It's Take a Village To Invest - Grow Leaders | Plant Seeds | Stocks

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

African Proverb - It Takes a Village

Today I wanted to share a proverb that I believe strongly in. Have you ever heard the phrase "It takes a village" -- usually it's followed by "to raise a child" because that's where modern day society believes the biggest need is in their household. This is evident by COVID because when businesses were closed certain leaders were rushing to get schools open because they needed to 'house' children so the parents could go to work. While this is one function, it defeats the goal or objective that parents muse be at the center of their child's life and educational growth especially during the early years. I started raising children later in life so maybe I am less guilty, but still guilty as charged during my child's infant months. 

A few years back when I was going into the office, I would often come home late (due to work and long commuting) and find my child already asleep. I want to change this mentality to form a better family. My village concept is not new --- because I work from home, I walk my daughter to daycare, take a morning bike ride with my 5 year old, and monitor her school progress --- while I work. Notice in my example, we still use school/daycare BUT they support my village concept and the objectives of raising a child alongside family, church, community --- those other entities are NOT the owner or solution. I set the objective, the goal, the discipline --- the others must help support and nurture the environment. This is the same with other priorities NOT just children. 

So this brings me to Baker Mayfield and Alejandro Villenueva when it comes to the goal of improving African-American lives in the US. The African American village needs help and it takes village and community leaders to help nurture the environment. I prefer calling the objective - we are investing in the African-Americans. Yes, we need to invest in all communities including white ones BUT today we are focused on my community. I respectfully ask you all to never be the Baker Mayfield's of our village. I would rather you be Drew Brees or Alejandro Villenuava but please don't be a Baker Mayfield. Before the National Football Season, he claimed he was an ally and would kneel as he understood the objective at hand - bettering black lives. But as the season approach --- Baker Mayfield changed his tune. Unfortunately, but not uncommon, he probably succumbed to his business interests, protected his image (commercials), and caved to whispers around him. I won't leave my child with a wolf. To protect my child and village I rather that wolf tell me exactly who he is like Drew and Alejandro did. The worst is the false ally you leave to help nurture your village but actually through their actions helps to tear it down. In closing, if you don't know the story of Alejandro is shows why we must nurture villages -- he covered up the Pittsburgh Steeler approved decal of a fallen black child who was killed in Pittsburgh, Antwon Rose Jr. Instead acknowledging and focusing on the objective at hand, I saw the self absorbed culture I see to often in our society on full display. He chose to cover up Antwon Rose's team approved decal on his helmet with a name that meant something more important to him. I'm fine Alejandro supporting your military village but that IS NOT your only village. I can pray for police, military, the flag and still show support for the African-American community and ANTWON ROSE JR - a fallen black male at the hands of the police. They are not opposites on a spectrum, they are simply villages with actual lives that all must be looked after. We must grow leaders that uplift villages --- NOT tear them down.

Planting Seeds - Budgeting

For the last few weeks, I've decided to plant some additional seeds to help my village. I try to train people from all nationalities and backgrounds on information technology principles. I believe the jobs shifts in my sector have the ability to uplift and transform people's career if they choose. I then try to help place those people in the jobs of the future which is like a public - private partnership. I fully acknowledge that I benefit at times when anyone finds a job through me. If I am solving a problem, it's fair to be compensated for that to grow my mission. I wrote months back at how I helped a young man of color via a paid internship that taught him the benefits of project and property management. He shared a new story with me this weekend that made me smile, the seed is growing. I am planting a new seed that takes me back to my root (no pun intended). I am teaching another person the benefits of budgeting as they chart their path outside of their current village. The strange thing is their budget is simply an extension of a plan - a plan to be a seed that grows and adds value to those around him. It's time consuming but self-fulfilling whenever you hear I'm learning a tremendous amount. More to come.

 

Stock - ViaSat

Similar to growing people, I plan investment seeds. I tend to a large garden and have a full-time job. So I set alerts and wait for them to ripe -- my investment goal is to find value but only when the value is there. Then I go back and investigate my plant -- will it grow, or produce other seeds, or is the plant dying or worse can it cause harm to other plants. Here is one of my new investments and you'll even see the alert I set months or sometimes years ago -- reminding me of my objective to find value.

ViaSat Inc  (VSAT: NASDAQ)

Alert was set: $42.10
Current:

Disclosure - I do not own ViaSat but actively watching this stock. Like a crop in my village, I will sit down, evaluate and determine what type of investment will this be. I like when stocks are honest about their true colors, some they are only profit motivated like Drew Brees or Alejandro Villenueva. I can live with their truth. I really analyze and stay clear of the stocks like Baker Mayfield, the one's that claim they align with your objectives but in reality they do not support the mission of the village.

How Being Risk Focused Allows Me to Play Defense + Offense

Playing Offense - Embracing Technology to Be More Efficient

Being a cyber guy, I take a brutal stance to technology. I don't have Instagram, Twitter, or any other junk accounts to monitor my behavior, recognize my face, and tailor advertising JUST for me. Unfortunately, I have a Facebook account. But I'd be a fool to shun technology as I invest in them and understand how they attract the masses yearning for one simple thing --- human connection. I prefer to pick up the phone and chat, the most genuine form of communicating and being able to interpret the little things but we all have to adapt to the world around us. So you all would be proud of me, today, I wrote a majority of this post using a speech recognition service on my computer. In an effort to save time, I need am modernizing how I send emails and blog. I simply say open word pad and begin speaking. I understand computers, so slow and steady dictation spits out my thoughts while I work on other things or follow the markets. 

Playing Defense - When Defense Turns to Offense

For this post I wanted to talk about defense.  Being a risk manager, I often help companies play defense.  By playing defense and protecting your core assets from risk. I believe eventually, you'll hit an optimal point where you're actually playing offense.  I was recently reading an article that cited the great investor Bill Gross.  He was cofounder oOf the legendary PIMPCO bond funds.  I found what he said in this article very interesting.  To summarize, he was talking about playing defense.  He mentioned at this point there are not many investments areas to continue to make outsized returns. In my opinion, this is a dangerous place to be in a market when they're are not many investments remaining that can offer decent returns.

If you were to ask me what keeps be up at night, it would be just that --- as I evaluate most assets whether it be stocks, real estate, even precious metals they all seem to be moving in one direction...  and that's up.  I found it interesting that Bill mentioned tobacco, banks, and the geographical region of Europe as areas to invest. As I evaluate my portfolio, I believe I'm seeing a similar trend playing out.  When I filter for the stocks that have recently been increasing I find that my dogs or laggards in my portfolio are moving up nicely.  If you've read my blog in the past you'll notice that many of the stocks fall in the retail space:

RED Robin - Restaurants

Stitch Fix - Apparel

Foot Locker - Apparel

Viacom - Television and Advertising

TEGNA - Newpapers and TV stations Advertising (think USA Today and your local news)

AMC Theaters - Movies

NEWELL Rubbermaid - Consumer goods

Tapestry (Coach) - Luxury Bags and apparel

I find this trend surprising but I also welcome the frothiness of the market dissipating.  What keeps me up at night, is that these stocks are primarily  focused on the consumer. Similar to Bill's thesis of tobacco, banks, and Europe.  Let's take a quick look: restaurants, apparel, television, movies, and consumer goods. The resilience of humans is absolutely amazing.  With COVID and high unemployment still as the backdrop, you are seeing people yearning for a sense of normalcy so we do what we feel is normal -- the machine wants us to spend. And spend we are. I'm not sure if this is sustainable but I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't disclose my portfolio will do okay if these positions move up. While I hunker down, America is purchasing online I wish I owned Amazon, Target, Home Depot and Lowes but I am playing the ELECTIONS (with TV and advertising) and Gambling (Ceasars and DraftKings). Stitch Fix I was playing as a tech play but man holding on has been a long brutal wait. The rest, I can't wait to get out because like the Malls, I think the future of retail is owning the platform (Amazon, Shopify, etc.) and less the physical stores.

50c Candy Bars - My value Search

Finally, I always on the hunt for value or as my billionaire buddy Seth Klarman calls them cigarette butts. Me I called them the 50c candy bar deals. My spidy senses are looking at Viasat at these levels. Now comes the deep analysis of how to invest in a way that limits my risk --- haha finally I found something that won't keep me up at night :)

Stocks mentioned in this post: Tapestry (TPR), Red Robin Gourmet Burgers (RRGB), Stitch Fix (SFIX), Foot Locker (FL), Viacom (VIAC), TEGNA (TGNA), AMC Theatres (AMC), Newell Brands Inc (NWL)

Know Your Worth - Grow Your Business and Stock Portfolio

COULD YOU DEFINE YOUR WORTH

The National Football League (NFL) season is finally upon us. I never get a chance to say I told you in my line of work, risk management and cybersecurity, but at least here I can. Does anyone find is striking that the NBA setup something similar to what I described back in March and their league is thriving...a locked down bubble. As a risk management professional, I get called crazy or told I'm worrying about nothing but there is usually always solutions for my customers to reduce their risk...they just have to determine if the cost is worth it. 

The NFL has had a chance to watch the success of the NBA and they've decided some stadiums will have NO fans and others will be at roughly 25% capacity because the game must go on...but I ask at what cost. I remind you that without an NBA bubble like scenario the National Hockey League had to start and stop their league play multiple times and ended up moving their games up to good ole Canada --- a safer environment for the players health. Major League Baseball has had a number of instances where outbreaks have happened in various clubhouses as it harder to create a bubble with a much larger player base. One thing is for sure, the games will go on because there is toooooo much money to be made. Need more proof, look at the Big 10, a college conference for teams mainly in the midwestern part of the US. They assessed the risk and canceled the fall football season. The backlash has been swift --- cities, fans who are bored, and even some players are less concerned about the outbreaks on campus and more worried about Ohio State's revenue impact to the city of Columbus or the University of Michigan projected revenue loss. It would be funny if it weren't true, but I'm afraid it is --- many schools require players to sign a waiver and that's where I come in. Risk Manager to the rescue -- a waiver ensures that if any of the players get sick or die, the player (or their family) cannot hold the schools liable for their health concerns. So I ask you, how much would it take for you to put your health at risk and play a season knowing you could get sick??

Would you be like college football players --- and play for free?

If it came down to it, do you truly know your worth? That is the question I wanted to pose to my readers today. When I was a young lad coming out of college, I had these rigid set of principles...imagine that. I used to tell anyone that listened or that worked for me --- you need to test the job market about every 3 years. It's easy to get complacent and fall in love with a routine of "working" everyday while others are hustling, learning new skills and challenging companies to pay them what they are worth. There are good reasons to no rock the boat and stay put...but what's the harm in Mr. Market telling you what you are valued. I got complacent for a few years and got into a zone where your employer convinces you that it needs you soooo badly things would go wrong if you ever took vacation and terribly wrong if I ever left. Well I'm here to tell you that companies move on and time moves on...no one person is that valuable and if you are you better be sure they are paying you a king's ransom. So I reminded myself a few years ago that Mr. Market determines my value and my employer simply needs to determine if they agree whether I'm worth it...it's not personal. Many people are quietly cheering this statement at home but if I asked you whether sports players are overpaid...everyone is quick to say yes. haha I wonder if it's because the majority of athletes in some of our biggest sports leagues are minorities...people of color. 

If I asked you to work for NO pay because I'll give you pay for your training courses, would you take it?  Probably NOT. Then why do people get up in arms at college players making billions of dollars for college sports but not making a dime...even off of their likeness.

When Cowboy fans and fans in general are in an uproar about Dak Prescott rejecting a contract extension worth roughly $33 Million a year --- he's called a overpaid crybaby. LeBron is told to shut up and play ball. But Patrick Mahomes and just the other day Deshaun Watson earned contracts that far exceed Dak's offered pay package so fans should you shut up and cheer him on (oh wait that's an oxymoron). I wonder how much of it has to do with the fact that fans usually complain when the player is a person of color, a black man making big time bucks?  I find it odd that no one, I mean NO ONE ever complains at the owner. The owner of most sports teams are white, worth billions of dollars and can afford to pay one man that amount WHY --- because they are bringing in way more that that in revenue. Many owners are business persons and investors like myself...just with a lot more commas in their bank account. My investment buddies are a who's who of owning sports teams:

Investor David Tepper (Carolina Panthers), 

Businessman Tilman Fertitti (Houston Rockets)

Investor Mark Lasry (Milwaukee Buckets)

Businessman and Investor Mark Cuban (Dallas Mavericks)

WHO PAY'S YOUR FAVORITY CELEBRITY'S BILL'S?

Lucky for you the good folks over at FIVETHIRTYEIGHT asked this question awhile back too. Aside from Shahid Khan (the Pakistani-born owner of the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguar football team) and Michael Jordan (who I believe recently sold a majority or all of his stake in the Charlotte Hornets),  ALL other owners across the 3 major sports leagues are white.

NFL Ownership: 97% White

MBL Ownership: 98% White

NBA Ownership: 98% White

Source: The Institute For Diversity And Ethics in Sport

FINDING VALUE - INVESTING IN YOURSELF (GROW YOUR BUSINESS AND PORTFOLIO)

I write this post because my startup cybersecurity firm just signed it's first client and hired and placed my first employee. I couldn't be more proud in trying to accomplish my mission to place talented people of color in corporate IT jobs. I was laughed at along the way, low balled, and even towards the end the companies almost tried to cut me out of my own deal. However; I am a risk manager and with contracts and an knowledge of what I'm worth and what my team is worth --- we won't settle and we didn't. I did it all without a company website because my skillset is the product. I set a target to get my first employee and engagement where I wasn't directly involved or managing the project and determined the profits would pay for my website and official launch. Know your worth, when they laugh work harder, and always be a triple threat player. I have a 9-5 job, manage a growing startup, and actively invest in the stock and real estate market. 3 Threat give me flexibility to shoot, pass, or drive to the basket. Here are my stocks expiring within 1 month, all profitable except one and the one trade that is down is actually good. I own that stock and when that trade is down, it means my stock is up. Know your Worth: ALIBABA (BABA), ROKU (ROKU), NOVAGOLD (NG) , FACEBOOK (FB), JUNIOR GOLD MINERS ETF (GDXJ), DRAFTKINGS (DKNG), KOHLS (KSS), CRONOS (CRON) - Note: Most of these trades w/ exception of Facebook, Cronos and GDXJ were recently added in the last few weeks and are profitable. 

 

King's Disease ---- DraftKings | ROKU | Gold

So, can I breathe? Can I walk? Can I speak? Can I talk?

Can I floss without you wanting me outlined in chalk?

Family gossiping, pocket watching him

Jealousy keeps blossoming, ain't let it box me in (King)

'Cause you are not a king if you can't come out a thing

That you got yourself in, claiming nobody helping

The stupidest part of Africa produced Blacks that started algebra

Proof, facts, imagine if you knew that as a child, bruh

Nostalgia, how I remembеr things

Remember crowns, remember, kings

They want your reign to cease (King)

You a king, you will be next to me, doing your own king shit, most definitely

We're so "Say less when I speak", y'all estrogen speak

Respected by kings only, address me as chief

Invested in things only a vet would

Only lames front on kings, that's expected from creeps

You mad at my brothas and any woman with interest in me

Artist: NAS  Song: King's Disease

Can I floss without you wanting me outlined in Chalk

My next post is about the King's Disease. I like to post rap lyrics because the world has gotten so literal. The art of communication is to read between the lines and the ability to understand people, cultures, and society is lost if we lose the art of reading people - their words, actions, and body movements. The internet has taken all the guess work outta that when I can I just re-send an article/post/clip or even a meme and then I allow you to guess or interpret what I mean without simply sitting down and communicating with you directly. I interview people for work and it's amazing how many reads I get from a voice, a look, or a person's body movement toward the questions I am asking. So again I wonder if the Internet is a form of King's Disease. A luxury that masses want but oddly everything everyone posts (breathe / walk / speak / talk) is captured and scrutinized -- even worse it's often canceled immediately - "Can I floss without you wanting me outlined in Chalk"?

'Cause you are not a king if you can't come out a thing; That you got yourself in, claiming nobody helping

I am very independent and having children you learn very quickly that there is something innate in us as human beings in wanting to do things ourselves. My daughters, just shortly after turning 1, all of a sudden don't want you to feed them. They want to feed, walk, and do everything for themselves. But as we get older or sometimes as our confidence breaks we find ourselves blindly walking into situations that may not be healthy financially, physically, mentally, or spiritually. We all go through it --- racking up debt, late nights drinking, abusive relationships, and even challenging the need for spirituality in our lives. For a child, all it takes is those two or three times of not being able to get food in your mouth to start crying and asking for help. But as we get older, we learn this thing called denial and often we DO NOT seek transformation from within until we've hit rock bottom.  Notice, I listed my 4 Pillars above and  challenge myself, especially during the roughest parts of my day, week, month, year, life to revisit those pillars for support. I try to do more which oddly is like doing LESS --  MORE meditation, sleep, exercise, reading, praying, seeking counsel to right myself and my core. I do this to get myself out of tough situations and to make sound informed decisions so that I pivot out of bad situations and decisions. Also, I find during these moments, seeking counsel is humbling because I do not have all the answers. This is the cure to King's Disease instead of blaming or claiming nobody's helping. Competing with each other is self-defeating, but that's why we teach "competition" so much in our society. If we work together and take on the systemic injustices in the system, imagine that --- real change --- that's our competition.

The stupidest part of Africa produced Blacks that started algebra; Proof, facts, imagine if you knew that as a child, bruh

My cancel culture vultures will take aim at Nas for using the term stupidest. But if you read between the lines he is bringing awareness to the advanced, highly civilized accomplishments of early African societies. The fact that Africa is the birthplace of forming civilized societies living together, developing math, and methods of communication. This is clear...you just need to open a book or be taught in school. I remember planning my trip to Africa and my then girlfriend asked me about safaris and jungles?? I didn't blame her but elementary, middle, high school, and college had failed her, us and our society. I knew since a child that safaris were more common to Sub-Sahara Africa, and other parts of Africa had deserts, and hills, mountains, waterfalls, and forests. The funniest thing is my mother's two story home in Western Africa is bigger than any home I lived in until I bought my duplex condo unit in 2010 at the ripe old age of 30. Proof, facts - my mother's crib in Africa was bigger than anything I lived in in America until I reached the age of 30. I wonder if an inadequate education that doesn't focus of contextualizing historical and factual information is King's Disease.  I used to travel to London often for work and remember an interesting interaction I had at a bar in the Picadilly Circus area in the West End of London. My co-workers and I easily stood out and our version of English clearly marked us as Americans. I am also sure it was our love for khakis and polos, which clearly are NOT in the British dress code. The men are often well-dressed during the work week and suits and ties are still the norm, even for the gent I witnessed riding a bike to work in a suit.  But back to the bar --- this woman from the BBC was chatting me up at the bar and inquired what plans I had for the weekend. So I asked what bars and restaurants should I visit and got a curt response of what "CULTURE" would I be taking in. I didn't understand exactly what she was talking about so I said what do you me. CULTURE, she said what CULTURE are you taking in. She proceeded to school me on the importance of knowing history, different cultures, and art. Something I almost never hear AT A BAR in America. In London, ALL of the museums are FREE. So I went to the Tate Britain, The British Museum, Imperial War Museum, Windsor Castle, and others to soak in CULTURE. I saw artefacts from all over the war dating centuries back...but it also opened my eyes that to the victor goes the spoils. There were items clearly belonging to African and Asian cultures of important value and they were in a British museum. What if America made all our museums free, I wonder if the awareness and appreciation for a global world would increase. Thank you to my friends in the UK, for a moment, I was suffering from King's Disease.

Stocks Fit for a King

Draftkings Inc  NASDAQ: DKNG  - I entered this stock after I learned legend, icon, and NBA greatest of all time Michael Jordan toon an equity stake in DraftKings.  He will become a special adviser to the sports betting and fantasy sports company and maybe read my posts about the unleashing of sports gambling on America. Recognize what's coming - states are drowning in debt and will want to dip into this revenue pot along with Marijuana legalization as they usually embrace quick fixes to solve problems. Don't believe me, look at my bet on Ceasars Entertainment, they were bought out by PENN National Gaming (PENN) for a nice profit.

Roku Inc  NASDAQ: ROKU - Roku is my COVID-19 investment play. It aligns with my larger theme of cutting the cable. America's appetite for staying open and not addressing this disease head on means people with be home streaming the hell out of this service. I wrote earlier this year about cutting off my cable service...sorry Comcast and we don't miss it for a moment. Roku is a day trader's dream because it is a more volatile than a teenager in HBO's hit series Euphoria. I place a HUGE bet on ROKU and each week I trade against it for additional income. The worst is these income producing bets cause me to have to sell my base position early. The upside, is currently during the entire COVID summer I've been collecting 100s of dollars a week of income as the stock moves up in trades that might take the stock off my hands (i.e., like a pending trade offer for my best player). Like Jay said the industry is shady and needs to be taken over --- so I'm coming for the crown. King shit Nas

Gold - I wrote just a few posts ago that this rally in the stock market is artificial. The Federal Reserve is single-handedly propping up the markets and has printed over $7 Trillion dollars to stave off foreclosures, companies closing, and high unemployment. They deserve to be applauded and certain politicians probably deserve to lose their job as real people are hurting. The only problem is this analogy: The Federal Reserve is akin to your family using a credit card to stay afloat - to pay the mortgage, food, car, and school bills. Eventually the credit card company will cut off the credit and/or ask you to pay it back. In governments, paying off debt usually means services are cut - government workers - post office, city transportation, trash and sanitation. It also means tax hikes in the future. Hikes in the future means inflation will be in our future --- assets that are not in dollars is the bet to protect your dollar. Gold, Silver, and yes even Bitcoin might be the play to diversify this historic helicopter money printing effort.  I didn't even mention, that UNTIL there is cure or bold steps taken LIKE A BUBBLE to stop the disease from spreading ---- people will continue hurting and the Federal Reserve may have to PRINT MONEY until things improve. Yes I own Novagold, Warren Buffet owns Barrick Gold, IAU is an ETF as everyone is winning now but there is always a cold winter. 

Stay blessed, stay safe, get your URB own

Wakanda Forever

This post is being written with a heavy heart. I ask that you tune into the ABC showing of Black Panther in honor and memory of Chadwick Boseman. My brother, may you rest peacefully knowing that you moved this world in a way that will never be forgotten. You're portrayal of Thurgood Marshall, James Brown, Jackie Robinson, and of course your epic role in Black Panther will live long and inspire many for generations to come. Wakanda Forever

I'm know Black Panther or Luke Cage...I just use my everyday skills uplift myself and hopefully you. My everyday skills continue to see a nation that is hurting and in need of re-engineering.  A different and newer term used in my profession is transformation and I am a lead architect in transforming business and cyber security operations for companies across the world when they experience "issues". So you can rest assure, you are not alone...even countries and companies have issues and need someone to help.

I find out why things are broken and often challenge my stakeholders to lead me to the "root cause" of the issue. This exercise can be enlightening, humbling, and even embarrassing depending on people's personalities and what may have been overlooked as we uncover the issues affecting a team, department, or company.  We may summarize our analysis in a technique called a SWOT analysis --- which documents the (S)trengths  (W)eaknesses  (O)pportunities  (T)hreats of the entity being reviewed.

I have a fiduciary responsibility to my stakeholders so I come in as a independent party that has to be ethic and honest in reporting what I find. In the business world we have learned that only an "independent authority" will things get cleaned up. When I look at critical issues that African-Americans are facing with police departments, there is often no independent authority --- completely removed from the police department that can objectively weigh in and hold officers accountable. If you have immunity, it does not matter what I find in my analysis, and I suppose it does not matter what a cop does because immunity negates accountability. 

I often summarize what I do as being a Detective, Lawyer, and Psychiatrist. I'll breakdown why I have 3 different roles:

As a Detective, I have to accurately and even record all my interactions with my stakeholders. I find it strange that in my profession, all accurate interactions must be accurately logged yet we still have many police departments across the country that can't, won't, and don't securely record, log, and document all their interactions. If I chose not to do this I would get fired, why are police forces not held accountable like I would be in the corporate world?

As a Lawyer, I do have to advise my stakeholders when it appears they are in situations that are non-compliant with the law and the intent. But again, I find it strange, that there is a haze around the "baseline" conduct of how an officer must interact with it's stakeholders so that persons like myself can review how well they are complying to the baseline. We do things such as a lookback analysis. If you did a lookback analysis the my corporate methodology could quickly deduce that African Americans, particularly males are being negatively harmed by police forces across the country at a disproportionate rate to other classes of people. A lookback is a scientific way of identifying harm or abuse and we use it in the financial industry as research has shown that elderly people are often the targets and harmed by financial crimes. So if we can protect and prosecute elderly harm...why are African-American males not afforded the same protections.

The shooting of Jacob Blake and murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd are simply a small sample of my lookback analysis and the data is grim. There is no one taking any action with this clear and factual data which means by doing nothing...our politicians and our citizens are complicent if they do nothing with this data.

Finally, as a psychiatrist I listen to those I am working with to understand the entire story. I want to know what's working, what's painful, and what works well. When I see Portland, I hear the pain of a system that is broken. When I heard Doc Rivers question "Does this Country Love Us", I think he raised the question so many African Americans and a growing number of minorities are feeling. You just have to listen...and many people are not good listeners. Doc, I've have written over the years the contract that America has with African-Americans and it's people of color is a bad contract that needs to be re-written. It's the driving force as to why I will continue sharing my pillars. Love, Spirituality, Freedom, and Volunteerism are the paths forward. But in the US, if you are not financially, spiritually, mentally, and physically healthy and organized then the toxicity of wealth and leverage of those in power will try to snuff you and your voice out...like they did George Floyd. 

As a security expert, I use tools like: Cyberark, Zscaler, Crowstrike, Splunk, Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, NortonLifeLock, Tenable Holdings. 

However, I remind my clients that tools make you more efficient they hardly ever solve the root cause of who is responsible, what was the target goal and how do you measure progress, and finally how do you hold someone accountable?

Stay Balanced, Stack Your Chips, Get Organized and Let's use our Leverage --- to truly effect change.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Portfolio Summary:

Collectors Universe Hit new all-time high of $50. - So your boy finally did it. Some of my shares are officially considered a 10 Bagger. That's when they increase 10 fold. If you'll recall, I bought Collectors back in 2008 so some of my shares bought at $40 finally reached this status first described by the great investor Peter Lynch. Still Holding

Sprint Finally Sold -  Here is my sale of 50% of my Sprint stake for roughly $5K in profit. I wish I would have held on until 1 full year for it to be considered a Long Term investment for tax purposes but that's another class for another day. I grew up with not much so I'll take these blessing and put them to good use. 

Don't Cancel ---- Investment

 I wanted to speak on the "Cancel Culture" phenomenon that is alive and well within our society. Cancel culture goes by many names in different cultures. Some call it the crab mentality, I jokingly say the hit songs "Can't Nobody Tell Me Nothing" by Little Nas X and "Thank You Next" by Ariana Grande epitomize my point. You'll see Cancel Culture is NOT so alive and well when a music artist is praised for using their 1st Amendment right to lyrically talk about abusing or killing their spouse or  when other artists or politicians  use "blackface". In these moments the masses say 'its just in fun', or 'wow look at their age', or even better --- 'you can't govern speech'. The funny thing is this falls out of alignment with what I learned in Corporate America. Someone has to set the tone from the top and be accountable and oh by the way aren't these musicians, artists, and politicians governed by a larger corporation or government structure. 

So I wonder why I see a difference when certain people appear to be targeted or (wait for it) the Cancel Culture comes calling when its a subject on race, supporting the marginalized, or leveling the playing field.  

If I to ask to diversify Board Rooms and the CEO suite, which is severely underrepresented by people of color, I'm told we can't find the talent.  --- I like the response of Alex Ohanian, Chairman of Reddit who simply stepped down and said I'll make a path. --- I didn't like the response I saw of one company who needed my help on a cyber project. I went to their website and they boasted about having a diverse board. The board was all-white but now had 4 white women in the ranks. So I decided not to pursue it further.

If I ask to diversify Hollywood, which is also underrepresented, my show might be canceled, Instagram page flooded with cancel messages, etc.  --- What happened to data driven metrics. Without much argument data should be able to tell me the diversity mix without someone telling me I need a cultural sensitivity lesson for trying to solve an age old problem.  I wonder instead of the quick to cancel response, we find ways to open doors like Alex Ohanian did, or does he only now understand the problem because he is married to an African-American woman, Serena Williams.  In the corporate world, we form joint ventures and partner with small startups and businesses --- so WHY did Tyler Perry have to build his own film production company to make films that are directed, staffed, and include actors from multi-ethnic backgrounds. The cancel culture can infect even people that look like you as he was sometimes even canceled by people that look like him? He's a comedian and he employs African-Americans...strange we DO NOT critique or hold Corporate America accountable but we come down on him, Michael Jordan, and others --- Cancel Culture not everything we do will be advertised on the internet. 

Why is my analysis of data considered a protest when the facts are clear that most African-American dollars DO NOT even circulate within our own community. Will you try to cancel me, call my statements a protest? Or will you make a path for me, sometimes partner with me, even take a risk on me so that I can simply do what many other cultures do.  Will you try to cancel me for wanting my real estate property to be managed, or the plumbing to be fixed, or by college or work diversity, or the movie I watch to be comprised of people that look like me. Or should I just cancel culture you, like when you tell me to revisit a Confederate museum, or the Constitution, or your cultural history. 

I don't mind revisiting history as I've revisited the world's history all through school, college, and even in your responses. I will take up the challenge to learn from you BUT SHOULD I cancel you since Black Lives Matter, Colin Kaepernick, Boardroom and Workplace Diversity, Police Brutality are  racial, civil, human, and even religious rights issues that predominantly affect me and my African-American community.  Thank you for offering up your history, let me offer up mine. 

I call in the Bunce Island Response: 

When you put on Blackface, put a knee on a neck, make an insensitive joke, question me against my will after a volunteer event, tell me your commute is impacted by a protest, allow the Confederacy to mark public buildings and landmarks, or fail to defend against hate speech to African-Americans you are complicit in denying our true history. My history is your history as the world was involved. Bunce Island was famous to the world as one of the primary processing points for slaves to be sold for the rice plantations of the South. My people's villages were raided for their expertise, what we now called Subject Matter Experts (SME), in cultivating rice. Let me take you to my our home of West Africa, where Africans were rounded up from countries like Sierra Leone, Liberia, Senegal, Gambia, and even as far as Angola to survive concentration boats, concentration plantations, and horrendous abuse from slave labor.

To deny our history is to deny a path forward to solving this problem. I ask modern day citizen, how many weeks, months or years would you work without pay? How would that make you feel and how should these wrongs be corrected?  I saw interns recently sued the big magazine corporations a few years ago for internships with out pay. They could leave after the summer go back to school --- what if for multiple generations your family's identify, wealth, assets, investments, SME, children, wives, fathers were killed or assets stripped, or compensation never paid without any fair market based valuation.  And then go to a school name after the person who robbed your family --- How would that make you feel?

So when I, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Oprah, Lebron, Nas, or the host of many people talk about African-American investments, owning assets, and circulating dollars and knowledge without our community, please don't stand in solidarity...take action. Don't cancel culture me as you accumulate debt or pile debt on people that look like me...let's invest together. And if you're afraid to take risks, I understand  --- over 400 years ago and systematically since then many of us have been programmed to get what you can and NOT to share with others out of fear that there is not enough for everyone. haha a rising tide lifts all boats.

Like Jay Z said I'm not a businessman,  I'm a Business, man. Or as I like to call it a Platform:

• 1 Primary Home
• 1 Rental Home (more coming)
• Investment Portfolio with over 30 stocks at any given time
• 401K 
• Rainy Day Savings
• Corporate Job
• Own a Small Business - training and employing underserved groups on how to enter the information technology field
• 529 College fund for my kids

I enjoy doing deals directly and don't like middlemen. I manage my own money to eliminate the fear from years of being told you can't do it yourself or simply you're not enough. My final point, I sat down with a Certified Financial Planner a few years who told me what I already knew. I gave him all my numbers and he said you're good until roughly 81-87 years of age. He wanted my business...nope at 37 if I got to 87 by myself...tell me how you can help grow my platform...not take a cut. Don't ask for a hookup, ask how can I learn from what you're doing. And realize everyone brings value to the table, teach others what you're doing...don't bottle it in but then again canceling is easy.  Until then stay blessed and get your Urb on

Store My Gold on Racks (GOLD, GDX, GDXJ, RXT)

Need for a Bubble

So in my last post you saw my brief tribute to Nas and Lauryn Hill. They are true giants, in my opinion, in lyrical expression and miseducation. Similar to Lauryn Hill, my blog is a miseducation on life because it asks you to wake the F%!# Up and think. I call my version of miseducation -- unplugging from the matrix. Don't get my blogs twisted, in order to wake up you need to ground yourself in the 4 Pillars we often cite here. One of the biggest being education and continuous learning...I call it SLAM +, please look up my post on Science, Legal, Arts, Math and + (technology and trades skills). I heard today COVID-19 has shown a disparity that I'm sure in negatively effectively some of my readers. College educated workers, especially those with 401K retirement type accounts are thriving in this pandemic. One of the root causes --group most likely to Work From Home.  Which then allows them to sit back and throw stones...like a common phrase I've heard: "Why were the unemployed getting an extra $600 a paycheck?"  This is the type of bs I can't believe we are still discussing...they must have been listening to Jay because --- they have no passion, no patience, and I guess they hate waiting --- on items like evictions, unemployment, safety of front line workers, etc.  Unbelievable, you want to send the less fortunate to the front lines while we can chill at the crib, reducing our risk, while watching the Federal Government bailout our 401K plans and re-inflating them past their previous levels. I guess main street doesn't get a bailout that rivals what your 401K got?  When I made a decision to WFH over 3 years ago, I vowed to never return to a physical office ever again. Many laughed at me when I gave them my risk assessment but look at where we are at now. I told you then and say it now, I can get my work done, take care of my family and better use my free time (while often working more hours) at home. But this benefit I've worked hard for, doesn't mean I should forsake my front line brothers and sisters. They need the best security, protections, and piece of mind for their families like WFH gives my family.  OHH did I mention, I am assisting my daughter with her virtual school program -- not exposing my baby to unnecessary risk when the National Basketball Association just showed all of America what is needed to survive and thrive in this pandemic --- A BUBBLE...sound familiar.  

Storing My Gold on Rack

I could give you my best Tyga, Rack City impression because I am a fan of his music but I think more importantly a fan of his mindset. If you recall, he was one of the first defectors from Cash Money Records when his L (in SLAM) - Legal contract appeared to be whack and NOT in his and his family's best interest. He was called names and the cancel culture told him be happy with what Baby (owner of Cash Money Records) gives you and did for you.  How did that turn out...well years later let's ask Lil Wayne who was also disgruntled and this led to The Carter V album release being delayed over disputes about...yep you guessed it his contract. At the end of the day, you have to do what best for you and your family and I have always rocked with Tyga before and definitely after that move. I'm not even going to touch the Kylie Jenner subject because at that time I was quoted as saying she was the most "down to earth" Kardashian Jenner AND I thought her then Social Media business empire was growing quite well. Fast forward to today and a company I owned Coty (cosmetics industry) bought a 51% for a roughly $500M stake cementing her Billionaire status. Now every hit song he writes, he gets a full "Taste" haha pun intended of the profits!

So Tyga let me tell you about my Rack City:

I have not been shy about owning GOLD in this economy. History has shown when the Federal Government prints money out of thin air to inflate the economy (and then does it at the fastest clip ever seen in history.) then it's time to put GOLD on my investment rack. My previous posts disclosed that I own shared in a small mining company called NOVAGOLD (NG) and I also like the Gold and Gold Miner ETFs. I've even disagreed with one of my first mentors Warren Buffett by owning GOLD since the 2008 financial crisis when my Billionaire Boy Club buddy John Paulson introduced me to NovaGold to hedge the pain of the financial crisis. Another time in history that we printed money like nobody's business. 

1) I agree with Warren that Gold has NO intrinsic value, and 

2) I agree that it should NOT be usually held as I technically have NO way to value this asset. 

However, assets like GOLD do have a place in this world and that is when there is FEAR in the water. While I am not fearful of much, I do think the US economy is at one of it's most dangerous crossroads possibly ever. The divineness is HIGH as people are diving the country along racial, economic, and social issues. So I am glad to hear that Warren the teacher, has done something that his pupil has done since 2008 --- buy GOLD!!! And he did in a major way:

1) Warren Buffett and the Berkshire team purchased a $562-million stake in Barrick Gold (GOLD)

2) He also SOLD --- most of the major US banks (JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs)

Warren won't be speaking soon on TV soon because he doesn't want to scare the masses that follow what he says. But like systemic racism and oppression, I have a responsibility to speak out and keep it real. I would follow what he's doing BUT I already own GOLD, but will consider evaluating Barrick Gold. Investors make purchases like this when we see risk in the economy. Go back and search my posts using the term GOLD and you'll see I own:

Novagold (NG)
Gold Miners Juniors (GDXJ)

and like but do not own:

Barrick Gold (GOLD)
Gold Miners (GDX)
Gold ETF (GLD)
Gold ETF (IAU)

I'm even re-thinking my position on Bitcoin as its a useless asset but if I believe there is trouble in the water, I want to consider assets people will run to.

 In honor of Tyga, Mr. Rack City, I also purchased shares of this stock:

Rackspace (RTX) - around the $17.5 range, the word on the streets is Amazon is sniffing around this company. Time to take a flyer on my version of rack city!

Novagold (NG); Gold Miners Juniors (GDXJ); Barrick Gold (GOLD); Gold Miners (GDX); Gold ETF (GLD); Gold ETF (IAU); Rackspace (RTX)