I posted back in Januaries Investing Strategies that Ibought some call options, EWJ MAR 14 Calls, which index the Japanese Yen. My target gain was 30%, yesterday I sold theoptions for a 83% Profit. Ithink it will probably go higher but I never try to get too greedy.
Thanks to Eric at Rosemans Eruptions for the advice and research.
I also have a normal stock position in BULKW which is now upover 180%.
Not bad for an hours worth of reading...
The Situation: Saturday morning a friend of my wife’s calls, she has been trying to gether kids and our kids together for weeks but activities have alwayspostponed. She asks to take the kids forthe day and a sleepover.
The Mission should I choose to accept it: 5 Daysfrom Valentines Day and with no prior planning pull off a wonderful, romanticdate for my wife.
Normally being totally romantic and spontaneous is not easyfor us guys as it is just not in our genes, however, living in Italy aids mequest and makes it much easier for even the most Neanderthal of men.
First I took my wife to Verona,a short trip form our house, for the Verona in Lovefestival. This is an annual festivalthat highlights the fictional Shakespeare love story of Romeo and Juliet. Although the lovers never actually existed,there is a famed balcony and Juliet statue that tourists and Italians frequentfor the sole purpose of touching the Juliet Statues breast for good luck and ahealthy love life. We also walked on thefictional balcony where Juliet stood while Romeo professed his love toher. I know guys, it’s a little corny,but humor me here.
The next stop was a little Cafe on a side street in Verona, caffè doppio forme and
cappuccino for the misses. Somethingabout an outdoor Italian café has a romanticism of its own. The cobblestone streets, the small intimatetables with umbrellas and the smells and charm of Italy all around you.
Last stop was a resturante we’ve been trying to get into formonths, Aeolia. This is a favorite in our areaof Italy and the tradition and history dates back centuries. Galileo and architect Andrea Palladio bothwrote of its charm and early “air conditioning.”
The staff was friendly and helpful and the meal was topnotch. We both had three courses andshared an excellent Merlot from the Colli Berici area.We finished it off with a chocolate desertand coffee. The owner than took us on atour of the wine cellar and showed us his famed Frescos done sometime duringthe Renaissance. An absolute wonderfulexperience.
Altogether the evening was a huge success and the Legacy Dadgave his beauty a
night to truly remember and memories that will lastforever. After being married for almost10 years now and with our hurried lives, we sometimes forget to take time forone another to strengthen our marriage and truly show our spouses we stillcare. It doesn’t take being in Italy to createone of these moments, just a little amore’ and creativity.
Happy Valentines Day.
We all strive to be better leaders. We read books, take classes and go through all our "leadership" training courses in our careers, yet so few people seem to really grasp the core concepts of leadership.I have been privy to witness all kinds of leadership in the military and in my corporate career and although I am no expert, I've observed a few things, learned from some great like John C. Maxwell, Stephen Covey and Andy Stanley and ultimately leadership has started to come easier for me over the years.
Let me give you some background…
When I was 17 years old, I helped launch a non-profit corporation from concept to grants and funding to running the business. The non-profit was a grant based volunteer organization that had out reach programs to local youth. In the beginning of this project, we were interviewed by local press and I ended up on the center stage, the next thing I knew I was being called the “leader” of this group by various forms of the press and media.
Over the next few years I learned some of the most important "secrets" of leadership.
People follow dreamers/visionaries and those that can inspire others to do great things over smart people or those with the right pedigree and credentials. People follow leaders who take action, not those who talk, analyze and spend excessive amounts of time waiting for perfection. People follow those who “Don’t follow the Crowd” They grasp a vision and run with it, wort's and all.
For better and worse, this non-profit project was a success. I was proclaimed a local hero and given accolades and awards for my endeavors, but this also led to me getting an ego and thinking I knew it all at age 20. Hubris.
I once taught a leadership class to a room full of successful leaders. Each of these individuals lead groups and teams from 5-100 personnel. However, I argued that most of them were managers not leaders. I told them if they wanted the biggest leadership challenge of your life, take off their rank and titles and go lead a non-profit organization of volunteers who are not being paid to work there. Inspire these people to show up day after day and work selflessly. This type of leadership will challenge every character trait you have and teach you a lot about people, yourself and your strengths and weaknesses.
In the real world, there a lot of managers but few true leaders.
Leaders - lead and inspire people with vision and action.Managers - manage tasks, projects and inanimate things.
In the past few years, I have attempted to take my leadership to another level in that I truly express my care for the people on my teams. It's not all about me and my agenda. I care for their personal needs and endeavors; I coach them with finances, faith and help them in any way possible, regardless if I ever receive anything in return. I often spend my own time and money to help others in small ways. It's true altruistic, empathetic leadership.
A true leader cares about their people, not about tasks or objects or about what upper management or the status quo thinks. You truly care about what is inside of each one of your teammates and you let them know that they are great people. You inspire them and mentor them to become greater. This does not mean you let people get away with substandard performance, missing deadlines or not reaching goals and expectations. It just means you put people above all this.
I also have learned the power of influence.
Often titles, rank and position have nothing to do with who really makes an organization run effectively. There are always special people in every organization who have all the connections, they have great rapport with people and they remember to help the little guys on the bottom and the big guys at the top. They are the real movers and shakers of the organization.
These people are the influencers. They may be anywhere in an organization; the mail room, middle management, at the local espresso stand or the gatekeeper to the CEO. They have so many friends and connections in the organization that they literally “walk between the raindrops" and seem to just make things happen.
I have learned to try to occupy this role by networking with people at all levels and helping them solve problems. I am the "go to" guy. This often requires building relationships outside the work environment as well.
In the movie Wall Street, Gordon Gekko said “Information is the most valuable commodity I know of”
I always strive to become an information portal and push information out to those who need it in order to help them with their activities and solver their problems. It's putting their needs before my own. I call this a social investment.
This is not to be mistaken for “brown nosing” but an honest information exchange and full honesty and authenticity to people at all levels of an organization. While most people try to suck up and impress the big guys, I have frequently talked with leaders echelons above me and given them an honest assessment of their problems, while providing viable solutions.
I am by no means an expert and I am far from calling myself a great leader, more like a masterpiece still in progress. Yet, I feel deep satisfaction from the frequent emails, phone calls and notes of thanks for truly caring and truly giving in my own unique way. When people know that you really care, they want to work with you.
A True Master of this style of leadership was the Apostle Paul and in the future I will give a post on why the Apostle Paul was the master leader and influencer.
If you suffer from management, I challenge you to get out of this role and develop your traits as a leader, it is in all of us, it just needs to be developed, honed and practiced.
My buddy Joe keeps emailing me and saying “Okay, your retired, your wealth is secured. Now What?”
I will not need income because my wealth and passive income will provide for my needs
Now keep in mind I am far from retirement but for me once I no longer need to work a job for income my priorities will shift to “Self Actualization” Projects.
By this I mean working on projects that leave a Legacy and have significance. During my retirement years to further my Legacy I would look at these areas.
Sharing my years of wisdom and knowledge as a consultant
Starting my own business – a lifelong dream or hobby
Writing a book or books to further share wisdom and knowledge
Spend time and money to help and further worthy causes
I don’t see myself sitting around or RVing the country, I see myself relaxing and working fewer hours but not necessarily sitting around and not doing something.
I believe those who are retired have years of knowledge and experience and they can definitely share that knowledge. The only question is how and using what facet?
Using Debt as Positive Leverage:
The following is an online conversation between an investorwho feels that being debt free is the only way to invest. Some people feel that paying off all theirdebt and mortgage is the way to financial prosperity.
Many Financial Authors also push this debt free mantra (SuzeOrman, Dave Ramsey, and John Burley) the thinking is that if you have no debtand live frugally you will be comfortable in retirement.
There is also another way, a way that myself and many otherssubscribe to. It actually increases yourretirement income exponentially and provides a far greater lifestyle thatliving frugally in your retirement years.
The Secret is Leverage.
In the example below you can see how debt used properly canexplode your investing and retirement.
Russ is a real state investor and owns a Bed and Breakfastin Napa,CA
Robert Kiyosaki differentiates between bad debt-- stuff that takes money OUT ofyour pocket (a car loan, credit cards, personal home mortgage, etc), and gooddebt-- stuff that puts money IN your pocket (say, a home that you own and rentout, and get $150/mo profit after paying the mortgage, taxes, and upkeep).
When we first got started, we were very anti-debt. We had 2 homes- one we livedin, and the other, a fixer-upper. By 2002, my plan was to sell one house, andwith the money I cleared, pay off the other house's mortgage entirely. We'dinvest what was left after paying off the mortgage, and live off the interest.In other words, if I cleared $500K when I sold the first house and paid thehouse I was living in off for $135K, I would have $365K left to invest. If Iinvested the $365K in interest-bearing Treasury bonds (say, at 5% per year),that would give me $365K x 5% = $18,250 per year to live on, for the rest of mylife, without touching any of the $365,000 principle.
That was my plan, based in large part on what I'd learned from folks like SuzeOrman and Dave Ramsey. This way, once I sold the house, my money would"work for me" (to use an RK phrase), and give me enough to live on.Since my house would be paid off (all of my cars and everything else wasalready paid off), I could easily live on $18K per year.
So, my plan was to have NO DEBT by 2003, and have $18,000+ coming in, while Ikicked back and did nothing.
Sounds pretty sweet, eh?
But then our lives changed. We read Rich Dad Poor Dad, and started playing theCashflow game . . .
Here we are 4 years later from our original 2003 "retirement" goal.We are *not* retired (still working-- lots), and have LOTS of good debt (over$3,000,000.00). The properties we own with this good debt bring in over$700,000 a year before expenses, which pays for the debt payments.
If we sold EVERYTHING today, after paying off all of that good debt, we'd haveabout $4,000,000.00 before paying off the realtors and income taxes.
Or, about $3,000,000 after these expenses.
$3,000,000.00 x 5% Treasury Bonds = $150,000.00 per year.
Seems a little bit sweeter than $18,000, eh?
But we aren't going to cash out-- not yet.
Based on some of Robert Kiyosaki's other principles, we're adding value to oneof our properties, and will sell things in another 5 years or so.
At that point, we'll have about $5,000,000 after sale expenses.
$5,000,000.00 x 5% = $250,000.00 per year income, while we sit around and justhave fun.
The above scenario is one of the things we learned by playing cashflow. Welearned how to handle good debt, and how to get rid of as much bad debt aspossible (e.g., we currently have no car loans or credit card debt).
But we do have lots and lots (and lots) of RE mortgages-- over $3,000,000.00worth. That good debt helps us get over $700,000 a year-- before expenses. Andwithin 2 years, we should be bringing in well over $1,500,000.00 beforeexpenses, since we're developing that other property.
This is just one example of how "good debt" can really work for you--and put you WAY ahead of the game-- using leverage.
There are many others on these forums who are doing the same thing-- withdifferent strategies, and different properties or investments. But all of themcenter around "good debt".
Hoping this makes sense . . .
-Russ H.
If you notice in my postsand even when I teach in person, I spend a lot of time on “Why” you dosomething. Most people always want toknow “How”
How do I get my kids to talk to me aboutimportant issues?
What should I invest in?
How do I get that spark back in my marriage?
There are a million HowTo books on the market and most of us read these books and then never take anyaction. They have great advice and soundprinciples but unless we have a strong enough “Why”, the “How” is unimportant.
The Why is what keeps yougoing. The why is the bigger picturewhen adversity enters your life. The Whyis what keeps your moral compass on the proper heading.
Most people just want toknow how, and then they go out and try something and fail and give up. If they had a big enough “Why” the how willpresent itself.
I focus a majority of myeffort and reading on building a strong “Why” because once I know deep in mysoul why it is important to do something, I will search the earth to find the“How”
I take time each week andlook at why I am doing something.
Why am I trying todevelop my children to be strong Christian Leaders?
Why am I building wealth?
Why do I want to have thebest marriage I can?
Why do I need to set theexample and become a Legacy Dad?
I focus on the endresults, the rewards, and the eternal happiness. If you build a big enough “Why” than nothingwill stop you from finding out “How”
"He who has a why tolive for can bear almost any how."
- Friedrich Nietzsche