Holding Onto Stagnation or Growth

Victor Niederhoffer hung out with his Grandmother, Birdie, after she'd retired to Florida. In "The Education of a Speculator," he recounts a conversation with her in his "Everyone Retures to the South" short story/mini-section, where Birdie kept stagnating companies and let go of growing ones.

We reminisced about some of Martin's stock market coups: Air Reduction, Allis Chalmers, American Can. These stalwarts of the early 20th century had been bequethed to her and, like most elderly people in this situation, she had sold the ones that were above cost, only to see them quadruple in the next few years, and had retained the ones that were below cost, such as Famous Artists, Four Seasons Nursing, and Levin-Townsend, which eventually sank into bankruptcy. I asked Birdie of Wolfie's should stock up on pastrami or ham. The pastrami moves briskly. Taking that perspective, it's easy to see which stocks to unload and which to hold or buy more of (pp 57-58)

Clinging to past stagnations and abandoning promising growth areas is easy to do in many areas of life, not just stocks and investment. There may be some residual hope that past disappointments can be revived into greatness. Or, an inability to acknowledge that it was a failure. These phenomenon can keep us from moving on to activities with more potential.

Once Burned . . .

In the "Once Burned . . ." short story/mini-section of Victor Niederhoffer's The Education of a Speculator, the Depression's lasting effect on some of Niederhoffer's relatives is explained:

I realized now that men of Martin's generation, who lost everything in the Depression, were traumatized by the vivid memories of their losses. In addition to their focus on the wrong companies, these men suffered from psychological maladies that had even worse consequences for their bank balances. (pp 48)

He goes on to explain how Depression's one-time event detrimentally influenced investing decisions much later on, even though nothing the scale of the Depression's magnitude ever occurred again.

Sometimes, gay people who have been traumatized by bullying in their childhoods truly believe and are terrorized by thoughts of being attacked again as adults. This valid and understandable thinking leads to great obstacles and impairment in everyday living and striving for personal goals.

Hojoki 方丈記

Various books and magazines on small spaces and simplicity have referred to a 12th century essay--An Account of my Hut or The Ten Foot Square Hut. I was finally able to locate a translation to read! It is very short and readable in one sitting.

My question: is this really only ten square feet? That would mean dimensions of 5 feet by 2 feet--like a one person hiking tent! I think 100 square feet is more likely--a ten foot by ten foot square, as Kamo no Chomei describes space for a small Buddhist altar, and a writing table. My bedroom is 10' x 8' or 80 square feet--containing a twin sized bed and small desk and chair.

The hermit-crab chooses a small shell and that is because he well knows the needs of his own body. The fishing-eagle chooses a rough beach because he does not want man's competition. Just as am I. If one knows himself and knows what the world is he will merely wish for quiet and be pleased when he has nothing to grieve about, wanting nothing and caring for nobody.

"The Ten Foot Square Hut" Hojoki 方丈記, attributed to Kamo no ChomeiKamo no Chomei translated by A.L. Sadler.

Play and Records

I've only just started reading Victor Niederhoffer's The Education of a Speculator (New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc.  1997), but he sure does seem to talk about sports a lot.  His parents played tennis during middle winter in a drained swimming pool, which his own young child insisted on practicing with a pan when a raquet wasn't available.  He believes characteristics essential for sports pros are also highly desirable for traders and speculators. 

But, in addition to play, keeping data notes can help one get ahead!

<blockquote>The whole purpose of childhood may be viewed as a window for play.  One beautiful thing about play is that if you have an inquiring mind and keep records, you can learn which techniques carry the day (p 25).</blockquote>

Similarly, here's an item google looks for in their recruiting process, taken from their recent blog entry at: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/our-googley-advice-to-students-major-in.html

<blockquote>. . . [Item 1] analytical reasoning. Google is a data-driven, analytic company. When an issue arises or a decision needs to be made, we start with data. That means we can talk about what we know, instead of what we think we know.</blockquote>

So, google thinks data notes are important as well!

How can I apply the data-mining and usage more/better in my own life?

Games

Kazu's thoughts sound just like Eric Berne and Claude Steiner's games! It's like Jane Austen too!

Kazu had the utmost respect for her husband's character, but it was hard for her to see wherein lay the difference between his politics and those she had seen and heard at [her restaurant] the Setsugoan. Her glimpses of Conservative Party politicians at the Setsugoan had inculcated in Kazu a splendid notion of the nature of their work. Politics meant pretending to step out to the men's room and then completely disappearing, forcing a man's back to the wall while cheerfully sharing the same fire, making a show of laughter when one is angry, or flying into a rage when one is not in the least upset, sitting for a long time without saying a word, quietly flicking specks of dust off one's corner sleeve . . . in short, acting very much like a geisha. The exaggerated odor of secrecy clinging to politics confirmed its resemblance to the business of romance; politics and love affairs were in fact as alike as peas in a pod . . . (p 102)

Yukio Mishima. After the Banquet.

Fear of Failure Example

Nathan is describing a self-segregated elite coterie of Hollywood stars gathering separately from the many others present at Coppola's San Francisco house party for Akira Kurosawa.  Nathan wasn't initially part of this group until he got an "in" from Kurosawa due to their earlier conversation in the evening and his Japanese language ability. 

"Nothing came of the time I spent that evening in easy badinage with that celebrated company.  More properly, I never turned it into an opportunity, as each of them might well have done.  Was I afraid of failing in spite of efforts to succeed?  Or was it success itself that caused me to withdraw whenever it was visibly close at hand?  I suspect the latter was, continues to be, closer to the truth."  (p 209)

Nathan is describing the production of Summer Soldiers and the deterioration of his relationship with director Hiroshi Teshigahara, in which they had conflicting visions for the film.  Going through his journal entries from the production period, he notes:

"If there is arrogance in my observations and complaints [about Teshigahara] there is also an abjectness that troubles me.  Striving, and failing, to feel superior, I tumble into despair about myself, which blinds me to what I have achieved and prevents me from finding any pleasure in it."  (p 147)

This is a perfect example of the perfectionism and "all or nothing" phenomenon described by Burka, Yuen, and Ben-Shahar. 

John and Mayumi in Long Island

John Nathan describes an epiphany experienced while chainsawing young trees in Hamptons son at publisher Barney Rosset's new property. I'm sure I've experienced something like this before, as one of the items "in orbit" around someone more powerful in some way. It can be thrilling to feel accepted into their crowd, but unnerving. There is a sense of inferiority--or that you are a plaything or novelty for them . . .

. . . I felt ashamed: Why was I pretending to enjoy his obsessive craziness? The thought led me to a shadowy place. There was a large cast of characters in orbit around Rosset who struck me as ordinary except for some eccentricity that qualified them as offbeat. What if I were the same genus, ingratiating and mediocre? I had experienced the same disquiet with Mishima, though Barney and I were surely closer than Mishima and I had ever been, and it would trouble me again.

(p 111)

Fear of Failure Example

Here's an example of fear of failure from John Nathan's autobiography/memoirs.  It's what Jane Burka and Lenora Yuen mention in their work on procrastination, and what Tal Ben-Shahar mentions in his work. 

Nathan is describing early classes as one of the first foreigners admitted after the war to Todai, Japan's most prestigious university:

"Bihari [from Hungary] regularly interrupted the class to ask for explanations in his heavily accented Japanese.  I envied his freedom from inhibition without understanding it was modesty.  I wanted to be admired for my fluency and spent my time in class in dread of being exposed."

From: Living Carelessly in Tokyo and Elsewhere by John Nathan.  New York: Free Press. 2008.

Willie Suggs

This New York Magazine article on Harlem real estate broker Willie Suggs caputured my imagination.

She bought a house in the early 1980s for $50 000, but collected $1500 in rents every month! And her mortgage payment was cheaper than her own rent at the time! She really saw the value! Bill Greene and Robert Kiyosaki would've been proud of her =). I wonder if opportunities like this still exist . . .

Also, she grew up in Milwaukee, after her family moved up from the South. When I passed through, I thought Milwaukee was an absolutely beautiful town. It is right on the lake, and there is that stunning Santiago Calatrava waterfront art museum. Milwaukee is definitely a place I'd like to live for awhile, and I wonder how it influenced Ms. Suggs.

When queried by the New York magazine reporter "about the argument that blacks as a class have been economically discriminated against—and are therefore being disproportionately pushed out," this was Willie's response:

“Bull crap! That’s bull crap. Nobody stops you from paying 50 cents for the Post, 50 cents for the Daily News, $1.25 for the New York Times. Guess what they have? They have articles on real estate! They have a real-estate pullout section! If you simply read it, you say, ‘Oh, there’s a program. If I take four classes, a total of eight hours in this class, sponsored by Harlem congregational churches, right? I can get up to $70,000 free.’ It’s called a grant. Now, if you had $70,000, do you know what Willie could sell you? We sold a five-and-a-half-room co-op for $90,000. All he needed was $20,000. I’ve been privileged to speak to those classes in the last year, and there are black folks in there, there’s white folks in there, there’s foreign-born people in there. And I’m thinking, Well, why isn’t the class all black? Because a whole bunch of black folks, for whatever reason, just don’t bother to go. So what’s your excuse now? I just told you where you can get $70,000. You don’t need any money!”

Although I suspect I might be intimidated by her (her legal problems and community complaints are detailed in the article), Ms. Suggs is definitely someone I'd like to meet.

"Warning: Habits May Be Good for You"

Sunday's New York Times had an article on "marketers, the masters of creating habits" for things like washing hands and brushing teeth. The context was public handwashing campaigns in Ghana.

The Febreeze campaign for Proctor and Gamble is explained.

This made me think of Tal Ben-Shahar, author of "Happiness" and other publications on positive psychology. Ben-Shahar encourages use of "rituals" (or, habits), which can be created and developed, rather than "self-discipline," which can run out.

article

South Koreans want Cho to be considered non-Korean because of time spent abroad

Look at a portion of this article from the Washington Post:

And from Seoul, South Koreans and their government appealed to Americans not to let the carnage generate racial prejudice against the 2 million South Koreans who live in the United States.

At the same time, a number of South Koreans noted that Cho had lived in the United States for most of his life and said that he should not be considered a South Korean even though he carries a South Korean passport.

"a number of South Koreans . . .should not considered a South Korean even though he carries a South Korean passport"???? So, should emigrating South Koreans be rendered non-Korean after some threshold of being abroad? How long are these South Koreans thinking that threshold should be?


Look, if this guy really did come over when he was 8, then he probably had no choice in the matter, as it was up to his parents whether to bring him along, or leave him behind.

Cho could've naturalized if he wanted to, but I wonder if he even thought of these concepts of nationality and citizenship.

It's all annoying legalism, which people discard whenever convenient (see my post below), and trying to box people into these defined identities.

Here is the article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/17/AR2007041701924.html

Chosun Ilbo: "Virginia Tech Shooter Was Korean"

Ugh, this article totally annoys me because of its two consecutive sentences that contradict each other!

The first two sentences of the article follow:

"The gunman behind the massacre at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia has been identified as Korean-American student Cho Seung-hui, police said. A permanent legal resident, Cho was a senior majoring in English and lived in Centerville, Virginia."

Hello!!! If he was a permanent legal resident, then he was Korean, not Korean-American. If he had naturalized and obtained US nationality, then he would be a Korean-American, or American.

Here is the link to the article:


I'm really sorry, but I can't get the "insert link" button to work right now on my computer, so the address is below:

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200704/200704180010.html

Danny Coulson on Fox

This is my first try at using a blog to "catch" something in the media right away. There was just a live interview on Fox with the anchor (I forgot his name, but it's the one that has been accused of hiding his gay sexuality). Anyway, right after speaking with Paula or Greta, Danny Coulson came on via telephone (there was no image of him talking) to discuss the newly released video clips received from Cho's package by NBC. It said Coulson was a former FBI something.

The first error was Coulson saying Cho Seung-Hui was on a student visa. However, I read elsewhere that Cho was a permanent resident and moved here when he was 8. The anchor did not correct him. Coulson was saying this in the context that Cho should've been deported after being declared mentally ill and stalking the girls.

The interview ended and Coulson said it was a failure of the immigration system to all the victims. How could the immigration service have failed when this guy immigrated as an 8 year old child and never been charged with anything since?

If Cho indeed had a green card, and not a student visa, then I am annoyed that Fox did not correct Coulson (wouldn't the anchor be on top of all the facts at this point of exhaustively covering all the events?), and I am annoyed that somelike like Coulson even worked for the FBI in the first place. With Cho's accent in the videos, it would lead me to believe he was pretty much a native English speaker, or someone who had spent a lot of time here. It doesn't seem to match someone on a student visa who just came here their Freshman year of college. Aren't FBI people supposed to be good at that stuff? This just really reduces the FBIs credibility in my mind, although Coulson is a former employee and not a current one. I wonder what his position was.

Do green cards afford more rights than student visas with regard to this sort of thing? Did anyone else catch this on Fox and make a note of it? Do people record all this live tv on their Tivos to analyze it later? It all goes by so fast, and it's hard to keep track of the rapidly developing events. Just trying to use the blog to make a small record. I would love to hear from anyone else who caught this.

Cashflow 101 Gametime Report

I arrived late to yesterday's game at the library and took over for G, a librarian, who needed to go back to work. AK was a doctor. She struggled with continually picking up duplexes and large down payment houses in the Big Deal pile, which only added to her passive income a few hundred dollars at a time. Because she was a doctor, she had about $10 000 in expenses, which is a lot of passive income to build up.

I won the game by landing on my cheese/dream, fishing in Montana, after I had gotten another $20 000 positive cashflow on the fast track from a few businesses. I got out of the rat race with two high ROI (return on investment) businesses--a coin telephone business, and a pinball machine arcade. Do people achieve 96% ROIs in real life? However, getting out of the rat race took me more than an hour, even after coming late and taking over for G. So, I am back to the beginning of the cycle in aiming to get out of the rat race in under an hour three times in a row.

After the game, LL scrambled to get to the self-storage facility before it closed to store the game over night. I stuck around at the library and found another RichDad Advisors book. It is The ABCs of Getting Out of Debt: turn bad debt into good debt and bad credit into good credit. It is by Garrett Sutton. Robert Kiyosaki provides the forward. Robert must be making a fortune of passive income from his whole series of "advisors" books; every time I turn around, I notice a new title in the series!

Cast Iron Enameled Pot

I was thinking of starting a separate blog for objects I love, but will just add them to my primary Cashflow 101 blog for now.

This pot has oak handles, attached with screws.

The orange enamel subtly changes hue from top to bottom.

The bottom reads: "Marquis of Queensburry Design, Royal Hunt, Gourmet Cookware, Made in England." There is a small horn between "royal" and "hunt"

This is one of my treasured finds at a local thrift store =)

I checked online and found this particular Marquis of Queensburry was involved in a design consultancy. It was at a time when people would buy things because an aristocrat designed it. However, the page also said the consultancy's objective was to bring good design to more people. I have no idea if this was sold in N. America.

I've been interested in cast iron for awhile. Our household has always used cast iron skillets, but I learned of dutch ovens from my wonderful fanatic professor. I'm interested in old companies like Copco.

Reminder: this is a doodad!

Current Status

Initially, I though this blog would cover my experiences playing Robert Kiyosaki's Cashflow 101 boardgame. I've played about 20 games since last August, and it might be too much to try and recount all of it. Let me try and bring readers up to speed with the relevant and important points.

I think I stumbled upon Rich Dad Poor Dad in 1999 at Borders. I ordered the game a year or two later and played with my Mom once or twice, but she wasn't that interested. The game sat unused for a number of years. I went away to Boston after 9/11 and got an Associate of Arts.

In mid-2006, LL posted on craigslist asking for Cashflow 101 players, and I responded right away. We met at the library a few days later and would continue to meet weekly. Because he was still trying to recruit other players, and I wasn't sure I could make all his desired gametimes, I offered to let him keep the game so that he could have on hand should there be a game I couldn't attend. Getting the game to LL took some back and forth. He never called me and it all had to be arranged through email. When I met him at the library and saw his layers of Walmart plastic bags, I put two and two together. I asked if he was homeless, which he confirmed. Since this time, LL has stored the game in his storage locker, which he visits morning and evening to get the appropriate items for daytime or nighttime homeless life.

I am frustrated with LLs procrastination, as well as my own. I see much of myself in him, which scares me. I started this blog in October, and he was talking about startin one way before that. In fact, LL is the one who gave me the idea in the first place. LL is still "studying" magazine articles on blogging and a book called Blogwild, for small business blogging.

Every so often, we will meet several times in one week for games, as we did last week. I especially went for this after LL read the letter from Robert included in the game saying that getting out of the rat race in under an hour three times in a row is a good benchmark to shoot for. This was something specific and measurable to shoot for. Specific and measurable is criteria frequently cited as very necessary for success in goal-setting and project management literature. After playing every week with no progress in the real world, I started to press LL about where we were going, and he did finally say that we should be playing less than once weekly by the end of 2007, and spending more time on application. When LL found Robert's letter with the getting out of the rat race 3x in a row in under an hour recommendation, it made it much less vague, and me more satisfied.

I have been able to get out of the rat race (GORR) in under an hour two times in a row. Then, I broke the cycle and had to start again. I was able to GORR an additional time in under an hour before the next game which took more than an hour. So I'm at the very beginning again.

Right now, I just want to avoid LL. I sense so many hypocrisies in him and it's driving me nuts. We had some arguments which I might try documenting later and were practically flaming each other on the email. I've been told by friends before and LL himself, that I'm way too sensitive about these things. It's true that LL thinks arguing is "fun" and he's always "joking" because he thinks I'm "hillarious."

Casey Serin and Robert Kiyosaki

This is a truly amazing blog and story. Casey Serin is younger than me--he's 24 and I'm almost 28!!! He has bought several houses. It appears two deals were good, and the others were bad. These houses are available on his website. Casey's blog has his extensive story about how he got in over his head. Here is a recap of his actions covered by an amazing USA Today article. Wow!!

Casey Serin has also had the opportunity to meet Robert Kiyosaki at his Arizona offices! I found these photos from his flickr photostream with a creative commons search.

Even after all that's gone wrong, Serin still has a gutsy 2007 goal--that is, $5000 is positive cashflow by the end of the year! Wow!

Secondhand doodads and the fastest game of Cashflow 101 ever!

This afternoon I spent $17 on doodads at Savers and learned I could have saved 20% if had brought in some donations as I entered the store, so I could have saved $3.40 if I had been more mindful, plus I shouldn't have gotten these doodads anyway!

It turned out to be the fastest game I've ever played--less than one hour from start to finish. I got a positive cashflow house on my first small deal even including borrowing the down payment from the bank! I borrowed the down payment for the second house and made a $65 000 capital gain on the first one. This let me get a plex and a pinball arcade on my next two turns so I could get out of the rat race. I won by rolling a 6 on a cookware infomercial investment which got me an additional $50 000 positive cashflow in the fast track to win.

I can't believe I didn't have any kids and was downsized only once!

Robert Kiyosaki's Father

Robert Kiyosaki has quite a bit of acclaim, but also critics such as John Reed who has also published real estate investing books and has a site devoted to his analysis of other real estate gurus. His criticisms of Robert Kiyosaki are found at this link.

Some wonder about Kiyosaki's "Poor Dad," Ralph Kiyosaki. Something interesting I found were this plate and father Ralph's introduction in the Index to the Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Star-Bulletin 1929-1967 (in five volumes). It was published by the Office of Library Services in Cooperation with the Friends of the Library of Hawaii and the Hawaii State Department of Education in 1968.



I just thought I would try harnessing the power of blogs to share information by posting these scans since I know it wouldn't be easy for everyone to find these newspaper indexes that don't even have ISBN numbers. I'm hoping to get some interaction with my audience soon so that I can witness and experience the social/collaborative/community power of blogs as well. Please comment and let me know what you think!