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A Hard Lesson Learned

previously published in August 2004

I don’t know where you were, what you were doing or how you were doing things 10 years ago, but I do know that (at least for myself) I could have been wiser about my money.  Overall, I don’t consider myself a dummy, but there were a few exploding financial land mines that I wish I could have avoided.  I also wish that I could have made more intelligent and better decisions about my money.  I could sit here all day and tell you what I wished could have happened and what I wished didn’t happen.   I won’t.  I don’t even care about what stock or real estate that I bought or didn’t buy.  Habits are important, I want to learn from the past and build better money management habits.

Some years ago, thinking that fast appreciating stocks and currency futures (currency futures? Boy, what was I thinking) were the way to my financial jackpot.  I all but found myself solely mesmerized by the up and down short little lines on my computer screen that changed minute to minute.  Highly leveraged and highly motivated by greed I essentially became a day trader.  I wanted to invest my way to financial freedom and success.  IT DIDN’T WORK.  I lost my shirt. 

Today, many people all across the country and especially in Southern California, where I live, have seen tremendous real estate gains.  Everyday I hear people think that they should buy and flip homes and make a lot of money.  Real estate price are appreciating in certain areas so fast that every other person who owns a home is on the verge of being a millionaire.  People are quitting their day jobs and wanting to be real estate investors.  Don’t get me wrong, I still think that real estate is a great investment, but please don’t go wacko.

Allow me to let you in on a secret; most of us mere mortals will never be able to attain financial security by investing in this hot investment and that hot investment and just simply managing those investments.  Unless you make investing in certain areas of the economy your life’s work like Warren Buffet (stocks) and George Soros (currencies) and Kirk Kerkorian (real estate, stocks), investing alone will not allow you to reach your financial goals and objectives.  I can not stress this point enough.

Additional points that I want to stress that will help most people find financial security and wellbeing are these; work hard, love what you do, and invest reasonably (the order is not important).  It is that simple.  I want to love what I do because if I love it, chances are that I will be pretty good at it.  If I am pretty good at it, I am likely to make some money doing it.  I am not just working or living to make money, rather I am pursing something that makes me happy.  The amount of money that one makes in relation to someone else is of no consequence.  The point is that enjoying what I do for a living allows me the best opportunity to make and have money.  When a person enjoys what they do for a living everything else falls into place.

I have found that the feelings you feel after a hard day’s work in a profession that you love compares with the best feelings that I have felt about almost anything else.  There are many people today that want to make the quick buck, and retire by age 25.  That is such nonsense. 
If you find yourself blessed enough to find yourself in a profession that you truly enjoy and love, meaning that you want to get up, work hard (and smart), and make a positive difference that day, thank God. 

Having financial security really isn’t that hard.  After all, we live in the most prosperous society the world has ever known.  Over time, everything works and grows in this great country of ours.  If you invest in reasonable things in reasonable amounts, and in reasonable ways, your going to be just fine.  Find professional investment people to help you, take their advise, INVEST REASONABLY, and then go back to what you do best (whatever that is). 

Please enjoy life.  Enjoy long productive careers in professions that that you’re passionate about.  I plan to.

David Park is an investment consultant with Brookstreet Securities in Beverly Hills, California.


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