Tag Archives: Google

How Deadpool & Wolverine actors inspired me to invest

As I write this, Deadpool & Wolverine just hit theaters mere days ago on July 26, 2024. It destroyed the weekend box office and broke records with an eye-popping $441 million-dollar opening weekend. That is just massive!

Not too surprising though for a movie that had the backing of one of the biggest movie and production companies in the world, Disney Studios and Marvel Productions. It was reported that Disney dropped $200 million as the budget and another $100 million for marketing.

The movie even went as far as to market to the first 100 ticket holders to receive the movie poster pendant as a way to sell tickets.

Genius in my POV!

What I am here to talk to you about today is what I learned from both actors, not in front of the camera, but what they do on their off time. Namely, investing.

Long before Ryan Reynolds went from party pimp in 2002’s Van Wilder to merc with a mouth in 2016’s Deadpool, he started putting his money to work investing in startups and these companies can be disruptive. The biggest by far was in Mint Mobile.

It was reported that T-Mobile struck a deal with Mint Mobile to purchase it for $1.35 Billion in 2023.

Courtesy of Yahoo! Finance

Reynolds, as a 25% owner, his stake would net him $300 Million. That’s probably more money than he’s made from his entire acting career! And his catalogue is pretty huge as he’s been starring in television and film for 30 years.

His involvement as a celebrity spokesmen caused a huge spike in customer interest and gained the company 12x the customers it had prior. That is more traction and eyeballs gained on them than they got with a $5 Million dollar Super Bowl ad.

He put Mint Mobile on the map and gave them access to a bigger audience just through his 45+ million followers on social media platforms alone.

And Hugh Jackman is no slouch either. Over his decades long career, he had made large paychecks in film, most notably as his Marvel character, Wolverine. He reportedly went from making $500,000 to over $20 Million playing the X-men fan favorite.

However, he did not just let that money sit in the bank. He invested a gobsmacking amount in real estate. Celebrities can actually make more money from endorsements than sheer talent alone. According to publications like the New York Times and New York Post, he is speculated to own approximately $50 Million in real estate in America and Australia.

New York Post: Celebrity Real Estate

He too has endorsed products such as Keurig and for luxury retailer Montblanc.

Although talent has gotten them where they are, their investments keeping working for them long after the camera stops rolling.

Investments don’t need to take a 15-minute smoke break, drink water, go on vacations or sleep. They are working around the clock. Making you money while you sleep.

Learning that is when I put a ton of my focus into investing. I have looked into both entrepreneurial pursuits and being an avid investor. The truth is being an entrepreneur can make you rich, but investing is how you stay rich.

I figured even if any business I ever starts fails, I would still have my investments.

I chose to work on having $1 Million in investable assets so that if I ever choose to walk away from work one day, then I would have the option to.

That’s why I started investing in Google, Apple and more recently AI stocks.

I am closing in on $400,000 in investments. At this rate, the earning are becoming quite considerable and I could hit my target of $1M in less than a decade. If I can get a 10% return on that, I could cross into the multi-millionaire territory in an additional 7 years.

Having $2 Million in investable assets is no small feat.

Since, it’s reported that only 9% of Americans achieve a $1 Million Dollar stock portfolio. You know how many make it to $2-3 Million or more…around 3%.

You would be in the small minority of Americans with a million in investable assets.

One of the tips and tricks I used to build my stock portfolio was to trim 10% of the top of all major purchases and invest the difference in the stock market.

If you budget $3,000 for a European trip, take $300 off the top and invest that in Google or the VTSAX.

Need a new washing machine.

Instead of spending $1,000, trim $100 off the budget and redirect that to your Roth IRA.

Considering that only around 26% of households have saved $100,000 for retirement, means you can definitely aim for this goal and likely reach it. That’s one in four households. Great odds.

However, once you get to $500,000 in retirement savings, this number of households goes down to 9%. You are now in a small minority. Going from a rather large majority of 26% to 9% is the difference of $400,000.

There are now more folks than ever that owe that in mortgages than they have saved for retirement.

I aim to be different. I want the elusive brass ring…to be a millionaire.

I won’t stop until I become part of the double comma club.

It’s a sorority that I have been pledging to become a member of for years.

I figure with enough time, grit and determination I could become that card carrying member. It is an elite club. The barrier to entry remains strict, but not impossible.

You have better odds of getting into this club than you do of being accepted into Harvard with its super low 3.2% acceptance rate.

You can do.

It’s like rapper and actor Master P said; “product outweighs talent.”

@earnyourleisure

When it comes to monetizing your talents, having a product is key 🔑 You can watch the full Assets Over Liabilities interview feat. Master P on Revolt TV’s YouTube Channel. #masterp #talentisoverrated #businesstips

♬ original sound – Earn Your Leisure

For example, Warren Buffet made $700 Million in dividends from his investments in 2022.

He has never made a winning shot in an NBA playoff game or had a hit record.

All that came from earnings off his capital investments.

You just invest your money into companies or products that you can’t live without and watch your money grow taller than Shaq!

Down the Financial Freedom rabbit hole: $303,980.45 down {$196,019.55 to go}

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`Curiouser and curiouser!’ cried Alice – Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

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My sentiments exactly Alice! As I watched the Suze Orman show trying to learn about personal finance, that is exactly what I thought to myself.

What is this strange new world called financial freedom? The more I watched her show, the more I wanted it.

Essentially, do I take the blue pill or the red pill?

The Online Radicalization We're Not Talking About
What if Neo had taken both pills? | A Reflection on a Summer School and  Feelings of Madness – The Brown Hijabi

As the title of this post implies, I took the red pill.

Financial Independence. I wanted the ability to do what I wanted, whenever I wanted without being tied down to a 9-to-5. But how would I do it? I needed a plan.

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Much like the Scooby gang needed a Scooby trap, I was going to have to plan my way out of the rat race and into financial freedom. A financial road map. That’s what I needed.

Official Discussion Series] Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (Oct. 31) :  r/Scoobydoo

It was like what Gail Vaz-Oxlade of Til Debt Do Us Part would always say in the intro of her show, I needed to go from red to black. My investment picture of over more than a decade is listed below.

Here’s a sneak peak behind Greenbacks Magnet financial magic curtain. Up first, from red. Then fade to black. Or in my blogs case, green.

Financial chaos bleeds. Here’s the red.

  • Oct, 2023: -$16,000 (market + house value ↓ )
  • Sep, 2022: -$22,000 (market crash + loss of 2nd income)
  • Sep, 2021: -$15,000 (market crash)
  • Apr, 2020: -$20,000 (market crash continues + pandemic)
  • Feb, 2020: -$19,000 (market crash; where the bleeding really starts)
  • May, 2019: -$10,000 (market crash)
  • Dec, 2018: -$14,000 (market crash)
  • Oct, 2018: -$10,000 (market crash)
  • Feb 2018: -$4,900 (market crash)
  • Jan, 2016: -$4,000 (market crash)
  • Aug, 2015: -$5,000 (market crash)
  • Jun, 2013: -$4,000 (market crash)
  • Sept, 2012: -$14,000 (market crash + cash crash + got a new home!)
  • Feb, 2010 -$1,000 (market crash + got a new job!)
  • May 2009: -$3,000 (market crash + laid off)

Financial triage has prevailed. Here’s the black.

  • Nov, 2023: +$27,000 (market rebound + 2nd job + house value ⬆)
  • Oct, 2022: +$17,000 (market up + mad hustlin’ 2nd job)
  • Mar, 2022: +18,000 (market up + bought condo)
  • May, 2020: +27,000 (market rebound; the green starts rollin’ in)
  • Jun, 2019: +$9,800 (market rebound)
  • Jan, 2019: +$10,000 (market rebound)
  • Aug, 2018: +$6,300 (market up)
  • Feb, 2017: +3,900 (market rebound)
  • Mar, 2016: +$5,000 (market rebound + tax refund)
  • Oct, 2015: +$6,000 (market rebound)
  • Feb, 2015: +3,300 (market up)
  • Aug, 2014: +$2,000 (market up)
  • Jun, 2010: : +$4,000 (market rebound)
  • May 2008: +$2,000 (market up)
  • Dec, 2006: +$1,000 (got a new job!)

First, I got rid of any payday loans and made a promise to myself to not ever sign up for them or any car title loans. Done.

Second, I needed tp pay off my car loan and stay away from car payments. So I paid off my SUV and freed up that monthly payment of $448.65 in 2009. I have not had a car payment since. Done.

I needed to get rid of the $20,000 personal loan I took out for $333 monthly. Done.

I needed to increase my income. So I finished my bachelor’s and got a higher paying job. Done.

I needed a goal to aim for. I decided upon one short-term and one long-term and one sensational dream goal.

Short-term I needed a $10,000 savings emergency fund. Done.

Long-term I wanted to retire a multi-millionaire. So I needed at least $2 million. Sensational dream goal is $10 million. I decided to break this all up into smaller goals. Therefore, I would start by having investable assets of $100,000. Done.

Then $250,000. Done.

Next was $300,000. Done.

Although, having over a quarter of a million-dollars is an incredible feat in itself, I had no time to rest on my laurels. I must keep going.

Then I started to press on toward my next goal of $500,000. After that is accomplished, I will set my sights on $750,000. The next leg in the journey would be $1 million.

At that point, I would be a 401k millionaire.

The next goal is to double my money. I would get to my next several money milestones by increasing my 401k contributions by 1-2% every year.

No vacations unless they were paid for with cash.

I also got a second job to bring in more income.

I signed up for credit card and checking account bonus offers that brought in thousands.

I invested my old car payments in index funds like the VTSAX and individual stocks like Apple, Google and Amazon.

And every time I got paid I would put a small portion in my Roth IRA.

I also make sure to keep track of my investments every month.

I’ll breakdown more of my behavior on how I went from $0 to over $300,000 in my next post.

Stay tuned…

Waffle Dollars: Buying waffles or stocks on my path to $500,000

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“Why would anyone ever eat anything besides breakfast food?” – Leslie Knope – Parks and Recreation

Waffle day is coming up. It’s on Monday, March 25.

I just so happened to read a book on personal finance (PF).

Shocker right?

In the book, it talked about how the person would always think about purchases in terms of her favorite food. Like how many donuts would I be able to buy instead of this item type of thing, right.

So it got me thinking 🤔. I love waffles. My favorite food is breakfast. So how many waffles would I be giving up to buy this item?

Ten Times Leslie Knope Made Us Fall in Love with Waffles

If you have been reading my blog, then you know I am on the journey to build a $500,000 investment portfolio.

You can check on my previous posts on the topic.

My $500,000 Journey…The Beginning

The Road is Paved with Financial Hurdles

Still Hustling, Still Grinding: Continuing on my $500,000 journey

After working my way up to $100,000, I started thinking what else could I do.

It was like Dave Ramsey said, “being wealthy isn’t about what you are willing to do, it’s about what you are willing to give up.”

In order to get to $100,000, I started with $5 dollars. I switched jobs because they one I previously had did not include benefits. I started investing 6% of my pay and got a company match of 3%.

By the time I left my 401k had gotten up to $8,000. However, I lost part of the money in the market and another 60% of my match dollars due to not being fully invested. Therefore, my account went from $$8,000 down to $5,000.

With my new job, I started investing 3% and worked my way up to 25%. This and giving up trips and nights out at the bar allowed me to slowly build my stock portfolio. It also helped that the market was on a tear after the financial crisis in 2007-2008.

If you were invested from 2009 – 2020, you made a mint as that has been the best recorded stock market returns in its over 200 year history!

When I would get any type of windfall, like a tax refund, it went to savings and investments or paying off debt. I also decided to rollover my old $5k 401k and invest most of that money in Apple in 2013. One of the best decisions I ever made. I got an excellent return. And I used some of that money to buy hundreds of shares of Google and Amazon.

I went from $25,000 to $50,000 in a few years. And I steadily increased my 401k contributions by one percent or more each year. Within a short time, I made it to over $100,000.

After paying off my $448.65 car payment, I directed all of this money to my investments every month. Within six years, I had $150,000 in my 401k.

I had to give up getting a new car, clothes, vacations, nights out on the town, eating out, and shopping. I knew if I wanted my freedom, then sacrifices would have to be made. And like Leslie of Parks and Rec, I like diners. Since many of them serve breakfast all day. My favorite being Silver Diner. And I love their waffles!

There are times I go would I rather have a fancy $200 lobster dinner or spend $8 bucks on a waffle and invest the difference. About 9 times out of 10, I go for the waffle.

I want the new M.A.C lipstick. That will be $30 crisp dollar bills. How many waffle dollars is it? I would have to give up three waffles.

I remember brown bagging lunch or eating subway sandwiches just to save a buck. We don’t all work at Google and get free meals. I had to watch friends and family take exotic vacations to exciting locales like Hawaii and destination islands while I was eating salads at Applebee’s 2 for $20.

However uncomfortable that may have been for awhile, it all paid off. Within a few years of making it to $150,000, I doubled my money and had a portfolio of over $300,000! I had made it to $333,000. I was one third of the way to a million dollars and was close to reaching my goal of $500,000!

What helped me get there was not buying a new car or bigger home. This saved me tens of thousands of dollars that could get invested instead. I would spend money on experiences, health-related costs and education, but not things that would depreciate in value.

I learned that earned compound interest is my friend and paying interest was the enemy.

Getting a second Master’s degree for half the price of the first one was a good deal. A half-off sale at Nordstrom was not.

I also picked up extra work where I could. Whether it was being a cashier or stocking food items. I’m not too good to work. Scrubbing floors is not beneath me. Not if it puts food on the table and helps keep a roof over my head. I put most of those dollars to work.

I know Nvidia is now worth more than Google right now at a $1.82T versus $1.76T, respectively.

If you don’t start a business, you can definitely own shares in one.

A $10,000 investment in Nvidia 10 years ago would have given you a $322,000 balance. However, a $33,000 investment would have netted you an eye-watering million bucks!

I’m just keeping my eye on the prize and continuing to save and invest.

I recommend everyone keep at minimum $10,000 in savings and investing at least the equivalent to one hour a day of your pay to get yourself on the path to financial independence (FI).

Therefore, if you make $80,000 a year, that’s around $40 an hour.

With this FI formula, $40 (one hour of work) x 365 (days of the year) = $14,600 to be invested. Invested in an S&P 500 index, at a 10% return, then you would have $919,836.49 in 20 years.

Then just think how many waffles I could buy with that!

Stock CEO

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Merriam-Webster definition: Rockstar: a famous and successful singer or performer of rock music.

Greenbacks Magnet definition: Stockstar: a successful investor of stocks and index funds.

I knew there were only six ways to get rich rich: marry money, inherit money, build a successful business, exploit a talent, get lucky i.e. win the lottery, and spend less than you make and invest your savings wisely over a long period of time. That is basically it. The rest are details.

There are many roads and paths to wealth, but all of them come down to six once you weed out all the details. Wealth has to be pursued. It will not just fall into your lap. You have to work for it. The result of hard work is success. The success is measured in dollars. Even though money is just a tool and one barometer for measuring success it is the yardstick that lets you keep tabs on how far you can come in a job done well.

But as we all know building wealth is easier said than done.

It can be as elusive as getting those Taylor Swift Eras tour concert tickets! And like her, I have a blank space and I’ll plan to write millionaire after my name. Ha!

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After reading books like The Automatic Millionaire, The Simple Path to Wealth, Your Money or Your Life and a ton of celebrity autobiographies, it occurred to me that even on a modest income, you can rise out of the poverty ashes and rise like the phoenix to wealth.

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You just need a plan. If you tried your hand at the first five ways to wealth and failed, you could always be working on the sixth path of saving and investing your way there simultaneously.

If I could not be a ballplayer, rapper, or business owner, I could always invest my money and be the CEO of my stock portfolio. I could be a stock CEO. I could be a stockstar. No college diploma required.

There are 5.3 million millionaires and 770 billionaires living in the United States. Millionaires make up about 2% of the U.S. adult population. Therefore, if you make it to $1 million in investable assets, you are wealthier than 98% of the U.S. population.

Statistics show that the top 2% of the United States population has a net worth of about $2.4 million. On the other hand, the top 5% wealthiest Americans have a net worth of just over $1 million. Therefore, about 2% of the population possesses enough wealth to meet the current definition of being rich. Having $1 million will put you in a very exclusive club. The double comma club.

Although, the top 1% can earn as much as $955,000. Those annual earnings can seem far out of reach in a country where less than 10% of all households earn more than $200,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Working toward $1 million is still a lofty and worthy goal. Forbes reported in 2022 that the bracket’s minimum net worth is much higher — a cool $11.1 million. That would mean to be in the top 10% would be a minimum net worth of $1.1 million. This is an achievable goal. See some of my investments below.

My index funds are shown in dollar and my individual stocks are shown in shares.

Stock Portfolio

Investments2012201820202022/23
VTSAX$20,000$100,000$158,000$220,000
Amazon102
Apple2050100
Google330

Over time, I have increased my exposure in individual stocks while also investing in my index funds. I also decided to open up four different retirement accounts: Traditional IRA (Rollover from a previous job), Roth IRA, 401k and Roth 401k. I was able to get both the Roth and regular 401k from my employer(s) over the years. The IRA’s are what just happened over time.

Each retirement vehicle offers different benefits. In order to have more flexibility with my money I have two of each IRA and 401k. See below for definitions and pros and cons or the Roth 401k and IRA and more her from Empower.

What is a Roth 401k?
A Roth 401k is an employer-sponsored retirement plan. But unlike a traditional 401k, contributions are made with after-tax dollars.

The Roth 401k was introduced in 2006 to give Americans a new type of retirement savings vehicle to complement the popular Roth IRA, which was introduced in 1997. Roth IRAs and Roth 401ks are similar, but there are some pretty significant differences you should understand when deciding which one is right for you.

Pros and cons of a Roth 401k
A big advantage that the Roth 401k has over the Roth IRA is the possibility of an employer matching your contributions up to a certain percentage. Employer matches are the closest thing there is to “free money,” so if you’re deciding between a Roth 401k vs. a Roth IRA — keep this in mind. It’s also important to note here, though, that if you receive an employer Roth 401k match, the matching funds could also go into a traditional 401k.

A con, however, is that a Roth 401k account can sometimes have fewer investment options than a Roth IRA.

Pros and cons of a Roth IRA
On the flip side, Roth IRAs generally offer more investment options than Roth 401ks. With a Roth IRA, you generally have a large number of investments to choose from, including stocks, bonds, cash alternatives, and alternative investments. With a Roth 401k, you are limited to the investment options offered by your employer’s 401k plan.

However, one con of a Roth IRA is the income limit associated with this type of account. If you earn too much money, you won’t be able to contribute to this option. Roth IRAs also aren’t sponsored by an employer, which means that there is no employee contribution match.

The most distinguishing characteristic of 401(k)s, whether Roth or traditional, is the high contribution limit, allowing employees to save up to $22,500 per year in 2023. For workers over age 50, the ceiling is $30,000.

Meanwhile, annual IRA contribution limits are $6,500, while workers over 50 years old may contribute up to $7,500 per year.

A Roth 401(k) has a required minimum distribution beginning at age 73, but starting in 2024, the minimum distribution requirement will be eliminated entirely for Roth 401(k)s thanks to the SECURE Act 2.0, which was passed at the end of 2022. Previously, Roth 401(k) account holders could roll their plans into a Roth IRA and avoid the requirement entirely.

That means if you are one of the lucky ones with access to the Roth 401k, then you can essentially put money away for retirement with after-tax dollars and pay nothing on the earnings when you begin your withdrawals and no tax period in your retirement.

I knew that if I could make sure to always focus on investing a portion of my income that I could build wealth no matter what.

My definition of a stockstar is listed above. However, I have a barometer to measure my goal as well.

In order to be a Stock CEO and be one of the big boys, I looked at the compensation packages of CEOs in America. And CEOs are paid! The average salary of a Fortune 500 CEO is $15.9 million per year. The highest-paid Fortune 500 CEO is Elon Musk. In 2021, Musk saw compensation worth around $23.5 billion. He achieved this by exercising Tesla stock options given in a 2018 multiyear moonshot grant.

CEO pay has skyrocketed 1,460% since 1978.

CEOs were paid 399 times as much as a typical worker in 2021; that is up from 366-to-1 in 2020 and a big increase from 20-to-1 in 1965 and 59-to-1 in 1989.

The average CEO salary in the United States is $821,100 as of May 25, 2023, but the range typically falls between $620,600 and $1,057,900.

However, some CEOs like Warren Buffet accept a salary of $100,000. Some have gone so far as to take a salary of $1. For example, in 2010–11 Oracle’s founder and CEO Larry Ellison made only $1 in salary, but earned over $77 million in other forms of compensation. In some cases, in lieu of a salary, the executives receive stock options. Top CEOs like Elon Musk & Mark Zuckerberg take 1 dollar salary. and know the history of a $1 salary & perks that comes with a one-dollar salary.

Why do CEOs make $1?

The CEOs can afford to earn $1 as they make money through other ways like stocks and equity. This also helps them in avoiding taxes.

Who are the CEOs in the $1 salary club?

Some of the CEOs who take a $1 dollar salary are: Elon Musk (Tesla), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta formerly Facebook), Meg Whitman (Quibi), Larry Page Sergey Brin (Google).

Once I did my homework, I decided that I was going to be a stock CEO.

I may not be running a billion-dollar Fortune 500 company, but could manage a million-dollar stock portfolio.

Every dollar I invest would be my employee.

I would unleash these little worker bees to do their thing and help me build wealth with the power of compounding. That would be my equity pay package and golden parachute when I left work behind.

For example, Presidents / CEOs at companies that have raised Over 30M typically get between 250K and 5M+ shares. However, smaller companies that have raised Under 1M are more generous with their stock compensation as it ranges between 2 and 40%+ for Presidents / CEOs.

Therefore, I could reckon that a CEO of a small firm could get around 100K and between 10K-200K shares. Let’s say a small cap company like Ethan Allen, which has a share rice of $26.40 and a market cap of $667M, then a CEO would have between $263K and $5.28M in stock.

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Therefore, if I had bewteen1K and 10K in stocks or index funds such as GOOGL at $125 a share or the VTSAX at $101 a share, I would have $100K to 1.25M in investments. This is a CEO stock equity level right there. Having 10K in shares or $100K-1M in investments means you are a stockstar.

At 550K in investable assets, you are in the top 20% in net worth. At $1.1M, you are in the top 10% of net worth individuals. Think of it like this, if you can’t be a rap star, baller, or Rockstar, you can be a financial Rockstar. Just keep investing.

Like Rihanna, said:

To be what you wish
You gotta be what you are
Only thing I’m missin’
Is a black guitar index fund

hey baby I’m a Rockstar stockstar!

Debt ceiling bill signed: U.S. will not default

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America will be able to pay its bills.

The House of Representatives and Senate voted to pass the bill and President Biden signed it into law today.

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The market has been on a tear once the debt-ceiling bill passed.

The Dow went up 700 points on Friday and Google is up, way up!

As of 30 May, GOOGL stock price was up almost 40% year-to-date. That is great news for investors in the stock. GOOGL opened 2020 at $67.42 on 2 January 2020 and would close at $86.81 on 31 December, a 28% rise.

In its Q4 2021 earnings report, Alphabet announced its decision of a 20-for-1 stock split by way of a one-time special dividend on each share of the company’s Class A, Class B and Class C stock. Stockholders recorded in the company’s books at the close of business on 1 July 2022 received 19 additional shares of the same class of stock that they already held by the close of 15 July 2022.

Keep in mind that GOOGL was trading at $2,200 a share just before the split. The stock closed at $2,255.34 on 15 July 2022 and opened at a split-adjusted price of $112.64 on 18 July.

The reason they proposed the 20-for-1 was to make shares more accessible. If you invested $10,000 in Google’s IPO is more than $300,000!

Although, that much exposure to one stock can be pretty risky as anything over 10% of your portfolio can result in more losses than an investor would like.

That would mean you would need to have a $3 million-dollar portfolio to have this type of exposure to one stock. You may likely want to diversity in index funds such as the VTSAX or VFIAX to keep things more level.

My suggestion is now that we have averted a financial meltdown is to go and buy some stock. The upside can be tremendous if the market continues its upward trajectory.

The easiest method to increase your stock holdings and limit the risk is to invest in a total stock market fund like the VTSAX. It has a market cap of over $1 trillion.

For those investors that could not afford to buy GOOGL or Amazon at their peak price of over $2,000, this is your moment.

Both AMZN and GOOGL are poised to go higher with more people online than ever.

What makes GOOGL special is their powerful search engine. GOOGL handles over 90% of all search queries worldwide, Google is dominating the global search engine market share.

There are 8 billion people on the planet. An estimated 37 per cent of the world’s population – or 2.9 billion people – have still never, ever used the Internet. Therefore, GOOGL has no where to go but up. Get a ticket to this ride as fast as you can.

Personally, I feel the stock is undervalued.

Maybe that is why the company board of directors just approved a $70 billion-dollar buyback in April of this year. What that spells for investors…Cha Ching!

GOOGL also owns YouTube, which just closed on an NFL Sunday ticket access deal worth $2.5 billion. They are making money hand over fist.

Their balance sheet is so healthy because they are flush with cash and so little debt. Alphabet had $12.9 billion in debt in December 2022; about the same as the year before. However, it does have $113.8billion in cash offsetting this, leading to net cash of $100.9 billion.

That is why they can afford a $70 billion dollar stock buyback. Typically, when this occurs the stock price goes up in value due to less shares being available.

Your girl has got in on this by buying shares throughout the last year. Even with a modest stock split in the future, I would own thousands of shares.

At that point, I would likely diversify some this into index funds to limit my exposure to losses in case the market does a swan dive.

As of 30 May, according to Coin Price Forecast, Alphabet price could hit $155 by the end of 2023 and then might reach $163 by the end of 2024. Analysts estimate it could rise to $219 within the year of 2025, and was anticipated to reach $252 in 2026, $302 in 2029 and $362 in 2033.

GOOGL is minting millionaires.

GOOGL can help facilitate the American Dream.

Instead of hoop dreams or being a movie star or Rockstar, you can be a financial Rockstar. You can be a stockstar!

Therefore, if you have champagne wishes and caviar dreams, then this is the place to be.

Frugality begets wealth: Why It Pays To Be A Mustachian

Disguise, Eye Glasses, Hat, Man

If you are part of the financial blog-sphere, then you have heard of a personal finance blogger by the name of Mr. Money Mustache (MMM for short).

He retired early with a net worth of $800,000.

He his famous for his no nonsense approach to cutting out buying crap and not being a Sucka Consumer. I’ll give you an example.

Physical health FIRST: whole system will only perform well if you place its wellbeing first, before anything else. Salads and barbells every day, no goddamned excuses.

Mr. Money Mustache, The FIRE Movement blog post

Being frugal and fit, as MMM shows, has its advantages. Let’s explore this further.

1. Being frugal could turn you into a millionaire sooner than you think

While reading up on real estate, I came a cross the website Bigger Pockets and also wrote a blog post on them.

One of the co-hosts on Bigger Pockets is Brandon Turner, is an active real estate investor and entrepreneur, stated he brown bagged his lunch to work for 10 years and was able to become a millionaire by putting all his discretionary cash to work investing in real estate instead of happy hours.

2. Simple MATH is the answer

If you can add and subtract, then basically you have the skills to manage your money. Do some million-dollar math. What will it take to make the Almighty Dollar one million times? Sell 100,000 books at $10 a pop. Boom. One million.

Invest $100,000 in an index fund and let it ride for 30 years at an 8 percent return you’ve got your million bucks right there.

Basically, MMM puts it best.

And dozens of ten-dollar bills start to add up to real money pretty quickly, which is something most people don’t realize. The vast majority of wealthy people are the ones who have figured out that a millionaire is made ten bucks at a time.

-Mr. Money Mustache

3. Incomes are not as important as spending habits

Most people are pretty bad at math, even simple math unfortunately.

That partially why so many people are in debt up to their necks. If a credit card company gives you a $35,000 credit line and you are only pulling down $40,000 a year, then you can start to see right there that if you max that sucker out, you will have given away 88 percent of your income. Screw that!

On the opposite end of the income spectrum, an Amazon engineer making $175,000 a year or a Goldman Sachs investment banker making $350,000 a year that likes to tip strippers in $100’s and order $1500 bottle service could blow through a wade of cash in a few months of partying. A coke head with a nasty drug habit could snort millions and lose everything in one crazy summer.

When Google engineers are crying on the news about not being able to afford housing in San Francisco while making $200,000 a year, then something is seriously wrong out here.

They then must decide HOW FRUGAL they are willing to be to change their situation. Living in shared housing with 8 other people, living inside of a moving van, or renting a garage apartment to invest upwards of 60 percent of your income are just a few of the things you will have to consider.

It is not the size of you paycheck that matters, it is what you do with it that counts.

If you ever read that book, Your Money Or Your Life, then you know one of the authors favorite lines was yelling, “how big is yours?” He was talking about your paycheck. This guy worked on Wall St. and still managed to retire early while many folks he saw making millions were living paycheck-to-paycheck.

If you make a million, but spend one million and one dollar, sorry to break this to you, but you are still broke. It is not enough to live at your means, you must live below your means in order to have money to save and invest.

Most high-income people are still within just a few paychecks of insolvency, because it is possible to blow almost any paycheck, simply by adding or upgrading more cars, houses, and vacations.

-Mr. Money Mustache

Therefore, I urge you to slash expenses, take stock of what you have and be grateful.

Focus more on the giving than getting.

Aim at saving 20 percent or more of your income.

If you want to retire early, you are going to have to aim at saving 50-70 percent or more.

Live like it will all end tomorrow, but save like you are going to live forever. You got that? You have to save.

Who wants to be the guy living in a $500,000 home that can only afford to fill it with Christmas trees because he can’t afford furniture?

So get out there and save!!! no goddamned excuses.

Cause living in a rat infested motel is not an option because when the lights go out its a roach motel and their lease is permanent.

All I am asking is for you to do what most people won’t: Save money instead of spending it.