... COVER CONTINUED
good deal presents itself, I can move very fast on it. Of course, the market would have done way better — a bit more than three times better — but it is smart to have some cash around for an emergency. I do play in a few risky areas, but I play in these areas with the understanding that I may lose some or all of the money. I have recently bought some low-priced, high-risk, but potentially high-return stocks in the cannabis industry. Frankly, I’m still pissed at myself for not buying Amazon and Facebook at less than $30 a share when I knew I should have. I simply got busy and forgot to put the order in. Cannabis will be federally legal in the next decade or sooner, so like it or not, the genie isn’t going back in the bottle, and there’s money to be made in that industry for sure. I tend to keep the ultra risky investments like this and a few I have on sites, like YieldStreet.com, to less than 5% of my overall portfolio. This is surely the short version of how I invest my money. Your risk tolerance and/or goals may be different than mine, and in no way should you use this article to make any financial decisions. P.S. One of the ways I’ve been able to build wealth is by having crazy good customer service and an amazing product that works at The Newsletter Pro. Those two things combined have allowed us to grow at 0.006%. (No, that’s not a typo — six- tenths of a percent per month in Q2.) If you want to build long-term wealth, you have to first take care of what you’ve got that is creating wealth, and for many, that is your customers. What can you do to keep them and get them to spend more money on things they need or are already buying? Newsletters, because newsletters crush it at that. If you haven’t chatted with my team yet (or if you haven’t been in touch in the last year, as so much has changed), I highly encourage you to schedule a call by going to NewsletterPro.com/schedule . On the call, we will learn about your business and give you expert advice from a Pro on the best course of action to help you achieve your personal and business goals. You can also call my office during business hours at 208.297.5700, and my talented staff will be happy to assist you. –Shaun That said, I hope my strategy gave you some food for thought.
that control and ability to affect my own future that makes this an attractive vehicle to me.
As Dave Ramsey would say, you wouldn’t take a loan on your house (assuming it was paid for) to invest in the stock market. So why would you delay paying off your house to invest in the stock market? Remember: The financial advisors get paid when you invest the money with them, not when you pay off your house. If it’s a toss-up between investing for retirement and paying off the mortgage, I’d do retirement first and then hustle some more to make extra money to pay off the house early. Once I was investing 10%, give or take, of my gross pay, I’d switch and send the money above and beyond that to the mortgage. If I had credit card debt or car loans, I’d pay those off first and then invest for retirement. You’re unlikely to get a good enough return in the stock market to justify 18% interest rates on credit cards. Today, I only use credit cards for points. If you’re one of those people who isn’t disciplined enough or organized enough to pay them off each month, then don’t even use them for points. I use the points to get gift cards for personal purchases. It comes out to about $30,000 per year in benefit to me, so it makes perfect financial sense in my case. A little-known fact is that rewards from credit card companies are nontaxable. My preferred card for that is the Capital One Venture card. For more “passive” investments, I prefer commercial real estate. It is hard to find a good deal right now, but investing there is the smart play. It’s better than fourplexes and single-family real estate, and I think it’s way better than apartments, but some of that is a matter of opinion. The reason I like commercial real estate is that I can set the leases up as triple- net, which means I’m only responsible for things on the outside of the building. Repairs and other issues inside the building are left up to the person renting from me. This measure makes these investments way more passive. I also put money in other small businesses — but to be clear, not dumb money. I’m not paying a 10-times multiple on top-line revenue for a company that isn’t profitable … that would be crazy. And yes, I got asked to make that investment just two weeks ago. I love buying into and helping grow businesses. My take on this is invest in what you know, and frankly, all businesses are the same. Of course, there are a few differences here and there, but getting customers, keeping them, upselling, and managing employees is all the same. The reason I like investing in small business is that I’m a big believer that I can outthink and outwork just about any issue a small business can throw at me. It is
On that note, if you have an established small business and you’re looking for outside money and help, please email me at Shaun.Buck@ thenewsletterpro.com. I’d be happy to chat and consider an investment.
I’m also a big believer in having a strong rainy day fund. I keep a large sum of cash on hand just for when times get hard, and they will get hard again. Of course, many people think this is also a bad idea. They say the value of the money is going down, as my money market is only getting 2.5% interest. They may be 100% spot on with inflation, but I’ve learned two things about keeping cash on hand that have served me well over the years. “I PAY CASH FOR MOST THINGS. DEBT IS DUMB.”
You can make some great money when you can move fast and write a check.
In the last 20 years, if I was getting 2.5% interest on my cash each year and I had $1 in my money market, my cash today would be worth $1.64. Inflation in the last 20 years would mean that dollar in purchasing power in 1999 would need to be $1.54 today. I may not be making an amazing return, but I’m also not losing ground, and when a
2
www.thenewsletterpro.com
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS TO HELP SMALL BUSINESSES SUCCEED.
208.297.5700
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online