38 random thoughts on building prosperity

Feb 25, 2008

38 random thoughts on building prosperity

If this is your first visit to brip blap, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed and visit my about page.

If you were going to sit down and write a list about building prosperity, what would be on your list? Here are 38 random lessons I’ve learned about building prosperity. Not one is set in stone, and some of them are my own goals. Almost all of them, though, are critical to building prosperity for anyone.

Spend less than you earn is not always the FIRST way you should think. “Spend less than you earn” and “earn more than you spend” could be the basis of a much shorter list: the only two things you need to know to be wealthy.
Pay yourself first. When money comes in (paycheck, client payments, alimony, whatever), put the first 10% in savings until you have an emergency fund of at least $1000. Then put the first 10% into paying off any debt you have. After that, put the first 10% into retirement accounts or investments. No excuses. Ever. Make do with the other 90%, no matter what. NO MATTER WHAT.
Invest early and often. $100 invested at 8% for 50 years will be worth $4,690. $100 at 8% invested for 40 years will be worth $2,346. 10 extra years means twice as much money. Start investing today.
Buy and hold. You are not smart enough to time the market all the time. You may win some and lose some, but unless you are incredibly lucky - or smarter than an investment bank with 1000s of employees studying the market full-time - you will probably not be able to time the market much better than a mutual fund.
Don’t let STUFF rule your life. If you are 25 years old today and buy an iPhone for $399, that would have been $8,700 when you retired. But at least 40 years from now you’ll still have that iPhone. Right.
Don’t go into debt. If you go into debt, even if you manage to pay it all off someday, you will be starting out significantly behind even the laziest, slowest investor who never incurred debt in the first place. Debt will destroy your future.
Get educated, and keep learning throughout your life. Do you think Warren Buffet stopped reading about finance and taxes and economics when he finished school in 1951? Do you think he chills out in front of the TV watching Gray’s Anatomy or playing with his Wii, or do you think he’s educating himself right this very minute?
You shouldn’t try to keep up with the Joneses. It’s a race that has no winners, only losers.
A penny saved is a penny earned…thanks to the miracle of compound interest it’s actually a nickel earned.
You don’t need that. I told myself that I really needed a brushed nickel mortar and pestle for crushing spices. I didn’t. Every time you go shopping, write down anything you see that you NEED. Wait until the next time you go shopping to get it - because by then you’ll probably realize that you lived without it.
Getting married and staying married is a good financial move. Losing 50% of your money and buying a second home in one year is a tough way to grow wealth.
Live somewhere with good public schools. Private schools are fine if you want it for religious or social reasons, but the simple fact is that you are paying for your child’s education twice: once in private school tuition, and once in taxes.
Don’t gamble. If you feel the urge, just send me a donation instead. Either way you’ll be giving your money away.
Money is replaceable. Time is not. Money that is wasted can be replaced, because technically there is an infinite supply of money that you can acquire in your life. Actually acquiring it may be tricky, but if you waste $10 today you can think of ways to generate alternate income tomorrow to replace it. Time, once wasted, is gone. If you watch 2 hours of TV a night starting at age 21 and living to age 78, you will have watched TV for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for 4 years and 9 months of your life. Think about that.
You cannot spend too much on your health. This may be one of the oldest cliches in the book, but if you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything.
Complaining is counterproductive. Move on. All of the time most of us spend complaining - and this one is a HUGE problem for me that I’m trying to overcome - is time that we could spend on a million different positive things: exercising, learning, playing, cooking, laughing… the list goes on and on.
Write down your goals.
Half the battle is preparation. Going half-cocked into any venture is a sure recipe for disaster.
Athletic ability or musical talent or fantastic good looks are great ways to become wealthy. For the rest of us, brains will have to make up the difference.
Inherited wealth gives some people a head start, but we are all working - on average - within a 78 year average lifespan. You and Bill Gates both started out as naked, squalling babies with approximately 28,470 days to spend on this planet; he didn’t have any advantages in terms of 27 hour days. He’s making the most of his time (at least as far as wealth, I can’t speak to his personal development…)
Doing what you love is a good way to be happy. It is not always a good way to be rich. You don’t have to be rich to be happy, but not being rich doesn’t guarantee you’ll be happy, either. Do something you can tolerate for a job. Do something you love for a hobby.
Persistence is admirable…to a point. After that, it can become stupidity. After that, it can become dangerous.
Your first job out of school will set a pattern for your entire life - if you let it.
Chasing gains in the market is a sure way never to catch them.
Investing in the stock market is very difficult, and there are millions of people better at it than you - don’t kid yourself into thinking you are smarter than 99.9999% of the investors there.
Buying a home is satisfying, but it costs a lot more than just the cost of the house.
The biggest money drain in your life is your own lack of self-control.
Don’t borrow money from friends or family, and don’t lend money to friends or family. Ever. Unless you do it through some sort of P2P lending website.
Personal finance doesn’t have to be boring, but often it is - a lot of it has been said before.
Mutual fund performance is variable, but fees are forever.
Dividends are cash in hand. Unrealized gains are just that - unrealized.
Investment advisors are not going to be any better with your money than you are. If for some reason you find a multimillionaire advisor who is willing to take care of your investments for you, fine, but otherwise they are probably getting the same information you are. Don’t assume they spend all of their time studying the market while you’re working at your day job - most of their time is probably spent making cold-calls.
If you don’t learn about taxes, you will pay for it dearly for your entire life. And afterwards.
Not everyone has the fortitude to prepare their finances for their own death, but people with a wealthy mindset do.
Frugality does not mean spending ten hours sewing socks together that could be replaced for $8, or using a blend of toenails, toothpaste and BubbleYum to make homemade glue. Your time must be SPENT wisely.
Eating out is a lot of fun, and you pay a premium for that fun. If you ever doubt that, look at the cost of a six-pack of beer versus a single beer at a restaurant. Consider how much the restaurant charges for a side order of french fries, then go see how much potatoes cost per pound. But there is a labor cost to shopping for food, preparing it and cleaning up afterwards that you avoid when you go out.
Driving a gas-guzzling car is always a waste of money, no matter how much gas costs. In addition to the fact that you probably paid too much for an overpriced tank that’s designed for offroading and you don’t even like getting your shoes muddy, you are helping to destroy the earth’s environment by contributing to climate change. One way or another, climate change is going to be expensive.
If you get married, make sure you are on the same page about money, lifestyles and children before you get married. Why? Reason #1: If you have the same goals, you have a better likelihood of achieving them.

And a final bonus thought: it’s not easy, but it’s doable - there’s room enough for all of us at the table.

Odds and ends:

I have a new post up at the Prosper blog. I think the blog has a nice mix of interesting posts from a number of different authors. If you want to read everything (and not just my posts) you can subscribe here.

I’m entered in March Madness - let the drama begin!

I got tagged by Melissa at A Penny Closer for a book meme. Here are the rules: Grab the nearest book that has at least 123 pages, open it to page 123, and count down 5 sentences. Then, type the next three sentences here.

OK, here goes:

She wanted to replace them, but it would take more than an overnight stop, and she knew Jondalar was anxious to keep moving. Jondalar, however, was not happy about the wet tent, nor the thought of depending on it for shelter. Besides, it wasn’t good for wet skins to be folded up and packed together so tight; it could make them rot.

(from The Plains of Passage by Jean Auel)

What does that have to do with anything? Not sure. They are interesting books if you want to know everything about every last little thing that early Cro-Magnon man did, though. The books have made me think a lot about how many of the trappings of the modern world are necessary - those cavemen got by with absolutely nothing. I’m not tagging anybody since it’s been around for awhile, but tag yourself if you’d like. Try it even if you don’t want to blog about it, it’s an amusing little exercise.

(photo by babasteve)

Popularity: 100% [?]

44 Comments, Comment or Ping

Elizabeth

Excellent list, especially 1, 3, 19, and 23. I’m bookmarking this.

Feb 25th, 2008
t h rive

Nice post, healthy list.

I like the thought of recognizing ’sunk costs’. The fact that lost money (badly spent) is lost money; it’s important to focus on the next smart move - rather than dwelling on bad ones in the past. Like purchasing 2 crappy vacuum cleaners in a row, or making the same mistake twice in the stock market (done it). Focusing on what to do NEXT, and learning from mistakes is worth more than dwelling.

Then again, it’s important sure to not make sunk costs an excuse to go on making mistakes to learn.

Feb 25th, 2008
Kathy T.

I love your list! I’ve linked to you over at Shak & Jill.

Feb 25th, 2008
Money Blue Book

The one advice I hold onto the most is the one about not focusing on acquiring and purchasing stuff. Stuff depreciates and fades with time. They become outdated and can be replaced. Memories and life experiences cannot. That’s why I have less problem spending big money on experiences over products.
-Raymond

Feb 25th, 2008
RetiredSyd

I especially love #37–I will never understand the fascination with these urban assault vehicles . . .

Feb 25th, 2008
fiveberries

Love this list! I love the mix of really good advice with humor. A great way to get the message across!

Feb 25th, 2008
Four Pillars

Hi Steve - this comment is for your Prosper post - I couldn’t leave a comment there - seems to be a technical problem.

Anyways:

Neat post.

I think that normal lending/borrowing works for situations where the odds of the money getting paid back is fairly reasonable.

For a long shot deal like an independent movie I just can’t see how it would work for lenders or borrowers.
As a lender I want the potential return to equal the risk - but the interest rate I would have to charge to cover the risk of a film would be astronomical ie 200%. As a borrower, it wouldn’t make much sense to get expensive financing for a long shot deal.

Equity financing would be much better suited - share the profits if any.

I don’t know if there are Prosper-style sites for equity lending (might be an idea) but I think that would be the way to go for long shot deals.

Mike

Feb 25th, 2008
Steve (Brip Blap)

Thanks everyone! Glad the list had a few good points in it!
@Mike: Sorry to hear the Prosper blog was having trouble. Yeah, I understand your thinking and I guess I’d just say that the movie example was extreme, simply because it was what was on my mind at that point (I was wondering how an ordinary Steve like me could invest in one). You’re right that in any case I’d want a piece of the action, just in case it took off.

And I’m sure P2P equity is on the way - why not have local stock markets? I’m sure there are some SEC regulations out there (for the US, and whatever the Canadian regulatory authority is) but surely the barriers can’t be that high. I’d love to see that.

Feb 25th, 2008
Mrs. Micah

I’ll say that there are days when I’m dealing with cardamom pods and really miss my mom’s mortar and pestle set. But those days only happen a few times a year, so buying a “nice” one isn’t a good idea. Maybe I’ll find one second-hand.

Feb 25th, 2008
Curmudgeon

I think the problem with this is that you haven’t properly defined your terms (your math professor is looking sternly at you right now). It’s a great list, but if you ask ten people what prosperity means to them, nine will say it is the ability to have anything you want, when you want it. Certainly you can do that, but it means servitude to The Man and a deep and abiding commitment to your creditors. You’re not proposing prosperity, but rather freedom from the things that add stress and unhappiness to your life.

Feb 26th, 2008
Curmudgeon

You’re also proposing a complete change in mindset for people. If you lust after material things and immediate gratification, your dissatisfaction builds when you realize both the cost and the fact that it really doesn’t make you happy beyond the moment. Rather than a list of specific actions, Steve, perhaps you should try to offer a change to that mindset.

Feb 26th, 2008
Steve (Brip Blap)

@Mrs. Micah: Well, yessss, it IS helpful, obviously. It wouldn’t have been invented otherwise Cardamom pods are an example of something where I think “perhaps I should buy the already-ground ones…”. A heavy spoon and bowl seem to do the trick most of the time. I pick on the mortar and pestle because I bought a very lovely stainless steel set back when Bubelah and I were dating and she was appalled - not only that I bought one, but that I bought a very expensive and stylish one. It is my albatross

@Curmudgeon: True, I didn’t define my terms, although I think in a sense the list gives you my definition of the word “prosperity.” I think prosperity IS freedom from the things that add stress and unhappiness to your life. The definition from dictionary.com was “a successful, flourishing, or thriving condition, esp. in financial respects; good fortune” which I think fits my definition and yours - so there’s some room for interpretation. I find that with long lists like this people can usually take what they like out of it and ignore what they don’t - my hope is that at least a few of the points inspire people to think a little differently. That’s how I read most other blogs, actually - 20% of blogs are interesting 80% of the time, 80% are only interesting 20% of the time. But almost every list/post/etc. has a kernel or two in it.

And to that point, I’m trying all the time to change that mindset with stuff like this and this (just off the top of my head)! But you make a great point, and I’ll try to write more to changing the mindset.

Feb 26th, 2008
Erik

I agree with most all of these. Great list and great post. Keep up the good work.

Feb 26th, 2008
Caffeine Addict

Wonderful! This is so true. I really wish I could get some family members to follow this advice. It would seem however that most people would rather spend their time complaining about their problems than actually doing something about their problems.

Feb 29th, 2008
Brad

What happens if I get hit by a truck tomorrow? How much is my money worth then? Also, can I take the money with me if I die? Can I spend it in heaven, if heaven exists?

Sorry folks, I live in the now. And besides, retirement will only drive me insane. I am not going to fill my days playing 36 holes of golf at age 70. So wake me up when this stuff matters.

Oh and one more thing. All this saving assumes that money will be worth something some day. The way things are going, the money you are saving today won’t be worth the paper it is printed on by the time you retire. There’s also something called “the time value of money,” and the phrase “cash is king.”

Mar 3rd, 2008
Steve (Brip Blap)

@Brad: Hard to disagree with you there, Brad. You’re right that focusing on future wealth all the time can be an unhealthy fixation, and I’m guilty of that quite often. I guess it’s got to be balanced - some effort to live today, some effort to live tomorrow.

Mar 3rd, 2008
Amanda @ Me vs Debt

Great list, but whats up with the picture? Haha

Mar 5th, 2008
Steve (Brip Blap)

@Amanda: If I could explain how I choose pictures I would, but most of them are completely random keyword searches - this one, for example, popped up on “rich” or something like that - and I thought “cool pic.” No reason

Mar 5th, 2008
Amanda @ Me vs Debt

Nice, its hilarious

Mar 5th, 2008
Jennifer

Loved the list! Thanks for a great post!

Mar 6th, 2008
Thomas Tatzel

Great list!!!!

I Agree with almost all of it. I would Amend Comment 6 about debt though. The rule I use is never use debt to buy a depreciating asset. Only use debt to buy assets that you strongly believe will create wealth after taking into account all the costs associated with that asset. Several uses for debt that meet this rule are a college education, starting a business, or buying a house. In fact I would argue that if you do not come from a wealthy family, responsible use of debt can help you become financially independent.

Mar 10th, 2008
Theresa

This is an awesome blog! I really enjoyed it.

Mar 13th, 2008
xvnukervx

Really like this page, bookmarking it

Mar 13th, 2008
JR

Interesting and thought-provoking article with some good advice. To be fair, here’s some alternate perspective on some points. 1. Not sure what your point is here. 2. SECOND 10%. The first 10% (BEFORE tax) should be RETURNED to God. That’s IN ADDITION TO any charitable giving, political donations, etc. By the way, 90%? Right. Hold onto that dream. Let’s be honest about the challenge. By the time you return your tithe to God, give to charity (something that even poor people should do — the Talmud states that even beggars are required to give alms), pay taxes, and save money, there’s not going to be anywhere close to 90%. That doesn’t excuse us from the tithe, charity, etc., but we need to be honest that we will have to do with much less than 90%. This is harder advice to follow than it sounds, but worth striving for. 10. Fantastic advice. 11. Thanks for cheering up those of us who can’t find a bad match, much less a good match. 12. Good advice if all you care about is money (short-term money at that — a home- or private-school education can be a great long-term investment). But if you do use a public school, at least use some common sense and proactively monitor carefully what your children are taught. Remember, it is impossible to teach without teaching religion, philosophy, ethics, and a theory of origins. What beliefs are being taught at your school? 14. But don’t underestimate the importance (and power) of downtime. It’s OK and good and healthy to waste some time occasionally. Even necessary. Besides, if I hadn’t been wasting time surfing the net, I wouldn’t have read your blog. 15. Yes you can. (Thanks for adding to inflation and the health care “crisis”.) Reality check: Use “the genius of ‘and’”. Make your health a priority, AND be financially responsible about it. 16. Right-on. 17. Doesn’t work for everyone, but for many people this is great advice. 18. And half is just showing up. And half is vision. And half is hard work. And another half is also vision. (Proverbs 29:18 states, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Good advice for individuals also.) And half is self-denial. Did I mention vision? 26. People should be required to write this down 10 times a day every school day when they are growing up. 30. If you think investment option A without fees will grow approximately 50% over a set number of years, and investment option B with fees will grow approximately 80% after fees, go with B. Of course, good luck predicting future earnings. However, there are some wise options which do not depend on one hot-shot manager, and which charge a reasonable fee. These will be a good choice for some folks. Don’t develop an unhealthy fetish about avoiding fees. All else being equal, you should avoid fees. But when is all else equal? Besides, if no one would let anyone else make any money off of them, we would all be living in caves. Just be smart about it. 31. And untaxed. 35. GREAT advice. 37. Only if we get stupid and let it get expensive. Warmer climates are not new and generally are beneficial and less expensive. We have a bunch of power-hungry politicians, and unscrupulous money-grubbing business “leaders” and “academics” who are “playing to the cheap sears” and using Chicken Little arguments to scare us into overreacting to something beneficial which we cannot control.

Mar 15th, 2008
atrix

I love the idea and tips share in the article here ..

Mar 21st, 2008
Joe Smith

“Invest early and often. $100 invested at 8% for 50 years will be worth $4,690. $100 at 8% invested for 40 years will be worth $2,346. 10 extra years means twice as much money. Start investing today.”

Great list, but you need to redo the math on the above situation…

Mar 21st, 2008
Pscherer

NO NO NO, no debt? Do you really believe that wealthy people have no debt? Name one wealthy person with no debt. Trump is billions in debt, most wealthy people have huge debt. The key is having debt that brings you income, not credit card debt that destroys your wealth. You cannot create great wealth without debt. Qualify your rule.

Mar 26th, 2008
Steve (Brip Blap)

@Pscherer: I haven’t done an extensive study of it, but I think my argument would be that it’s hard to get wealthy WITH debt. Once you’re wealthy, leverage becomes a vastly different type of tool than what most of us are exposed to now (credit cards, mortgage, etc.). I am certainly willing to say that the type of debt Trump has is different than what I have (it does not put HIM on the hook, just Trump Enterprises) and his famous debt-leveraging happened long after he built his wealth - which was, of course, inherited in part. But yeah, I believe that people who are building prosperity steer clear of debt - at least personal debt.

Mar 27th, 2008
Pscherer

Not so regarding Trump, when his famous “issues” came up in the 90’s
He was on the hook personally for over 900 million of debt. His Company also had much more true, but he had been forced to personally guarantee some of that debt exceeding 900 million.
Now in regard to my original comment, do you personally own a home? That is debt–good debt. You do not have to be wealthy to own a home, certainly in the US most people can own a home if they have a job and little to no “bad” debt i.e. credit card, consumer debt. Consumer debt as your rule points out will kill you. Going to bars, smoking, gambling will also kill your wealth just as surely. As you point out, what is the true cost of that new shirt or dress when you factor in debt costs and loss of future income? I don’t argue with you about consumer issues at all. My contention is that (good)debt that pays you a monthly income is not bad debt. Those that use debt wisely can become very rich and you don’t have to be wealthy; just use good debt intelligently.
Oh and the name is pronounced Pscherer the P is silent.

Mar 27th, 2008
Shawn@MoneyBrick

Nice post and lovely comments!

5. I especially like the comment about having an iPhone 40 years from now. Well, maybe in two years, when you’re looking to upgrade to iPhone 2.0, you can lock it away in a metal box and one day it’ll become a priceless antique?

14. I totally, totally agree.

19. Wait… don’t you know that those who look good actually earn more over their lifetime? No joke… I read it in TIME or maybe Newsweek? Anyway, thinking that you’re going to become a pop-star or a model is a sure waste of time, because those things are tournaments where only one person out of hundreds wins. BUT, I think that investing your time into certain skills (languages, etc.) and into self-grooming are definitely worth it.

23. Oh! I love this one. I just hate it when I get totally defined into a certain occupation just because I have the prerequisites.

28. The Chinese have a saying, “Family is family and business is business.” So, the Chinese are totally willing to borrow and lend family and friends money, but it’s in the culture that the things are separate. If I lend my brother money, he’ll definitely be paying me interest, and it wouldn’t be rude of me to ask for it back if he is taking too long to repay. I think that lending to family and friends could work, given the proper laying-out of rules beforehand.

Keep up the interesting posts!

Apr 19th, 2008
Thomas Tatzel

Steve in your response to Pscherer you said

@Pscherer: I haven’t done an extensive study of it, but I think my argument would be that it’s hard to get wealthy WITH debt.

I would argue that it is hard to become wealthy without Debt. It takes money to make money and if you don’t have it, you need to borrow it or bring in partners. Debt has gotten a bad name because so many people misuse it. If you are going into debt to live beyond your means (and this includes buying a house you cannot afford) then obviously it is a bad thing. But when looking for capital for a business Debt is usually cheaper than equity. The reason being that an equity investor (such as a venture capitalist) requires a premium for the extra risk that he or she is assuming. Also interest payments on debt can be deducted from a businesses bottom line reducing its tax burden. Therefore; the proper mix of Debt to equity in a business can actually lower its cost of capital and make it more likely to succeed.

Nowhere is this more evident than in real-estate. Lets say that you have 100K to invest in real-estate and you define success as a 15% Return on invested capital (not unreasonable as you are going to be putting in many hours, you should demand more than the historical10% a stock index fund would bring). Say you put the 100K into a building that throws off a 6% yield after expenses and appreciates by 5% per year. This will never be a successful investment (15% Return) without the proper amount of leverage (Debt). Say with that same 100K you buy a building with 70% Debt and 30% equity (the Debt being @ 8.5% interest rate). You now have an asset valued at 333K the building will have no yield as the cash flow from rents will go to paying the interest on the loan. However; the same 5% appreciation in the building will give you a 16.65% return on invested capital (333K x .05 / 100K). Add to this the fact that in the all equity example you will be paying taxes on your 6% yield, while in the 70% debt scenario you will never pay a penny in taxes on the money you take out and you get the true value of using debt in real-estate investing. The key to taking money out of this investment without paying taxes is that every time you refinance the building bring your debt/equity level back to 70/30 and pocket the extra money. You pay no taxes because technically you have not made any money you have simply taken out a larger loan on a building that has gone up in value. But in reality you will be amazed at the amount of money you will receive by doing this. If you ever sell the building you will owe capital gains tax on the difference from your cost basis, but this rate is usually lower than your income tax rate and you will owe it in the all equity example if you sell that building too.

Apr 21st, 2008
Pscherer

Having just finished my taxes I can also add to Thomas’s list, the of benefits of depreciation. The buildings depreciation can completely shelter the income that your leveraged building throws off. Tax free until sold and even then if exchanged delay gain until cashed out. Some thoughtful debt is essential to becoming wealthy. Not consumer debt, but planned and carefully invested debt.

Apr 21st, 2008
Steve (Brip Blap)

Fair enough. As I’ve said in other posts, I’m no expert on real estate investing and you’ve convinced me that a blanket statement condemning debt isn’t fair. I’d still say most people will do better without it, but you’re right - if you can use leverage properly it can definitely multiply many times.

Very thoughtful comment, Thomas, and a very good analysis. Thanks! And Pscherer, I cede the point!

Apr 21st, 2008
Shawn@MoneyBrick

@Thomas… that is amazing advice! I’ve read all about real estate, but nowhere have I come across the concept of keeping your debt always at the 70/30 ratio. That’s weird - how come I have not heard of this? It sounds excellent, however, and thanks for sharing that with us! Do you have a blog, by the way? (Where you write about amazing stuff like this?)

Apr 22nd, 2008
Dave (ChiefExecutiveRockStar)

@Psherer, Thomas, BripBrap

Great points made in this post; for example. It’s ESSENTIAL to not brush past Curmudgeon’s comment (above), one’s mindset is really the foundation for wealth and prosperity.

Tactics and techniques WILL falter if governing principles aren’t followed. One example: the above mentioned concept of debt as a tool. In fact, most “Debt” used as a tool is not debt; it is liablity. Liability that is offset by assets. If Thomas owns a $100,000 house, puts 30K down and has $70K in liability, he also has a note against the property (asset) for $70K. The “Debt” is zero. Debt is when there is no value to back it up other than a persons promise to create value at some future date.

I really enjoy many of BripBrap’s suggestions. Many of them, tho, apply to consumers (as consumers, we consume as much or more value than we produce) and offer ‘techniques’ for prospering while not altering the mindset to that of a producer (producing more value than we consume). When the mindset/perspective is altered, the habits change more easily. Overall, great post; thanks for sharing your perspective. I’ll check out your other stuff, too.

– Dave, ChiefExecutiveRockStar

Apr 23rd, 2008
Thomas Tatzel

Steve,

I would like to discuss another one of your thoughts on building prosperity. It is # 4 Buy and Hold. While I believe in buy and hold investing, you seam to be saying that you can’t beat a mutual fund so you might as well buy one. I think an individual investor can do better than most mutual funds for three reasons.

One, mutual funds are limited in their flexibility due to size, actions of there shareholders, and stated objectives in the prospectus. You are much more nimble as an individual, and thus you can get out of an investment quickly when you realize that you have made a mistake. Also I like buying stocks when they are cheap (like now) and selling when they are expensive; but mutual funds often do just the opposite. The Fund manager might not want to buy stocks at any given time, but if the money is pouring in (as is often the case at market tops) and the fund’s prospectus states they will be 90% invested in stocks, they have no choice. The same holds true in the reverse. When stocks dip many shareholders cash in forcing a fund manager to sell stocks at the absolute worst time.
Two, you can save a lot of money in fees by investing yourself. Those thousands of employees you mentioned are not free; you pay for them in the expense ratio you pay. You also pay for the fund companies advertising to bring in more shareholders (to the detriment of existing ones in many cases).
Three, most fund managers follow the herd, and this is a sure way of getting mediocre results. If you are a fund manager, it is often too risky to go against the pack because you are judged by relative performance to your peers. It is much safer for them to just buy what everybody else is buying.

In conclusion, I believe in Buy and Hold investing. I am not a believer in mutual funds. If you want your money managed by a professional with the flexibility to do as he wants I would suggest buying shares of a company that makes money by investing in (or Buying) other companies. Some examples are:
Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A or BRK-B) – Warren Buffet
Danaher (DHR) – The Rales Brothers
Leucadia (LUK) - Ian Cumming & Joseph Steinberg
All three are well devesified and have phenominal long term records.

Apr 28th, 2008
Steve (Brip Blap)

@Thomas: I can certainly see how you could interpret point #4 that way, but I probably should have been more clear: I do think buy and hold is the best strategy, and I don’t think mutual fund investing is better (although for the non-serious investor who’s unwilling to put time into research, I think it is). What I meant was that if you want to be an active trader, moving in and out of positions constantly, there’s not much chance most investors can outthink the professional trader, who has far more institutional ability to take on risk and who can access information that we wouldn’t have access to.

But all that having been said, you’re right - big mutual funds are limited by their size and investor confidence. An individual investor who’s willing to study and buy businesses, rather than day trade, can beat the market.

Hopefully that clarifies what I meant! I do think buy and hold is the best strategy, even if someone applies it to mutual funds and not stocks.

Apr 30th, 2008
Thomas Tatzel

Steve,

I agree with you 100% that buy and hold is the best strategy, and that if you are not willing to do your homework that Index Mutual Funds (OR ETF’s) are the best option. The only bad thing about buy and hold is that it is often used as an excuse to not do what is necessary when investing, which is research your holdings constantly and sell your losers. Jim Cramer, who is often wrongly accused of just being a trader and not having any info for long term investors, did a show segment recently titled “Buy and Homework” that I totally agreed with. All buy and hold investors should watch this segment. He basically says that you must be willing to put in at least one hour a week for every stock you own, and sell if real problems develop in the business. Some red flags to look for are:

•Accounting Irregularities - This is the big one, sell first ask questions later. Think Enron.
•New Major Competition – An example of this would be Garmin (GRMN) and Nokea. GRMN was selling at around 120 when Nokia bought Navtech basically announcing that it was entering the GPS Navigation business around 6 Months ago. Today GRMN is selling for 43. I had bought GRMN a while back with the intention of holding for a long time, but sold immediately when I read this news.
•Price Wars – If a company you own gets involved in a price war with a worthy competitor in a key business segment it may be time to sell. An Example of this would be Intel and AMD. Intel stock had a phenomenal rise until AMD came along; it hasn’t done much since except trend down. Google “Intel AMD price war” if you want a history. The earliest article I could find was may 30 2002. The best way to get a visual picture of what a price war will do to a stock is to go to the interactive charting on yahoo and do a chart comparing INTC to the S&P with the MAX time frame. This will show INTC beating the S&P with a 6000% gain since 1986. Now run the chart from MAY 2002 (The first mention of a Price war with AMD) until today. The picture is quite different with Intel showing an 18% loss against a 35% gain for the S&P.
You may have other metrics that you use including discounted cash flow models, Sales or earnings growth rates, profit margins, or dividends. The point is you watch your investments and have the discipline to admit mistakes when you are wrong. How Many times have you heard “it’s not a loss unless you sell?” This is just pure B.S. because the whole time your money is in a dog stock you are losing the opportunity to be making money elsewhere. Time is money and as you alluded to in thought #14 time is not replaceable. That doesn’t mean you rush out and sell a stock just because the price went down. Dips in price are great buying opportunities if you have done your homework and are confident in the company’s long term prospects.

Shawn I do not have a blog but I am active on the Motley Fool Discussion boards and Have a MYCAPS portfolio under the name tomtat1. You can check my ended picks on GRMN if you doubt what I was saying above. A MYCAPS portfolio at motleyfool.com is a great way to judge whether you can beat the market or not without putting your hard earned money at risk. It keeps up with your score based on relative performance to the S&P 500 and rates you against all the other investors playing. This site is also great for getting investment ideas. You will have to sign up to get in but it is free. Just be prepared to get bombarded with ads for their news letters as this is how they make their money.

Apr 30th, 2008
Shawn@MoneyBrick

Thomas… cool, I will check you out there!

Apr 30th, 2008