness to treat others with the respect and the equality they deserve

Financial - a belief that financial independence on your terms will give you a freedom from the shackles of debt, the privilege to work on your own terms and a future legacy to pass down to the generations of your family.

Mental (Education) - a belief in the importance education and the sharing of various human experiences to allow you to grow

Physical - a belief in the importance of enhancing your physical health to support a sound mind, body, and soul

I hope you find these simple pillars interesting but you can't stand tall with just one, while the rest languish.  Here is a quick example of why just having lots of money can't get you Financial Freedom. We all pick on star athletes and how much money they make. But they are also given a blessing at such a young age. Without the proper nurturing, it's easy to see how a mult-million dollar star can go broke fairly quickly. Forgetting about taxes, living for today but not for tomorrow, and making bad investments usually seem to be a common theme. Listen to this story and remember money is just relative, someone will ALWAYS have more of it than you will. But if you use it to free yourself or UNPLUG from what everyone always tells you that you should have or that you need...you'll find yourself the richest person in the world.

1) Article on a NFL Player Who's Mom Demanded $1Million Dollars

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/04/11/phillip-buchanons-cautionary-tale-my-mom-demanded-1-million/

2) Quick Video from former NBA player Josh Childress (Why Athletes Go Broke)
courtesy of Grit Media