Unleash & Empower

Unleash From the Shackles of Your Mind. Empower Your Soul.

Accumulate and Perpetuate

by

Despite perpetually moving parts in my life from a social/professional standpoint, I like to keep things simple when it comes to striving for both financial and, more importantly, intellectual wealth.  I’m no stockbroker or wealth manager, but I know that a keen attention to detail, consistency, and patience have worked wonders for me when it comes to anything and everything in which I’ve progressed long-term and accomplished—VISUALIZE the end game and take ACTION.

Financial

  • Investment Account
    • Automatic Investment
      • I recommend automatically investing a portion from every paycheck into a brokerage account. Vanguard, historically, has some of the lowest expense ratios in the industry.  Currently, I have 70% of my after-tax pay go directly into my Vanguard brokerage account.
    • Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)
      • I, personally, use my Vanguard account to invest solely in ETFs.  My four favorite ETFs, in no particular order, are the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO); Vanguard Total World Stock ETF (VT); Vanguard Energy Index Fund ETF (VDE); and Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND).
      • The volatility in 2016 caused by Brexit and the presidential election has me very conscientious in regards to my investment decisions for the upcoming year. One technique to mitigate investment risk over time is to dollar cost average.
    • Dollar Cost Average
      • I focus my investment strategy around this important principle.  At the beginning of every month, I choose an ETF in which to invest.  Then, I invest the same amount of cash at the beginning of every month, regardless of whether the price of the ETF has gone up or down.  For example, hypothetically, if the price per share of an ETF is $100 and I plan on investing approximately $1,000 at the beginning of every month, I will buy 10 shares of the ETF.  If, in the next month, the price per share of the ETF goes down to $90, I will buy 11-12 shares of the ETF that month.
      • Although dollar cost averaging over time will flatten gains, this technique will also flatten losses in the medium and short-term.  I recommend implementing this technique in order to mitigate risk and prevent yourself from “putting all your eggs [all at one time] into one basket.”  If we can expect market returns to be 7% in the long-term, the technique works in our favor over the long-term.  Over time, we are always winning if we keep a focused and consistent investment strategy.
      • The current uncertainty in the market as a result of the changes in the Executive Office has influenced me into risk-aversion; thus, I will dollar cost average primarily into the Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND) for 2017.

With an abundance of personal finance information on the web today, it can be difficult to differentiate between good and bad information.  Although I enjoy analyzing data and opinions from multiple sources and do not entrust my resources and energy to one outlet of information, I focus on obtaining information from Sam via his blog, Financial Samurai.   If I had to estimate, I would say that 60% of my investment actions are influenced by Sam’s sound advice.

Intellectual

  • Media Fast
    • At this point in Western society, we are blessed with a plethora of information; unfortunately, both social and mainstream media provide a plethora of incorrect, and primarily negative, information.  To decrease the influence of negative mainstream media on my mind, I rarely watch television.  Since beginning my career a little over three and a half years ago, watching TV accounts for less than 5% of my overall time spent—if I do watch TV, I watch sports.  With commute time (0.5-0.75 hours of my day), office work (9-14 hours of my day, depending on deadlines), gym time (1.75-2.5 hours), meal prep (0.5-0.75 hours), content production and working on my health & wellness advisory business (0.5-2.75 hours), and sleep (5-7 hours), there simply is not enough time in the day to obtain intellectual wealth if you spend time watching TV.  Furthermore, I find reading more pleasurable than watching TV at this point in my life.
  • Reading
    • The library, in my opinion, has to be one of the greatest inventions ever.  In conjunction with another great invention, the internet, I can obtain all the benefits of the library without actually having to go there.  I take advantage of the Chicago Public Library’s downloadable eBook and audiobook services, which saves me time and space.  Great books transcend time; likewise, I make a conscious effort to consume books that are tried and true.

My Current Reading Queue

  • A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William B. Irvine
  • The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale
  • Mastery by Robert Greene
  • The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

My Current Audiobook Queue

  • Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
  • The Upside of Irrationality by Dan Ariely
  • First Things First by Stephen R. Covey
  • Crush It!: Why NOW is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion By Gary Vaynerchuk

NV


Las Vegas, NV – May 2016