Tag: stock market

Two valuable money-making skills you need to develop now.

Sunday afternoon I told my 14-year-old son Magnus we were going for a drive. He looked both confused and curious as he followed me towards the garage, pulled on his shoes and hurried out the door behind me.

As we tore out of the driveway like Bo and Luke Duke in my White Ford Bronco Expedition I explained that I had just seen a brand new listing on Facebook Marketplace for 3 large boxes full of 1980s-era baseball cards. The woman selling them posted that she didn’t know what was in the boxes. She simply wanted them out of her house. $25 took all 3 boxes. And I was hyperventilating. (Well, I was actually just hyper while I was ventilating.)

I collected these baseball cards when I was a kid. And I knew this created an opportunity to teach Magnus a valuable lesson. As we sped down the rural Wisconsin highway I told Magnus that one of the most valuable skills you can develop is a sense for undervalued assets. Those assets could be baseball cards. But they could also be stocks, real estate, businesses, antiques, coins, stamps, equipment and countless other things. Including undervalued people. (Especially undervalued people.)

The other valuable skill I encouraged Magnus to develop is the ability to move quickly. You have to act on your detection of undervalued assets before other people do. Hence the quick reply on Facebook and the Smokey and The Bandit-style driving.

You can’t do what Warren Buffet calls thumbsucking, and lose time re-contemplating when you already know what the right action is. Because as you wait, other people are discovering the undervalued asset. And only one person will be able to grab that asset at that price. So you gotta act like Sir Mixalot when they toss it. And leave it. And pull up quick to retrieve it.

When we arrived at the seller’s home the couple selling the cards were already in the garage, ready to tote the large boxes of cards to my vehicle. After some quick pleasantries, the woman shared that right after I responded to her listing she was flooded with others who also wanted to buy the cards. This confirmed my suspicion of undervaluedness. And it underscored the importance of acting quickly. From the time I first spotted the baseball card listing to the time they were in the back of my vehicle was less than an hour. Boom.

When we returned home, we estimated that there were 9000 baseball cards in the collection we just bought. We began picking out a few random cards from one of the boxes and immediately discovered 3 Randy ‘The Big Unit’ Johnson rookie cards from 1989 that were rare and desirable because they were printed with his wrong birth year. (But his correct height of 6′ 10″!) One of those cards alone was worth more than we paid for the entire collection.

Key Takeaway

Develop a sense for undervalued assets. This comes from understanding markets just well enough to have an undervalued item ping on your radar. All you need is that ping. Because once you sense it, you can perform quick research online or by phoning a friend to get a better sense of the specific value and opportunity. As soon as you have a high degree of confidence that you have discovered a good deal that you can capitalize on, you have to act. Commit and complete the sale swiftly. Because gold doesn’t lie on the sidewalk for long.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

Now is the time to be bold.

This has been an interesting 2 weeks for our planet. Like the movie Parasite, the coronavirus has come out of nowhere, and messed up plans from Wuhan to Hollywood. As a result, the financial markets have gone totally Tom Petty. From Learning to Fly Into The Great Wide Open, to Free Falling.

In the midst of one of the strongest sustained period of economic growth in American history, suddenly we are dealing with travel restrictions, cancelled national and international events, medical supply shortages and panic at the disco.

The Stock Market

Today, the stock markets are in the toilet. And I couldn’t be more pleased.

Because if you are looking for an amazing financial opportunity, this is it. In bad times, when people are panicking, the table is set for you to dig in and take advantage. If you need a refresher course on this lesson, rent the movie The Big Short or Trading Places tonight.

Be Bold Like Barbecue Sauce

If you have a little money to work with, it is time to be bold. You have to find your chance, and take it, like Steve Winwood. Which means picking up an asset that others have dropped like a bad habit in January. It means doing your homework. Taking action. And having faith, like Tim McGraw. Because nothing is guaranteed. And you could go bust. But there is a very good chance that you will go boom boom pow.

The Mortgage Crisis

During the subprime mortgage crisis from 2007 to 2010, American banks were in major trouble. There were fears that some banks would not survive. And some didn’t. But there was an opportunity with those that did. To take advantage of the opportunity you had to buy into those stocks during the darkest days of uncertainty.

During that time I went dumpster diving, and bought stock in 4 different banks that were in the trash. I bought those stocks for as low as $2 per share. And I learned a valuable lesson from that experience. I swore that if I was ever in such a position again, I would buy far more next time. Because those banks stocks have proven to be the smartest financial investment I ever made. Aside from my decision to start my own advertising and idea agency, The Weaponry.

Key Takeaway

I am not telling you to buy stocks. Or to start your own business. I am simply reminding you that fortune favors the bold. And this is a prime time for the bold. So be bold. Make bold choices. And see what happens next.