My Next Big Bone to Gnaw on

 Ever since 2016, I have been crafting and honing my investment strategy. During this time, I have come across a handful of stocks and sectors that have consistently outperformed and provided my clients with above average returns. There's a used bookstore in town that my family frequents. It's called McKay's and it's simply magical. Amongst many of the gems I've found there, a book by Henri Arslanian titled Entrepreneurship in Finance - Successfully Launching and Managing a Hedge Fund in Asia made it's presence known to me. Other awesome finds include a signed copy of Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willinck and Leif Babin and a book called My Electrician Drives a Porsche? 

In his book Henri lays out in great detail the process to start a hedge fund, utilizing offshore accounts, as well as the many variables in Fund structuring, management, and tax implications. It's going to be a long journey, I won't be able to launch overnight, but while I organically grow Caelian Capital while also serving families as an Electrician, I think there's a giant opportunity.

Part of being a successful investor and investment advisor is successfully predicting the future based on the extrapolations of information we have. While the AI gold rush may be happening, we have to accept that, just like in the Industrial revolution, new jobs were created as old ones were replaced by automation. For me, this means nothing new. Helping others and serving is built into me. I'm not sure how people overall feel, I have friends who are excited at the opportunity AI may provide and others who are job scared - their career is actively being replaced with AI. For me though, it means the opportunity to continue expanding my skillset. Learning to do the things that robots can't do, but we need done. At the same time, financial advisors are being replaced by robo advisors and now AI can give any DIY investor a solid strategy to set it and forget it. from my perspective, this has always been the modus operandi of the industry, AI or not. Humans tend to laziness, so the bigger a firm gets, the more it creates Blanket Recommendations that cover most people. Most people are mostly the same. Of course that never sat well with me, I think there are more intentional strategies and trading that can be done. It's important to be directionally correct so that we can focus on other facets of life during our investment journey, but it helps having someone who can place the trades, for everyone at the same time, especially if the market (made of humans) is being emotional. AI may never be able to fully grasp human emotion. That is our edge and always will be. 

An evolved future landscape of careers and job opportunities to me looks like more and more people utilizing AI to reduce the time they currently work in order to free up time to perform other requests demanded by the open market. Those that seek to help supply theses demands will be able to leverage not only the evolving landscape of AI but also the Supply/Demand curve. Long gone are the days where people are defined by one career or job. With visionaries like Elon and others who own and direct multiple companies are setting the example to those of us who would see humanity drive forward into the future. If you're worried or anxious of what AI will do to your career choice, analyze the market and do the things that need doing to support civilization. Be necessary. If that means leveraging AI to replace the work you currently do so you can free up time to learn something else, like a trade, start. One day, a robot will show up to your house to fix your plumbing or install that EV Charger, heck, one day we may all have robot in the closet next to the broom and vacuum cleaner, but until then let's get to work building a better future of service, kindness, and more

Critiques of the Business of Investing & Money Management

 For a long time, I have been hesitant and unable to offer my deep felt understanding and opinion of the Financial Industry. It might be that now, after being married to someone who doesn't trust Financial Advisors, someone who I met when I had hung up that hat to pursue practical, physical skills and knowledge as an Electrician. I dont hate that I went to college and learned Finance and Investments. Business Management, Accounting, Marketing, Professional Communications, Business Law, and them any other Financial, Risk Management, Real Estate, and global economics courses helped chisel my persona into who I am. Without that sacrifice perhaps the ability to start a business and see it through wouldn't be (existant). I'm thankful that I tried. Because if I hadn't I'd always be wondering, agonizing and tormenting my brain and existence for not even trying to reach my potential. I now know that if I wanted to, I could be successful in the financial services industry under the banner of a large firm, if I sacrificed my ethics and morals. Compromising my true self. 

But my potential in the financial services industry was always boxed in and cornered by my ethics and morals. So I became successful on my own. Having my own firm was always the goal. No more sales quotas or goals to get n amount of door knocks or cold calls. True organic growth. 

For reference, let's look at this facebook post of mine from Jan 16th, 2012:

Dedication, perseverance, integrity, honesty, faithfulness, loyalty. These are words to strive to live by every. single. day.

Do you think Abraham Lincoln would have achieved his dreams if he had not been dedicated and taken the day off because he "felt bad"?

Would Napoleon Bonaparte have become so renowned had he not persevered because he "woke up on the wrong side of the bed"?

Would we be relaxing on Martin Luther King day if he had not been the same man behind closed doors as he was in front of millions of people?

Jesus would not be considered our savior if he had told lies.

What would we say about Mother Theresa or Padre Pio had they not been loyal to their cause?

Every day we wake up and face challenges that we don't want to deal with, that make life more difficult, or encourage us to give up. The things we want in life aren't going to come easy. We will be forced to fight for these things several times. We will be forced to stand up for what we believe in. We will be ridiculed because we may take it one step too far. Remember we have to step up for what we want, but also remember: Doing nothing has its consequences too.

Some believe in fate or destiny, I don't because I don't like the thought that I'm not in control of my future.

Wake up and live by these words: honesty, integrity, perseverance, faithfulness, honor, loyalty, and dedication. Never give up, never back down.

 I hope this helps give you perspective into who I was and aspiring to be, vs the decade plus of wisdom gained between that authoring and the following:

After wrapping up my annual compliance call, whether or not I delist (unregister) as an IAR and just be an Investment Adviser I'm still subject to the new CE rules for IA's in TN this year.

I am no longer actively growing Caelian Capital Strategies, all efforts will be focused on managing it as a fund. I have found that my experience in the markets has led to some incredible gains for my clients and I.

I was trying to exit the industry because of it's slow adoption of crypto and seeming manipulation of the vast majority of the population, advising them to stay away and not invest in crypto while the very CEO's and various upper echelon employees were secretly purchasing various crypto's - the one's that are now known as Stablecoins.

I'm not a conspiracy theorists, but if I were, I'd say that's gotta be one. What the heck do I know, I just helped a client double their pension during covid and a few more 5x to 8x their portfolios.

As I entered a new season of serving others, I realized my potential for the blue collar world & it's seamless fit to the many facets of my hardworking, get the job done personality. I already had the solution to the equation, I just had to solve backwards. It was just a long time before I realized to try it from another angle. Whether it's a career, friendships, a hobby, or anything this rich life has to offer - I always view things from an odd perspective. It wasnt until that equation was solved that I realize how thankful I am to have always been the weird one, to feel like I never fit in. I always wanted that, to be popular. But now I realize my strategy is me. It's how I've always been. It's what's led to my success in almost everything I put my mind to whether it was fitness, sports, diet, electrical, business, artistic, writing, gaming, and investing. The strategy is all part of the extrapolations of the Latticework I've crafted into my "mental Mansion"

That strategy is the same one I've been crafting and honing for decades, since I was 14, really.

Now there is CE for Crypto and we all saw the recent news for Bitcoin and government approval. Now that crypto ETF's are mainstream I am committing myself to maintaining a stable role as an Investment Advisor, not a Financial Advisor, to my friends and family plus anyone else who reach out for advice in this ever digitizing landscape that is our world.

There are many opportunities headed our way to 3x, 5x, 10x our money, we just have to be patient, honest, reflect, and implement certain timeless strategies. Most of which involve patience.

Whenever you're ready to jump in on the game, I'm here. Just commanding the ship and managing the fund, if you want in, let me know.

Some of those very same words have been words embedded into the foundation of my Businesses that I start. If it doesn't have some element of any of those values, it's not honorable to pursue. Centuries of history show that there are those who will warp and twist the reality of others for a quick sale. 

I know that's why, deep down, I would never succeed, truly succeed and be honorable to my true self, at a big firm. They violate far too many of these timeless ethics & do so behind the veil of compliance and regulation. In the Alchemy of Finance, George Soros references beating the regulators, but they eventually catch up, so you must stay ahead of them. What he means is, there's a cat and mouse game. Anything the government regulates, ultimately, ends up withering. So while the regulated game only allows most of the population to garner a paltry 8%-10% annualized return becomes a victim of the law of averages. But if you're ahead of regulation, that's where the profit is to be made. Unprecedented events. For us it is crypto. 

Once the regulators catch up to the instrument, the instrument is slowed, regulated, and handicapped in the name of equity and fairness. & since the majority of people dont invest, this removes it form the hands of the intelligent few to the masses. My only regret is not being able to invest my clients money into crypto. It took seeking out an International brokerage just to beat the U.S.'s dinosaur reaction speeds and even then the regulations prevented the majority of my clients from realizing any upside.

Charlie Munger's quote regarding Money Managers (read: Financial Advisors) sums up my entire internal reasoning for the feeling of malaise toward the title "Financial Advisor":

"The general systems of money management require people to pretend to do something they can't do and like something they don't. It's a terrible way to spend your life, but it's well paid."

He then goes on to criticize the majority of mutual funds & states Index funds are better. Munger then cites a Mutual Fund scandal in which portfolio managers were taking bribes to betray their shareholders.

So I say, we have movies like Wolf of Wallstreet, Boiler Room, the Big Short, and even Wall Street - it's not so hard to see why the whole career choice is a scam. That's why it never felt right to me. I just wanted to analyze companies and not need some special course or test or license that says Im qualified (read: regulated) to do. But I have to, so I do. All I want to do is help everyone to see what I see and have the option to join the game. It's all fiat currency anyway.

So when I read Charlie Munger's criticism of Wall Street:

"The ethics of Wall Street always average out to mediocre at best. That doesn't mean there aren't wonderful, intelligent people on Wall Street - but everyone I know has to fight their own firm to do the right thing.

The general culture of investment banking has deteriorated over the years. Bankers used to rigorously screen potential investors to protect their clients. 

The culture now is that anything that can be sold for a profit will be. "Can you sell it?" is the moral test, and that's not an adequate test."

That's why it always confused my why the commissions were higher on certain mutual funds or insurance products for the firms that I worked for. That kind of ethical thinking just doesnt survive the industry's acid test. I was burned alive.

Anyway, I'm interested to see what happens to crypto and government in this digital landscape. Suddenly VR and other immersible alternate living experiences are becoming one step closer to being accessible by all. We are going to see some interesting cultural updates now that the US Gov is on board with crypto.

I also think there's going to a divergent society and a social crisis to expose it. I sense a "flight to quality" of sorts aided by technology. Interesting developments for society are coming

"there is more knowledge to be gained from those that have nothing than there is wisdom to be gained from those that were given everything."

 Everyone aspires to greatness, but too many people spend their time watching others be great, especially fictional versions that embody greatness. Ive already written about how I was never into super heroes, I never wore a marvel shirt. I never cared *that* much about someone who I knew wasn’t real. I care about real people. I care enough about those that society holds out to the masses as those that should be emulated. The thing is, the ones that should be emulated aren’t really pedestalized or broadcasted. The ones that truly should be emulated are around you. That’s why there’s a huge difference in being Rich versus being Wealthy. That’s why the definition of “greatness” means different things to different people. For one, greatness could very well mean being famous or on the cover of a magazine, Hollywood movies, perhaps? For others, though, greatness may mean living your life to the fullest. But then that requires defining “fullest.” What is a full life? Is it truly great to live a full life? What does that look like for someone born into wealth with options to travel the world over and receive best in class education, dining on the most delectable of delicacies, and residing in resorts without worrying about the daily room rate. What is a full life for someone born poor? When every single day you have to struggle for clean water, work a dangerous job in a lithium mine, endure the eighteen hour days of a sweatshop, meticulously craft a cheap electronic device that will be shipped across the world sold for 100 times, sometimes 10,000x more than your daily wage.

What about for someone in the middle? Someone just lucky enough not to have to work 18 hours a day every day, but also… lucky enough to have to put some calculations into how long they can stay at a luxury resort.

Sounds odd, but like Ken Honda, author of many books one of which is “Happy Money,” I have grown up around and spent time with very, very wealthy people, very, very rich people, and has the immense joy of growing up around and spending time with poor people. Re-reading that sentence from my journal of a memory from when I lived in Spain replayed itself; I would always spend time chatting with, from what I gathered, refugees or immigrants. Poorly dressed, unkempt, & of middle eastern facial features. They had lived in Spain long enough to learn the language and long enough to learn how to make a quick buck: selling beer for 1 Euro to the goers of “Botellon’s (Bo-tay-yone’s)” roughly translated as Street Parties. Spanish culture, and European Culture, is admittedly different from ours over here in the US, and so are their ways of enjoying nights out. Frankly it’s a good business plan: Buy a large case of beer, ice it down, and sell it for 1 Euro. The profit margins may be small, BUT you get to enjoy your remaining stockpile from what you didn’t sell. It's a side hustle, no doubt. I define side hustle a little differently. I believe a side hustle is something that can only be done for a few hours a day due to external constraints. This case - party hours. To me, a side hustle can never have the potential to develop into a full time career. Other constraints generally have to do around originality - in this case it's beer produced elsewhere, bought at a regular price and sold at  markup external to the established supply chain. Other examples are flipping items on ebay or wherever, from places like garage sales and yard sales. While it does have a full time facet - see thrift stores, I define it as a side hustle because an activity like that ultimately brings more internal fulfillment than monetary. It's just fun. 

I write all that to write this, there is more knowledge to be gained from those that have nothing than there is wisdom to be gained from those that were given everything.

Create your own positive reality

 Life is full of distractions always telling us "later... later..."

Focus on now. The beauty of every moment. Remember that getting lost too far in the past of into the future is detrimental to your current state of mind & actually has the power to change you. Don't let the mistakes of your past or the many possibilities of the future prevent and actively sabotage the you, that you want to become. 

Creating a more positive you is easy, whatever new you, maybe the new isnt so positive. Whatever. Changing who you are easy. You see who you want to be, what you want, it's the projections of others that prevent you from achieving this. The other people you surround yourself with - are they cheering you on or are they hoping you trip up? Everyone loves an underdog story until you surpass them. 

So if others keep telling you otherwise and preventing you from truly becoming who you want to be, how do you stop it? Immersion. 

You know what you need to do, then the voices of doubt kick in.

Fall back on your belief. Hold onto that version of you that you want and don't ever let any setbacks become excuses. Fine, let them, but only temporarily. Setbacks are setups for comebacks.

The power of 3

if you can do something 3 times, you have created a habit. 3 days turns into 3 weeks turns into 3 months turns into 3 years. That's the power of raising something to the third power. Don't let bad news & bad habits be the only things that come in 3's. 

Start by finding 3 positive changes you want to have in your life. Find 3 things: images, quotes, or other reminders. Place them somewhere you can see them regularly.

Next, when the tough gets going - find 3 negatives you keep returning to in your head. Find them. name them. Turn them into a positive. 

When you dive into your new self, your new passion, your new hobby - pay attention to everyone but listen to no one.

And ask a lot of questions. Sometimes what stands between you and a better outcome is a few better questions. 

People will tell you all kinds of different ways they "got there" but the truth is, NONE of them will work for you unless you COPY them. Otherwise, you have to figure it out for yourself because you have to SEE yourself doing the work.

Take the time and patience to grow into something special & you will truly love the new change in you. And you will have it done it all for yourself, by yourself.

Look for the opportunity in chaos

In the journey of life, we all encounter crossroads where the path ahead seems shrouded in darkness. These moments, often marked by overwhelming stress and uncertainty, are the crucibles that forge our future selves. The essence of growth lies in how we navigate these turbulent waters. It's not just about enduring the storm, but learning how to dance in the rain.

Consider the story of Emily, a young entrepreneur who started her own business with dreams as high as the sky. Her initial months were a rollercoaster of highs and lows. Just when she thought she had it all figured out, a major client backed out. The crushing weight of potential failure loomed over her. She felt like her reality was crumbling. But in that moment of despair, Emily leaned on the principles of Stoicism. She realized that while she couldn't control the client's decision, she could control her reaction to it. Instead of viewing it as a failure, she saw it as an opportunity for growth. She revisited her business strategy, diversified her client base, and emerged stronger. What seemed like a breakdown was actually a breakthrough.

Another example is found in the life of Alex, a seasoned investor. He had always prided himself on his analytical skills and market foresight. However, during a particularly volatile period in the financial market, his predictions went awry, leading to significant losses. The experience was jarring. Alex could have succumbed to despair, but he chose to view this setback as a learning experience. He delved deeper into understanding market psychology and emerged with a more robust investment strategy. This shift in perspective from failure to learning was his breakthrough.

In both stories, Emily and Alex faced moments where their realities seemed to break down. But by embracing the Stoic view that we control our perception of events, they transformed these moments into opportunities for significant breakthroughs.

The next time you find yourself on the brink of a meltdown, or when it feels like your world is falling apart, remember these stories. Look for the hidden opportunity in the chaos. Embrace the notion that failure is not a setback, but a stepping stone to growth. Your breakthrough is waiting on the other side of the breakdown.

I think we all can relate to this, especially when times get tough in our lives. Everyone has these difficult moments of growth. What separates a successful future iteration of yourself is how you handle these stressful events. Stoicism would posit that you are in control of how you perceive these stress inducing events. Are they positive or negative? Failure is just growth. Failing leads to breakthroughs.

Next time you feel like a meltdown or your reality is breaking down around you, find the breakthrough

High Leverage Tenets

 - Stay Positive but don't ignore problems

- confidence can become arrogance

- take the high ground or the high ground will take you

- do the right things for the right reasons

- it's ok to Quit (retreat) a tactical objective if it means succeeding in the strategic objective; it's ok to quit

- Reflect & Diminish

- The Less you talk, the more people listen when you do talk

- Set the example

- It's all on you, not about you