The Success Sabotage Game

Having just about put a wrap on a very good book this weekend in the personal development genre, I reflect on experiences and relationships all while laying down a new guitar riff. I have things in the office to do on this beautiful summer weekend but the philosopher in me has taken over.

I took up Dean Graziosi on his offer to attend a free seminar and get a meal and book on him. I enjoy seminars as a way of gauging my mindset in the context of others who have achieved successes and wish to share while prepared for “the catch”. Typically, presenters deliver on their word as has Dean.

I’ve yet to gain a full understanding of the man’s history but I certainly do appreciate his sincerity in his book, “Millionaire Success Habits”. What I do know is that he put real estate to work and applied Tony Robbins’ principles in acquiring results. While others were challenged by the no doc mortgage debacle and economic pessimism in 2009, Dean apparently snapped up properties.

My message today surrounds the power of the pragmatic mind developed through failure and the social acclimatization toward risk avoidance. Frankly, the attendance of a seminar pertaining to wealth related concepts in Canadian society is mostly viewed as gullible or naive as opposed to entrepreneurially provocative. The propensity to defer to a messenger’s motive syncs with the suspicion entrenched within a society’s affinity toward liberalism. 

You know that folks seek solace in the shortcomings of others.  You hear it at work and you see it in headlines littered through websites encouraging your clicks. Marketers even target your need to be soothed.  There is a cultural aberration at play which must be called out and identified in your mind in order for the full force of your individualism to be actualized. I’m talking about the influence of this phenomenon in your mind as young as preschool. Negativity abounds and you are better equipped to handle it when you become attuned to its source.

Oh ya…the book, “Millionaire Success Habits” by Dean Graaziosi.              

What Is A Hedge?

A hedge is a position taken in the financial markets for the purpose of protecting against an unfavorable move against ones’ portfolio. The term “hedge” can be used in other contexts but I bring this financial usage to your attention because of the unfortunate absence of its deployment generally speaking by individual investors.

When the typical Canadian makes his/ her annual trip to the bank for transferring funds into the RRSP fund, the banker who really doesn’t know much about investing simply cycles the money into mutual funds. There’s no reason for the banker to do any differently because typically the portfolio holder knows no different either. Banks are in the business of not losing you money because they wish to retain your business. Mutual funds are convenient for them because they can rely on diversification through a professional fund manager. The trouble one encounters is back end fees, mangagement fees and “over-diversification”. Yes, being over-diversified has the effect of dumming down returns.

In my accounting practice, I frequently remind my clients to spend a couple of hours per week delving into financial education while learning about stock market investment opportunities. I believe that nobody is more concerned about your net worth and your retirement than you. Hence; you need to be in charge and fully accountable to your own financial growth.

Now back to hedging. You may have heard the terms “inherent risk”, “systemic risk”, and “geopolitical risk”. They are all fancy terms akin to abstract art and I’m certainly not going to spend time expounding upon the ultimate essence of their meaning. However; I am going to refer to the ever present matter of monetary stability and its lack thereof as a good reason in itself to be “hedged.”

First world countries have become more and more indebted. You thought the U.S. was bad. Well, in the U.K. every man, woman, and child owes some other country $127,000 USD. It kind of puts all the fuss around Princess Kate in perspective.  While the English pander to the residents of Buckingham Palace and obsess over pregnancy rumours, each and every Englishman, Scot, Welshman, and Irishman wake up to a future of financial bondage.  Per capital, the U.S. is at a mere $58,200 per citizen.

Here’s what’s weird….there’s really no record of reconciliation of these debt obligations with creditors available in the public doman. You see….governments issue debt instruments like bonds and treasury notes in the context of their borrowings so one would expect to see these all accounted for by a reporting body such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Hence; the settlement of such instruments and the creation of new ones could be viewed with transparency.

What about gold? Does gold still play a role in the creation of debt instruments? Well, no. However; countries around the world still view gold as a financial instrument. It used to be the case in the U.S that the production of a dollar bill could only be undertaken by assigning a gold unit concurrently. This is no longer the case since the Nixon administration. Fractional reserve banking today does not utilize gold as a variable in the production of new money.

What has been the reaction by the IMF in a culture of debt proliferation? Well, they created their own monetary unit called the “SDR” (Special Depository Right). It’s reasonable to derive that the unit was created in the context of currency mismatches, unreconciled debtor/ creditor accounts, and imbalances in sovereign gold reserves. Could the SDR become a material talking point in place of rumours around Kate’s next “baby bump”? I’m not certain that that populous has the appetite for reality TV to go along with milk and morning corn flakes.

Hence; you might learn more about hedging and what it can do to protect your portfolio.

Twenty-Five Per Cent of Canadians Say They Face Economic Hardship

This is what an Angus Reid poll has concluded from a sampling of 2,542 Canadian adults. I’m not surprised and below I make some attributions for the troubling statistic:

1.       Trade school not seriously introduced to 16 and 17 year olds in our           system of education

2.       Liberal culture unsupportive of propelling the individual toward                 entrepreneurship

3.       Propensity to defer responsibility

4.       Proliferation of employment agencies and head hunters buffering             effect of take home pay

5.       Opportunity cost associated with young adults pampered at home             by their parents

6.       Inconvenient and costly legal system incapable of expeditiously                 handling contract disputes

7.       Poor partnering of industry and education system

8.       Absent household budgeting / undisciplined allocation of after tax             dollars

9.       Psychological compulsion to showcase lifestyle undeserving of                   income

10.   Employer payroll costs effect on tempering wages

Second Half 2018

Here you are. It’s summer and you think you owe yourself more idle time because the young ones are out of school. Wrong. It’s actually time to roll up your sleeves and show them what work is all about. There are those outstanding odd jobs around the house and the pet projects deserving of attention as well as the pursuit of continuous learning. Learning is growing and we should be doing some of it every day in order to keep the creative and inspirational juices flowing. We are inundated with stories of troubled minds through the media and at every turn there are references to chemical imbalances or hereditary predispositions when perhaps the biggest contributor to mental aberration is idleness.

The summer of 2018 will depart us and when you look back, let it be a time of productivity as well as play. Throw yourself into something worthwhile which will bring you pride. Capture memories of family adventure while incorporating engaging activities. Stimulate yourself intellectually because as the old adage goes, “leaders are readers”.

Additionally, I encourage you to reflect on your place within the economic system in the context of who you know you to be.  Nobody really knows you better than you. We fool ourselves into thinking that constructive feedback from those close to us should form a larger barometer of our being but this strategy is really rationalization for delay when in actuality the fear of execution persists.

If you are serious about taking a hard look at yourself and your current participation within the economic system, you may pick up a copy of my ebook, “Your Business Mind”.