MONEY SYSTEM - after the exit from several $million Amazon Business

[MJ DeMarco]

Personally, I think it's naive (and maybe even irresponsible) to believe taking a powerful psychoactive drug will help you find some deeper purpose.

If you've never heard of it, you have no business taking ayahuasca. Think in terms of MJs The Silver Bullet Syndrome.

Don't think anyone is thinking of it as a shortcut, but as a peek into the spiritual realm. Metaphorically, it would be like test driving a Lamborghini even though one couldn't afford one for years, perhaps decades.

 

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[MB Burnette]

Don't think anyone is thinking of it as a shortcut, but as a peek into the spiritual realm. Metaphorically, it would be like test driving a Lamborghini even though one couldn't afford one for years, perhaps decades.

Or maybe like being strapped into a Peruvian Made rocket. Shaman blasted through the atmosphere... and not quite knowing if and when you'll re-enter. Hahaha

I'd certainly never deny anyone finding deeper meaning. I appreciate you Scott for sharing. At least you have the order right. Make your FU money...then seek enlightenment!

Also, I'm reading the Millionaire FASTLANE now MJ. Thank you for your comment.

 

[Fukuokasan]

Hello Community,

I posted a thread before about the sale of my Amazon business for several $million:

Sold business for several $million - now a family business?

Over the past couple of months I have met numerous "Wealth Management" firms, but so far something in my gut is stopping me moving forward with any of them. For my risk profile, their typical returns offered is around 7.5% which may at first sound (slightly better than only just acceptable). But when you remove say 3% for inflation and 1.5%+ for their costs you are left with 3% real growth at best! Taxes will erode that further...

For the past 5yrs I have invested with Charles Schwab and my returns over the past 5yrs have been 11.8%/yr (until the market correction back end on 2018 which dropped that to 6.8%/yr). There is one big position that performed very well (EBIX) and had that not done so, the performance would be a lot weaker.

My plan was to park £2,000,000 with a Wealth Management company which would be my "FREEDOM" pot that offers security that I never have to work again. I actually did not predict how stressful getting money can be... There is so many options that come up - Real Estate (too tying for me); Value Investing yourself (much bigger time commitment by me); Offloading to a Wealth Management firm (pitiful returns); investing in start-ups with 'potential' high returns....also losses (too high risk given I need to protect my freedom pot now); then the numerous financial advisers all offering completely different advice. The world is your Oyster, but the choice is too vast!

I plan to read the "Money System" part of UNSCRIPTED again - maybe ETF's, Mutual Funds etc. could be a cheaper yet relatively safe way to move forward? USA market is well known to be significantly overvalued just now so investing in "general" tracker funds could be slightly risky short term?

I plan to do a Ayahuasca trip in Peru in May and am booked into a Vipassana 10-day meditation retreat in Sri Lanka in July. I am hoping I get some light on the way forward after these. As you will see from my first post, I have 3 young sons (16, 18, 20) all wanting to go down the Entrepreneur route and I want to start a new business (with a crazy exit valuation massively more than the one I just sold - which went for $3.5m). The next business obviously must fit the CENTS framework and add massive value, but this time rather than a sexy product that "I" like where I seen a market opportunity, I want it to be fully aligned to my true purpose (hence the Ayahuasca retreat).

Right now, my head is NOT clear on how to move forward so unlike me, I plan to sit tight for a few months until I feel more clear on how to invest my money. I live in the UK so the BREXIT uncertainly is not helping (considering a lot of my money will go in the UK stock market).

Anyone else sold their business and found the same gridlock I am facing? How did you get past it - crazy I ran a very successful business and now i find myself as the proverbial rabbit-in-the-headlights

MJ - any advice you can offer on this? Did you feel similar when you made your first exit?

Thanks for any input

You steal got the same fear thats when you didnt have all dose $M. Money is no going to fix it and ayahuasca neither. Read The Disapierence of Univere, Gary Renard and practice true forgiveness ...

 

[ipsofacto]

I highly recommend against doing the Ayahuasca. That, LSD and other hallucinogens - they put you into contact with demons. Now they say if you want to sell you soul to the devil to attain riches etc. then yes it can work to achieve said goal but look at the cost that said, know what you're getting into.

As for investing in the market, right now we're in the 2nd-longest bull market in history. I'm 85% in cash right now. Sometimes, the best thing to do is just sit on cash. Yes I have some physical cash, but the majority of my cash position is actually invested in 28-day T-bills (treasury bills). I use a laddering strategy for my allocation - e.g. if I want to invest $100k, I invest 25k in week 1, 25k in week 2, 25k in week 3, and 25k in week 4 and then set each one to automatically re-invest in the next month's issuance - that way if I do need to access some cash, I have to wait 7 days maximum. Yields are great - around 2.4-2.5% on a annualized basis - better rate than CDs and lower risk too - because I buy Tbills from Treasury Direct which means I'm buying them directly from the US government (the US Treasury issues directly to my account) and I hold the securities until maturity - meaning no counterparty risk if an intermediary like a bank who sold you the CD goes belly up. Then I can hold my cash and deploy it upon a market correction.

If you're in the UK, you can't invest directly in US securities but you can invest in Gilts, which are essentially the same thing. I don't know the actual process to invest in them yourself though so you'd have to look that one up

At the very minimum, if you do decide to invest in the stock market, dollar-cost-average into your position. Just google that term and you'll see what it means

 

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[biophase]

I highly recommend against doing the Ayahuasca. That, LSD and other hallucinogens - they put you into contact with demons. Now they say if you want to sell you soul to the devil to attain riches etc. then yes it can work to achieve said goal but look at the cost that said, know what you're getting into.

LOL, So when you talk to demons you will sell your soul to the devil to attain riches?

 

[ipsofacto]

LOL, So when you talk to demons you will sell your soul to the devil to attain riches?

Yeah people are known to dabble in different things to attain greatness. Go look up Jack Parsons - one of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century - he was a pioneering rocket engineer who founded the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). He also was an occultist and member of Aliester Crowley's religion Thelema and did some dark things including orgies a la Eyes Wide Shut and having sex with his own mother.

Crowley was highly connected to bright, high-performance people and created a 'religion' called Thelema (Greek for 'will' - as in follow your own will) that did some dark things. One protege was Anton LaVey who went on to found his own religion The Church of Satan. Another of his protege's was science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard was a part of Thelema under Crowley also and he went off to found his own religion Scientology - look at the influential and high-performance people that religion has attracted: Grant Cardone, Tom Cruise, John Travolta.

This isn't meant to get esoteric but yes people cross the line into seeking higher powers to attain things - whether or not you believe it's real, they actually believe what they're doing is real. So in a way it's like an affirmation or visualization, something akin to the law of attraction. It could be a placebo effect but if you believe it and it works that's isn't that what counts? My personal belief is that there's a spiritual side to things out there that can be tapped into - for good or for evil. The point is you don't have to believe it, but other people do and they act on it.

I'm not saying these people are bad or into some kind of 'voodoo' but be aware there are people seeking power through unconventional means.

Check this out - Richest scientologists:
James Packer – $6.4 billion
Bryan Zwan – $600 million
Tom Cruise – $450 million
Lisa Marie Presley (Elvis's daughter) – $300 million
John Travolta – $165 million
Sky Dayton – $250 million
Nancy Cartwright – $60 million

 

[Ozz81]

@Scott Fleming Take your time buddy!

When I sold my company, I waited for 1 year and 5 months before making my first investment. I interviewed many wealth managers and spoke to a lot of wealthy people. Nothing useful came up. So I started searching for a strategy and realized that there’s almost NOTHING for people in our situation.

Eventually, I used the Money System chapter in Unscripted as a blueprint and built my own strategy, based on dividend stocks and a lot of cash reserves.

Oh, congratulations on the exit!

 

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[Champion]

MJ gives great advice in the last chapter of Unscripted regarding this topic, I would check that out!

Other then that, diversify as much as possible, I cant wait to reach the point where u are at right now (having accumulated enough money to really ramp up with a money system for cash growth).

Another advice:

Dont think of investing as a one time thing. You probably have a large sum, so Invest some of it now, some of it 6 months from now, another bit of it 6 months after that...

Its amazing how economic conditions can quickly change.

Think about it, whats the worst that can happen if you sit on the cash for a year? Some inflation? Thats nothing compared to what MJ was saying about entering the stock market at the wrong time.

Therefore: Enter the market in trenches (for example 10% at a time) or similar... that will make it much safer.

Best,
Champion

 

[WJK]

Hello Community,

I posted a thread before about the sale of my Amazon business for several $million:

Sold business for several $million - now a family business?

Over the past couple of months I have met numerous "Wealth Management" firms, but so far something in my gut is stopping me moving forward with any of them. For my risk profile, their typical returns offered is around 7.5% which may at first sound (slightly better than only just acceptable). But when you remove say 3% for inflation and 1.5%+ for their costs you are left with 3% real growth at best! Taxes will erode that further...

For the past 5yrs I have invested with Charles Schwab and my returns over the past 5yrs have been 11.8%/yr (until the market correction back end on 2018 which dropped that to 6.8%/yr). There is one big position that performed very well (EBIX) and had that not done so, the performance would be a lot weaker.

My plan was to park £2,000,000 with a Wealth Management company which would be my "FREEDOM" pot that offers security that I never have to work again. I actually did not predict how stressful getting money can be... There is so many options that come up - Real Estate (too tying for me); Value Investing yourself (much bigger time commitment by me); Offloading to a Wealth Management firm (pitiful returns); investing in start-ups with 'potential' high returns....also losses (too high risk given I need to protect my freedom pot now); then the numerous financial advisers all offering completely different advice. The world is your Oyster, but the choice is too vast!

I plan to read the "Money System" part of UNSCRIPTED again - maybe ETF's, Mutual Funds etc. could be a cheaper yet relatively safe way to move forward? USA market is well known to be significantly overvalued just now so investing in "general" tracker funds could be slightly risky short term?

I plan to do a Ayahuasca trip in Peru in May and am booked into a Vipassana 10-day meditation retreat in Sri Lanka in July. I am hoping I get some light on the way forward after these. As you will see from my first post, I have 3 young sons (16, 18, 20) all wanting to go down the Entrepreneur route and I want to start a new business (with a crazy exit valuation massively more than the one I just sold - which went for $3.5m). The next business obviously must fit the CENTS framework and add massive value, but this time rather than a sexy product that "I" like where I seen a market opportunity, I want it to be fully aligned to my true purpose (hence the Ayahuasca retreat).

Right now, my head is NOT clear on how to move forward so unlike me, I plan to sit tight for a few months until I feel more clear on how to invest my money. I live in the UK so the BREXIT uncertainly is not helping (considering a lot of my money will go in the UK stock market).

Anyone else sold their business and found the same gridlock I am facing? How did you get past it - crazy I ran a very successful business and now i find myself as the proverbial rabbit-in-the-headlights

MJ - any advice you can offer on this? Did you feel similar when you made your first exit?

Thanks for any input

I into real estate, BUT I have also lost a lot in the stock market when I put my toe in that water. The thing that has stopped me with the money management people is their 1% management fee. They say it's only 1% per year. Uh????? They get their fee no matter what. When you take a loss, they get paid. And when you do well, the total assets under their management go up so they get more money. I hate those odds. That's like having a hungry wolf at the back door who must be fed, rain or shine.

When my rents and/or my real estate investments go up, I get to keep the whole nut. If the RE market goes south, I adjust my rents downward a bit and I keep on stepping. I have had to foreclose on a trust deed or two. Then I just hold that property in my portfolio until the time is right to sell it again and carry the paper. NEXT!

 

[Ozz81]

Dont think of investing as a one time thing. You probably have a large sum, so Invest some of it now, some of it 6 months from now, another bit of it 6 months after that...

Wise advice. I’m deploying 15-20% of my capital every quarter, it helps me sleep better at night

 

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[Rawr]

sound like you want to start something to teach your sons. I would ask people who've done this - I am sure some put too much into it specifically because of it so be alert. Finding opportunities for business is not difficult. What's coming with Brexit that you can capitalize on?

Good luck on your trip, i think occasional drugs help see a different perspective and can be a catalyst for finally admitting your lifestyle isn't working or isn't what you told yourself it is.

 

[raritee]

In 1991, I put 100 dollars in a mutual fund. I have played around with investing since then. I am familiar with a wealth management firm because I have family that deals with one. I personally have no qualms about investing $2,000,000 but am clueless how to replace my income from a $40,000 a year job with a business or a part time job I would enjoy. The wealth management firm is nice to have if you get dementia. I lost some money in the tech bubble. I lost some money and made some money buying after the bust in 2008. I still got much more than some that spent it all. My point is that it isn't hard if you had played around with it all along with a little.

 

[Jeff Noel]

This thread contains a lot of valuable information for anyway looking to diversify their earnings, whichever level of income they're at.

Thanks to everyone who contributed. I hope Scott is doing good.

 

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[JunkBoxJoey_JBJ]

...I am finding that the loss of the hussle is not working so good for me just now. Sure there is plenty of exercise, golf, cooking etc. to do, but not being involved with something challenging and exciting is something I am having to adapt to. I still need to get my money to work, so that will remain the immediate focus

I believe MJ said something similar in (TMFL) his first book, he was basically “bored & rich”.

It’s what started to prompt his book writing and this forum.

Just sayin’... May be time for some hand cramps.

Great thread and good luck!