To most people the pull up value is greater than the value of their personal wealth. I learned this years ago when I was in LA and saw the amount of Mercedes Benz’ and BMW’s parked outside of the apartment buildings down there. I remember thinking somebody has their value system backwards. But in LA…

Let me share with you one way to introduce ownership to your kids (grandkids, nieces, & nephews). As my kids were growing up, I never asked them what they wanted to be. I never allowed anyone else to ask them what they wanted to be either. Instead, I asked them what they wanted to own!…

What does Monk, Warren Buffet, and the Wall Street Trapper all have in common? We all started our investment careers in remote/isolated environments. The Wall Street Trapper learned about investing while on a state sponsored vacation. I learned about investing while I was stationed in Middle America at Fort Riley, Kansas. Warren Buffet learned while…

I will let you in on a little secret. Analyzing investments isn’t always about technical analysis. Sometimes it’s just recognizing a cycle or pattern. There, I said it out loud. When I was 9 years old I was blessed to come across this psychology book on transactional analysis. This book has absolutely nothing to do…

Ask any homeowner or any plumber and they will confirm the damage that a little drip can do to a home. But there is another drip that’s used for good and not for destruction. It’s called a D.R.I.P. It’s an acronym for Dividend Re-Investment Plan.  Here’s how it works: some stock companies not only go…

When I retired I started attacking my bucket list. One of my top 3 items was a pilgrimage to Tulsa Oklahoma – home of Black Wall Street. I didn’t learn about Black Wall Street until I started studying finance at San Francisco State College. Imagine my surprise that this display of financial excellence was just…

I am one of the few people in the financial space that talks about the inevitable hurdles and losses when investing and how to overcome them. Overcoming hurdles and losses is the second topic when I teach because they are inevitable. But if you can prepare for them, the downsides won’t sting as much and…

In 1987 Reginald Lewis, with the help of Michael Milken, used a specific type of bond to purchase food conglomerate Beatrice foods for $985Mill – later re-naming the company TLC Beatrice. Effectively, it was a $Billion dollar deal. It was also the largest deal ever (up until that point). This deal also ushered in the…

This is not the parking lot that charges you to attend an event. Or even a city that charges at a meter or you get a ticket for 20x’s what the meter fee was. True story, I live in the San Francisco Bay Area & when I lived on Fell Street in The City I…

We last spoke about JP Morgan and how he lent money to bail out the U.S. government. Did you know that you can do the same thing too? When you buy a U.S. Treasury bond that’s exactly what you’re doing. You are making a loan to the U.S. government and in return they will pay…

This week the markets took a hit. If you’ve been in the markets for a while through a 401(K), pension, or investment account you no doubt feel the hit and the way things are looking, there is no end in sight.  We are in for a rocky ride (for a while). But as Newton’s 3rd…

Timing, or what some call luck, is when opportunity meets preparation.  When Lynell Bevels shared that Umpqua Bank was assisting home ownership with the assistance of Richmond Neighborhood Housing Service, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I am very familiar with the agency and how they put people in homes because I went through their workshop…

The 1st step on your investment journey begins with your why. If you don’t know where you’re going, how do you know when you’ve arrived? Your why is just that, YOUR why. It doesn’t matter if your WHY is to fund your retirement, send a child to college, or to pay for your next vacation.…

Something that was taught to me by a broker friend of mine: look back on your investments and decide whether your position achieved the goal of the purchase or not. We as humans look back at the year and decide if it was a good year or not – which is why we make New…

The holiday season is now upon us. Gifts will be bought and gifts will be given. Michael Jackson sang that you must give love on Christmas Day and there is no greater gift than love. So, the 2nd greatest gift is the gift of ownership.  Can you name what you gave or received 3 Christmas’…

This post on generational wealth is based on a chapter in my upcoming book on financial literacy  Dr Boyce Watkins’ verbal imagery summarizes it like this, “generational wealth is a relay race”. The Proverbs say that a wise person leaves an inheritance to their children’s children. First, if you’ve survived tech layoffs, automation, and globalization…

(or, How I was blinded by Love) Part 3 of 3 It is said that love is blind, but to quote The Teacher, KRS-1 from Boogie Down Production, “Love’s gonna get cha’. You see, I loved the Fisker Karma story so much that I didn’t get out of my position in Quantum Technologies when I…

(or, Why I never bought Tesla) Part 2 of 3 Most people think that Godfather III is the worst movie of the Godfather trilogy. I don’t know about that, but in The Godfather III Micheal Corleon told his nephew, “you should never hate your enemy, it clouds your judgment”. This was a lesson I had…