T*pster (ism) Some people say that any “T*psterism” is must read material. Is that to say, the T*pster, is a prophet, a poet, or possibly a guru of sorts? Certainly, T*psterisms could be something to...
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ASK THE TIPSTER
The T*pster: 2013 The Tipster, like the Corvette was born in 1953. It just so happens that he became known as the Tipster some twenty-seven years later, when a business venture was born with the...
What is a T*psterism?
T*pster (ism)
Some people say that any “T*psterism” is must read material. Is that to say, the T*pster, is a prophet, a poet, or possibly a guru of sorts? Certainly, T*psterisms could be something to register in the brain, maybe even write down or disregard with pertinent consequences.
T*psterisms may be worth a lot or a little depending upon the reader. However, you can definitely profit from the experience, enjoy the mind-blowing ride, learn something you never knew, and even gain everlasting peace of mind knowing you didn’t miss out on this amazing journey.
TRUTH IS:
Without an overwhelming amount of scientific jargon, the T*pster’s writings include expanded topics relevant to the world we live in today. His research is always impeccable and notably documented, while his groundwork consumes many hours that few of his readers have the time to give. Like life itself, the T*pster urges action, commitment, an open mind and the willingness to change. Those committed to a better life while honestly helping themselves can and will survive and excel.
T*pster’s dedicated followers know with undivided attention and enthusiasm they can and will learn how, where, when and why to….…act.
Human Perfection Simply stated, human perfection requires one to have all the necessary qualities to be considered absolutely fulfilled. That is to exist ideally, sound... Read More"The Chase For Perfection"
Why, Where and How With inflation soaring we need to find various ways to save. Why not get the best prices and even save thousands!... Read More"Let’s Beat Inflation"
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The Tipster, like the Corvette was born in 1953. It just so happens that he became known as the Tipster some twenty-seven years later, when a business venture was born with the magic of a: 1 (900) TIPSTER dial-in, allowing callers to hear his wisdom and magical predictions of the day! To this very day, thousands still refer to him as the Tipster like it was his given birth name.
The Promise:
To grant unimaginable wishes, inspire extraordinary insight and create unwavering friendships.
The Tipster vows to offer his tidbits to lift spirits, inspire change and of course, arouse curiosities.
MY POP WAS VERY PROUD THE DAY I BECAME A STOCKBROKER
Fracking
An obvious and possibly most lucrative place to begin is right here. Halliburton (HAL) is one of the world’s largest providers of equipment for fracking and leads the way in products and services for the ever-evolving Energy industry. Furthermore the ownership of Halliburton is a mix of institutional, retail and individual investors. The largest shareholders include Black Rock Inc., Capital World Investors and the Vanguard Group Inc.. Individuals, such as Donald Trump and some of his richest friends also hold large shareholder positions here.
Halliburton uses a fleet of over 5600 tractors, 2800 trucks and 11000 trailers to do nearly $15.5 billion in annual sales. The company went public in 1948 and was listed as the Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Company (HOWCO) and eventually became the Halliburton Company (HAL) in 1961. The company employed over 48000 people as of 2023.
THE COMPANY’S Sweetheart Deal
Halliburton has come under intense scrutiny over it’s multi-billion dollar contracts with the U.S. military in Iraq. Critics charging that Halliburton has seemingly become another branch of the U.S. military, while the company’s former CEO, Dick Cheney, is now the vice president. A Halliburton subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR) since 09/11/2001, has constructed base camps at more than 60 locations throughout the Middle East and South Asia. And, America’s war on terrorism has created a windfall for KBR. The latest quarterly report of KBR’s shows profit margins on military services is at 3.8% which lauds the company’s efficiency.
The overall consensus is: While trading in an environment with an administration that is anti fracking the stock is near it’s 52 week low. Consequently, it will do well in an administration that holds high regard for expanding fracking.
Tesla
Trump’s good buddy and major presidential campaign contributor, Elon Musk, is ready for another bounce in his company’s (TSLA) stock price. Trump has already committed and will do what he has promised to the automotive industry. He is going to stop all government subsidies to EV companies. This favors Elon Musk significantly, as Tesla no longer need subsidies as their competitors do.
Tesla’s business platform has been unmatched by both domestic and foreign auto manufacturers. Phase 1: To build and supply worldwide the “Ultimate Battery”. Phase 2: Building massive utility projects around the world. These would be considered “Micro Grids”. Tesla is already revolutionizing these grids in over 40 countries. Houston, Texas is home to the largest U.S. Tesla grid. Phase 3: Tesla operating as a giant decentralized “Electric Utility Company” worldwide. There definitely will be some small energy players that will rise with Tesla’s grid growth. I like (FCEL) Fuel Cell Energy, Inc. and (PLUG) Plug Power Inc. just to mention a couple.
In the next decade over 150 million EVs will be on the roads. Most of you know I touted Tesla way back in 2018, and in a short three year period the stock rose an incredible 2500%. Now that the last two years have trimmed the price considerably, and it’s trading close to it’s 52 week low, this would be a good investment both for a short term jolt and as a hold-long term.
Immigration
Donald Trump has stated over and over how he will put an end to illegal immigration. He intends to round up and deport well over a million immigrants. So, who will benefit from this endeavor. The answer is, private prison companies. Obviously, you cannot deport a million people all at once.
Geo Group Inc. (GEO) is a publicly traded company that also is an enormous contributor to Trump’s Super PACs; and, will greatly benefit with Donald Trump in the Whitehouse. They construct, finance and invest in private prisons and mental health facilities in the United States. Similar to Halliburton, their largest shareholders include Black Rock Inc. and Vanguard Group Inc..
The influx of inmates will be a direct result of holding illegal immigrants until deportation and/or rehabilitation leading to various reintegration programs. As with the other companies I’ve listed here, they have positive earnings and growth revenue.
Banking
Donald Trump definitely favors deregulation, so a sound buy and hold long term stock position would be JPMorgan Chase & Company (JPM).
Oil
Whether you’re and investor, a business analyst, or someone fascinated by the ever-changing landscape of corporate financial health, a list of the U.S. largest ranking companies by “Market Cap” is an excellent place to determine a company’s size instead of sales or total asset value. For instance, in an acquisition, the market cap helps determine whether a takeover candidate represents a good value for the acquirer. Market capitalization shows how much a company is worth as determined by total market value of all outstanding shares. To calculate a company’s market cap, simply multiply the number of outstanding shares by the current market value of one share. With that being said, in the oil industry you might look at Exxon (XOM).
Big Pharma
I would stay far away from this sector. With the promise of a cabinet position for Robert Kennedy Jr. and what he will bring to the table, I would stand clear of Big Pharma. In fact, I think the major players in this sector will take a hit. However, I wouldn’t go as far as shorting any one particular stock in this sector.
I’ve saved the best for last. (DJT) – Truth Social. This is Donald Trump’s baby.
Trump’s Media & Technology Corp.
The company is near it’s 52 week low since shares that were restricted have just become unrestricted. I’m thinking that at some point DJT will merge with Rumble (RUM), which has become the “Conservative” You Tube. Looking further, I’ve found out that 51% of the Rumble shares are owned by four individuals. This gives them effective control of the company. The insider ownership of Rumble can make this merger happen quickly following a Donald Trump victory on November 5th. That happening should give DJT a tremendous boost in the short term.
Quite Mercenary
This article might come across as sort of mercenary. Like I don’t particularly care who wins the election but that I just want to make a lot of money. The truth is, I’m writing this not just because I want to make money; but, that’s what I want for all of you. Those of you who know me, know that I’m a lifelong Democrat and proudly stand with Kamala Harris.
Investing Disclosure Statement
All of the information presented here has been obtained from various sources believed to be reliable. With that being said, the accuracy of this information can and will change from month to month or even as soon as day to day. Investors should always carefully review and investigate stock prospectuses; furthermore, most should consult with investment counsel before investing.
Remember, the three most important words in investing are: “I don’t know”. The past performance of the market can not guarantee the future performance. Investing money that is critical to your current needs is never recommended.
THE SOURCES
The Oxford Club Journals / The Wall Street Journal / Paradigm Press / Market Beat / Gold Century Investing / Fidelity Investments / Behind the Markets / The Altucher Confidential
Simply stated, human perfection requires one to have all the necessary qualities to be considered absolutely fulfilled. That is to exist ideally, sound and complete in all aspects of oneself.
Inner Vision
True inner vision can only be established while in a state of complete meditation. This very well may be the most precise way to unleash the power of the “Subconscious Mind”. It is estimated that 95% of our thoughts, feelings, memories and instincts are living in our subconscious. There are many well known authors, doctors and psychologists who have written books on the power and insight within the subconscious. Various suggested methods and physical practices have been established to utilize the power of one’s mind, including a way to harness the subconscious. I’ve often found great insight, inspiration and energy by sitting in the dark with complete stillness.
Brain Frequencies
Think of your consciousness as the desires of your being and your subconscious as the architect of these desires. If you can embrace and champion this concept you can conceivably reach your own particular desired level of perfection.
When you see the world as a physical and stationary place, life can seem quite challenging and competitive to say the least. But, when you take control of your mind and enter the nonphysical realm, by way of meditation, mindful submission or specific intuition there are no limits to the world of resources, ideas and possibilities. The great thinkers of the world, all share the ability of being able to control their brain frequencies. This may sound easier said than done. More importantly, this is not just theory, but a truly sound and pragmatic blueprint for self realization and the pursuit of perfection.
Believing is Seeing
Believing means having a state of mind that fully accepts the positive without question or passiveness. Receiving perfection takes a lot of work, but physical attributes are not always required. It’s your subconscious that sees and then manifests the expectations you distinctly have. Accepting perfection is often more difficult than manifesting it. Too often we lack the necessary responsibility to redeem the promise of our being.
Consider the reality of the metaphysical in everyday living. Can we really tune in and direct the powers of the universe? Manifesting perfection and creating the life you dream about may be easier than you think. Unfortunately, most people fall far short of their potential without ever realizing it. There lies an incredible power within each and every one of us. To tap this power it takes belief in yourself, awareness of all that’s seen and unseen and the understanding of self worth.
Nevertheless, we are born into a world that stifles our subconscious from birth and often programs us to attain and accept far less than we are capable of. Whether intentional or not, most of us have been led and sculptured to reach our destiny. But, ask yourself; was this the result of your own deeply rooted dreams and intentions? Can we answer that question. Do we want to answer it.
Nourishing your Inner-Self
Our thoughts and emotions are always transmitting brain frequencies. Often we choose our friends and allies by subconsciously connecting with those that emit similar frequencies. On the other hand we have a hard time accepting or understanding others that transmit opposing brain frequencies. Authenticating these differences can only be achieved with deep thought and the penetration of one’s subconscious. There are many books on the subject of the subconscious with writings from great philosophers, theologians and even mystics.
By connecting the conscious to the subconscious we can fulfill our dreams and desires. Harnessing our brain frequencies can actually be achieved through deeply absorbing meditation.
Unharnessed Limitations
Modern science has introduced the theory of “Quantum Physics” to explain the results of human consciousness. This incredible thinking, that many believe to be true, turns the natural order of reality upside down. It’s fundamentals being that the behavior of nature can be described at and even below the scale of atoms. It is wonderous strange and we should all give this theory some attention and investigation. In quantum mechanics, particles have wavelike properties and each can be definable and tangible.
For most of us, the problem with quantum physics is that many of it’s concepts are difficult for us to visualize. Those without a college degree are less likely to understand the somewhat obscure mechanics and convoluted use of physics. A strong grasp of advanced mathematics and physics are essential to the field. It involves differential equations complex and abstract. Understanding the use of linear algebra and calculus can be quite daunting for most of us. However, it is not as difficult to understand as it is to connect to everyday experiences. It can prognosticate unimaginable phenomena and use this in a profound way to “KNOW” the future.
Credulous Beginnings
Knowledge is a powerful tool in the quest for perfection. The more you enrich your mind the easier it will be to determine what makes sense for you to apply to your everyday responsibilities. Mike Murphy, the author of “The Creation Frequency” teaches the art of harnessing the power of the universe to manifest your life’s dreams. This is an easy read full of practical advice and exercises you can use to ultimately ensure success.
Suggested Works
Here are some of my favorite books I’ve read through the decades. I was in sales most of my working years, so many of these publications helped me greatly. “I Never Played the Game” written by Howard Cosell, “How to $ell Anything to Anybody” by Joe Girard, “How to Win Friends & Influence People” by Dale Carnegie, “You Become What You Think” by Shubham Kumar Singh and “Frequency” by Penny Peirce.
To expand your horizons on many of the topics I’ve written about here you should begin with any number of these works: “Quantum Entanglement and the Loss of Reality” by Thomas V. Marcella, “Quantum Physics for Beginners” by M.M. Gavillet, “Quantum Field Theory and Condensed Matter” by R. Shankar, “You are the Universe” by Deepak Chopra, M.D. and Menas C. Kafatos, PH. D., and “The Physics of Consciousness” by Ivan Antic.
A Note to my Followers
First, I’d like to sincerely thank all of you following my writings and I can assure you that it is you who inspire me. That being said, after the coming presidential election I will post a comprehensive “T*pster’s Outlook” on financial, as well as personal concerns for 2025 and beyond. Till then, keep reading, stay healthy and safe, expand your vision with new horizons and send me your personal feedback.
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A special thanks goes out to “WordPress”, “MonsterInsights”, “PushEngage”, “Wealthy Affiliates”, “Google Chrome”, and “Bravada Themes”, to name a few helpful and extremely reliable web sight enhancers, moderators and nonpartisan critics.
Open “AI” will be present in every aspect of our daily lives within the next ten to twenty years. It will grow increasingly pervasive as difficulties and setbacks will make for an extremely challenging future to predict. Right now, “AI” is in constant flux. It is putting it’s fingerprints on almost every industry and the impact is still in question.
However, within these arears of concern: “Health Care”, Pharmaceutical”, “Banking”, “Transportation”, “Technology” and “Defense” there will be an incredible opportunity to ultimately prepare for and confidently invest in.
Research and Development
Take the time necessary to read and understand all you can about our changing world and it’s party to “AI”. The radical “AI” transformations to any industry will be the most significant and worthy of the closest looks.
As I’ve stated before, in previous blogs, it pays big dividends to join Investment Clubs, or have Financial Planners recommend individualized strategies designed specifically for you, based upon your risk tolerance and current situation. There are a growing number of FREE publications that cover a wide variety of topics and others solely dedicated to the growing “AI” explosion.
You can go online and read research reports from major financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs, Fisher, Schwab, Fidelity and others. You can find free information on the internet with sites like “Market Beat”, “Gold Century Investing” and “System Trading”.
Ahead of the curve are inexpensive publications such as the Altucher’s Investment Network’s daily report called the “AltucherConfidential”. This publication is backed by decades of research, proven expertise and brilliant forecasting by the legendary James Altucher. Behind the Markets is another Investment Club backed by founder and CEO, Dylan Jovine. It’s daily report is called “The Daily Revenue”. These reports are dedicated to providing readers with unique investment opportunities.
How to stay financially sound
Remember when investing in the stock market past results are never a guarantee of future returns. You might be worried about a market crash and sell holdings at a loss. Reversely, you might want to catch a ride on a soaring stock that puts you in a position of disastrous risk. If there is one thing history has shown us it’s that no one can consistently predict the market. With that being said, the experts I mentioned above with decades of documented results are undoubtedly the best ones to listen to. Always invest with funds that can be tied up indefinitely without putting any additional stress on your finances.
Recent Successes
I have had a tremendous last couple of years by investing in very specific information found through the Investment Clubs I mentioned here. For me, the “Defense Sector” and “Energy Sector” stocks gave me the biggest gains.
I believe when looking to invest in “AI” Stocks you should look to those companies that: (1) Lead the way in developing edge technology (2) Show a consistent growth in revenue (3) Are critical to the “AI” movement .
In the Defense Sector only invest in companies that have: (1) Breakthrough science technology (2) Defense contractors that already have pertinent contracts (3) Make sure congress has already budgeted the money for any written government contracts
My good fortune
The last stock I invested in has been touted as the “Crown Jewel” of “AI” Investments. This company is the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited, (TSM) and is the largest and most respected semiconductor foundry in the world. They have created the fastest “AI” chip in the world and already secured multimillions in orders. Each of Nvidia’s Graphic Processing Units (GPU) uses one of these chips and sells for $40,000. The TSM chip is 30 times faster than it’s predecessor.
Learn more about the Crown Jewel of “AI” by joining one of the Investment Clubs mentioned above.
Final Word
“AI” super computers will re-write the global economy over the next decade. It will clearly power the world’s 4th Industrial Revolution. And, without question grow faster and larger than any before. Experts predict 3 to 5 times larger than the Internet.
With inflation soaring we need to find various ways to save. Why not get the best prices and even save thousands! Buying at the “right time” matters. Discount cards, buying club memberships, coupons, special sales or clearance sales are all worth taking advantage of during times of rising inflation.
If you believe you can predict the future then reading this article will have little to no significance to you. However, the Tipster knows one thing’s for certain: “The only way to keep up with inflation is to be prepared for whatever comes next.”
Over 40 Million Americans are living in poverty or simply one crisis away from adding to that number. Older adults make up the greatest population in crisis. Often, they can be overlooked by family and friends due to foolish pride and even concealment of their situation.
Help and Support
Those with the means should truly be looking to aid those in need. For older Americans many public and private foundations have been established through the years to offer monetary, informational and physical support.
For one, the AARP Foundation has been aiding and supporting a future without senior poverty for decades. In 2022, the AARP Foundation helped nearly 2 million older American save millions in taxes with critical and completely “FREE” volunteer-based tax preparation. This service was responsible for helping low income seniors secure nearly 1 billion in tax refunds and credits.
AARP’s “Tax-Aide” program was established in 1968 and has expanded through the decades with contributions from those with concern and the ultimate consideration to volunteer their services.
A second AARP program, begun fives years ago, is now helping more than 9 million Americans see if they qualify for property tax relief.
You can learn how you can help or find out if you qualify for a property tax refund at: aarpfoundation.org/thrive and aarpfoundation.org/propertytaxaide
Spending wisely
Have you ever tried dining at an “All you can eat” buffet? If so, did you enjoy it? Would you be inclined to do this more often or decline based on the food quality or a possible tendency to over indulge. What about considering eating family style or all inclusive verses ala carte.
Those who carefully manage their budget could save money when spending it wisely. Various price shopping clubs are inexpensive and memberships can lead to huge savings for larger families. Some clubs require buying in bulk so managing what and when you buy certain necessities can be critical to maximize savings. Perishables may be the hardest items to manage properly.
Staying financially healthy
During times of inflationary difficulties the hardest thing to do is tighten your spending when you’ve always been a giver to family and friends. Reining in the giving is so much more beneficial then it is imaginable.
Decisions like stop paying for a storage facility housing furnishings you haven’t used for years, or that no one can benefit from currently can yield benefits unthought about. Holding back the purchase of luxury items can be extremely helpful. Avoid panic about investments and retirement portfolios. Staying the course is often the best advice anyone can give. Do not skip or skimp on your health, mental and physical needs. Preventive medical care is quite often free or low cost and can save fortunes by catching possible problems before they ever occur. Picking up a paint brush, washing your car in your driveway and racking leaves on your lawn all can add monetary benefits that truly matter.
Spending on autopilot can be very costly and checking those auto debits during times of tremendous inflation can save hundreds of dollars. Keeping tabs on subscriptions can be easier than you think. Free apps such as “PocketGuard” and “RocketMoney” are offered through various banks and credit cards such as Chase and Capital One. They find things you might have forgotten about.
One of the more difficult things to do might be guarding against impulse buying. Even though the price of that leather jacket has been reduced, it might just be unnecessary and worth passing up right now!
Finally, protecting what you have is most critical here and now; and, it will always be regardless of the inflationary future. During times of need and monetary stress scammers devise damaging cleverly refined schemes to appropriate funds from unaware victims. There are various anti-fraud websites as well as state and federal programs helping people spot and avoid scams.
Fraud can look like an unsolicited call claiming you owe or are due money. A pop up message on your computer warning of a detected virus. Notification of a prize you won that has a minor shipping fee to claim it. An email or text message offering a huge discount on something you’ve been searching the web to find.
Remember, all you can do to protect yourself and your family may be to stop and think before acting upon anything.
Reporting possible fraud to your state and local law enforcement agencies can help prevent others from being victimized.
Practical wisdom
With age comes wisdom. Whoever coined the phrase was spot on. With that being said, during times of troubling inflation buying essentials is important and doing some homework to find the best way to do that is undoubtedly significant.
Just remember, patience and steadfast discipline will get you to the other side of trouble every time.
One thing’s for certain, the war in Europe between Russia and Ukraine will be the last of it’s kind. Uncalculated death and destruction will not be the norm any longer. The future will bring an unfamiliar but completely deliberated essence to war.
That being said, is there only one story to the future? Who has made up this story and if it falls into the hands of anxious and immature adults can it be more destructive than good? Of course it has not been lived yet, but an educated mind can foresee many things yet to come. This blog is is not being written to convince or convert someone to a particular point of view or to suggest specific actions. Furthermore, it is not my intent to prepare us for either a dignified death or a dignified life. I’m actually looking to inspire and encourage thought provoking insights.
I don’t think older adults realize the strengths they have or the advantages gained from age and experiences. In many ways they are doing far better than younger people. Many of us do realize this; however, some forget the time for living is now and always will be.
Investigative research
21st century warfare will include a tremendous amount of manpower, knowledge, foresight and artificial intelligence. Can understanding this new concept for future wars lead us to a better life? In fact, it may be time to take flight, or better yet, time to take action. I believe the future of warfare will lead to tremendous opportunity for financial freedom.
According to Dylan Jovine, CEO of “Behind The Markets” there are growing opportunities in today’s “Defense Sector” with a select group of companies that are currently rejuvenating the stock market.
For me, this means extensive research into those companies that show breakthrough scientific technology, have a head start into the development of artificial intelligence and most importantly have defense contracts with various branches of the military.
Imagine new technology from a company that can produce a missile which can travel over 25 times the speed of sound. That’s nearly 20,000 mph and over 90 miles per minute. But, that’s not all it can do. This missile can turn on a dime, change it’s course and be controlled remotely.
One such company is a small enterprise that has produced a “Hypersonic Missile” which has impressed our government and landed a sizeable grant to start mass production. More importantly, this company edged out larger enterprises such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and others. But the most significant thing they have done is contracted orders for their missiles from all four branches of the military.
A good place to begin researching this information for yourself is “Flight Global”, the global aviation community’s primary source of news, knowledge, insight, data and analytical expertise. There you will find the company I’m touting and perhaps expand your search to discover multiple opportunities with upside and promise to invest in. It is important to note that there will be various companies leading the way into the future of warfare. However, those backed by government funding and holding contracts from the military will most likely outperform the rest.
I believe the big winners in this sector will bring expanded “Artificial Intelligence” to ultimately defend future aggressions towards our homeland. There will also be the leader in “Drone Technology” getting huge government and military contracts.
The future will leverage decades of worldwide experience, world class engineering and a powerful development of highly innovative products.
“AI” = Artificial Intelligence
Today there is way too much hype about AI and, dangerously so when it comes to investing. Here are some well read syndicates quotes: Barron’s: “AI Stocks are soaring. It’s a feeding frenzy!” MarketWatch: “AI is dominating the action in the stock market right now.” yahoo!finance: “The AI Revolution is here: Will you be left behind?” Forbes: “Artificial Intelligence is going to change our world.”
Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and even super investor Warren Buffett are all on board. Billionaire Mark Cuban said: “The world’s first trillionaire will be someone who can master AI.”
Important disclosure
Always keep your sights on the job at hand. Remember, investing involves substantial risks including and not limited to the possibility of the loss of principle. Past performance is never a guarantee of future results. You must always invest responsibly either by performing your own analysis or consulting with your personal licensed and registered financial advisors.
If you want to use your own judgment, investment clubs and syndications are the best way to find out generalized educational information about investing.
Counter-Culture
You can read a warning about “The Great Unraveling” taking place in this country. You can find this in a report titled: A National Divorce presented by Stansberry Research.
Wonder
Have you ever considered our relevance to the world we live in? Could it be we use this relevance in some way as a defense against stress, turmoil and anxiety? The issue here is whether we should be and can be more interested in the subject of our existence or our social existence. To understand that it is important in a historical continuum. Man has evolved with both a mental and spiritual development in regard to his place in history or his significance of what is yet to come.
For some of us uncertainty can lead to fear and anxiety. As I see it, the unknown can be approached as a process leading to deep thought and consideration. There is tremendous opportunity for open awareness, discussion and profound enlightenment.
Usefulness of awareness
Is it possible to master the art of awareness? I imagine anything is possible. And, this is why my life has been a series of questions and answers. Some of the answers I have come up with are not always correct, but asking the questions, for me, is extremely pertinent. Researching the answers is always compelling, enthralling, time consuming and sometimes easier said than done.
It is such a relief to dismiss questions by finding great knowledge, conceived ideologies and worldly views on just about any subject. So why not question every possibility…..?
With the internet promoting anything and everything these days it’s incredibly difficult to know what’s real and what’s completely fluff, misleading or downright fraudulent.
The Government
With that being said, a good place to start looking for free money or money that you might be overlooking is the government. Uncle Sam and most likely your local state government have money for you to claim; but, they keep it mostly to themselves. Electric autos, solar power home conversions, IRA contributions and even in some states new windows or home insulation upgrades may earn you “Free” money.
Anchors Away
The State of New Jersey’s “Anchor” Program was designed to give rebates to property owners for taxes they paid through the year 2019. This program came out in late 2020 and was unknown to most New Jersians. In 2022 the Governor decided to put an end to this rebate and he assigned a final filing date set for January 31, 2023.
Suddenly, the word got around and over night thousands a day were, attempting to access the state’s property tax website to find out how to receive this gift of “Free” money. Sure enough, all hell broke loose and the website struggled. Consequently, thousands of homeowners were frustrated for many anguishing days, weeks and months. The phone calls to Trenton were overwhelming; and, the Governor declared an extension to claim these benefits. The extension was set for February15th, 2023.
Truth is, this only extended the pain and suffering to the many deserving New Jersey homeowners that either never got the information they needed or gave up trying. Others got through the maze, only to find out they needed previous years tax returns to calculate and determine if they were eligible to receive the rebate money.
This kind of “Free”money puts the onus on the receiver to find their way through to the pot of gold.
Where you live Matters
Where you live can earn you “Free” money. There are 13 states that currently do not tax any retirement income and a few others that don’t tax pension income as well. Pennsylvania, would be one such state. No taxes on 401K, IRA or Pension distributions can add up to an awful lot of Free” money.
There are also five states that don’t have income taxes at all. The closest to New Jersey would be Tennessee or New Hampshire. A huge earner in these states has an enormous advantage over many other Americans.
Age also has its Advantages
2023 “Senior Benefits” are available in all states, but can vary in ages to qualify. 50+ is the minimum age required to apply for many of these benefit programs.
The federal government recently created a bill featuring multiple benefits for seniors. Huge monetary benefits for Health Care including: Telehealth, Behavioral and Mental Health provisions. Obviously, the pandemic has seen massive telehealth and urgent care surges. The effects of isolation and confinement created mental health issues more prominent than ever before.
Furthermore, now through 2024 a Medicare provision allows hospital care to treat qualified patients in their homes. This ends up freeing hospital beds to face any future uprising COVID issues.
Social Security and Retirement Savings also saw tremendous government monetary benefits created by this bill. The SSA was allocated over 14 billion, which was nearly 6% more than the previous fiscal year. Most Americans collecting Social Security saw the largest increase in their benefits in over a decade.
Unfortunately, the Social Security administration is still in crisis mode. It’s customer service floundering by virtue of years of underfunding and enormous losses in staff. Compared to a decade ago, it takes an average of 75% longer to get a claim for disability benefits processed.
As far as retirement savings go, new laws have increased the age from 72 to 73 at which time retired individuals must start taking deductions from private retirement accounts such as IRA’s, and 401k’s. There is also a plan to raise that age again in the year 2030 to 75.
In 2027 there will be an additional benefit of $1000.00 for lower to moderate income earners who contribute to qualified retirement plans.
Other benefits include raising limits on catch-up contributions to 401K and 403B accounts for all people ages 60 to 63. Finally, a new law requires employers to offer part-time employees to contribute to retirement plans after two years of employment.
I love those infomercials that state, at the very end: “today with your order we’re going to add a second one free………..only pay a small fee”. Say WHAT???
The greatest sales pitch ever for “Free” money is: “Buy one get one free.” Now don’t get me wrong, this can be well worth taking advantage of. I’m just saying use some common sense and read the rules of engagement to each and every deal.
If you regularly buy a large pizza for $15.00, but the pizza shop has a special $19.00 pie on Thursday’s, where if you buy one you can get a second one of a lower price free, it’s not really a buy one get one free is it? However, it may just be an additional $4.00 expense that makes sense to some.
Money – Phones – Internet
Free money, phones and internet lead the way of the most common sales hooks, creating a beneficial relationship to the company offering the “Free” whatever.
Banks can offer you “Free” money to open new accounts. These accounts will most certainly have deposit requirements and other demands like monthly direct deposits, minimum monthly balances and time restraints. Make sure you understand that any monetary benefits you gain from a financial establishment of any kind will come with a “1099S” at the end of the fiscal year.
Free phones will undoubtedly come with minimum service requirements and binding or restrictive contractual agreements. All that glitters is not gold.
Many internet offers can be extremely misleading and undeniably, way to complex to successfully interpret. Once again, if it seems to good to be true, it most likely is just that. Always read the fine print and any disclaimers.
Make Government live up to their often understated programs
Yes indeed, free internet may be available through the government. In fact, most states offer free government paid internet if you receive Medicaid, SNAP, WIC, Special Housing Assistance, Veterans Pension, Survivor Benefits, Lifeline and Tribal or reside in a household of at least two individuals with less than a yearly household income of $36,620. *Phones can also be included for a minimal one time fee.*
Advantage to the Advertiser
Today, with just about any service you need, if you search hard enough, you will find the crew, firm, person or company that will offer you “Free” estimates, reviews, diagnostics or consultations attempting to land you as a client, customer, consumer or even something more.
Law firms are offering “Free” representation with no upfront costs; furthermore, only getting paid when they win a settlement for you.
Free reviews of your will, retirement portfolios, and many more services are being advertised to create new and expanding business for the advertiser.
There are even companies out there that will give you “CASH NOW” for your annuities that you can’t utilize yet, or insurance policies that currently have less of a cash value than they will offer you. These are the “Serpents” of the world preying on the monetary needs of others.
In Conclusion
Looking for “Free” money can be easier said than done. Finding the time and patience to pursue the search is never simple, often frustrating and almost always disappointing.
The truth is, when you read statements like: “apply in minutes from the comfort of your home” or, “just complete and submit the simple enrollment forms”, this may just be the beginning of your troubles. Even worse are those dreaded phone recordings that state: “Stay on the line for the next available agent.” Worse yet: “Leave a call-back number and the next available agent will call you back.”
However, with all that said, all that’s worth pursuing may certainly be worth the pursuit.
____*WARNING*____
Stay centered on your search and don’t give out any information to uninvestigated sites or portals. Never disclose passwords or personal account information without knowing the validity of the request and an appropriate reason to do so. Always properly identify and confirm safe sites. Remember, cyber crime is growing yearly, can be extremely ruthless in design and might even result in undetectable consequences. Keep safety in mind at all times.
Soaring gas prices, grocery bills doubling, stocks in a seamless never ending downfall and interest rates reaching levels not seen in decades are surely disturbing if not to say devastating to most people.
Most older American are both confused and perplexed by the financial demise of their bank accounts and retirement portfolios.
Some signs have been encouraging over the last couple of months; but, to think global and domestic economic problems will recover quickly is not practical nor helpful in any way. Optimism about the near future is not what this article is all about. However, we definitely need to change how we think about this crisis and what we do about it.
I promise to quote some important financial minds and economic experts concerning the immediate future.
The midterm elections
Most older Americans would tell you that the results of the midterm elections were surprising, at the very least. Largely driven by the voice of younger voters, it could just be a look at the future of voting in this country.
Many older voters found themselves faced with new laws within their individual states that dictated how, where and when they could vote. This definitely had an effect.
Older voters have always been a driving force in our country’s elections. These voters are typically more informed and decisive. For future reference one should go to their state’s governors website to get updated information about new voting laws established in their state.
The deadline to vote in most states is mid October but not all. I know in New Jersey to vote for November 8th elections you have until October 18th to register.
The importance of staying the course
The stock market has never been a short term fix for over 99% of all investors through the years. Unfortunately, for most, right now the ride seems way to turbulent and a desire to get liquid overtakes traditional wisdom.
However, it is critically important right here, right now to stay the course. Don’t even think of the short term as scary as that is, but focus on the long term. Remember that despite the setbacks, stocks have more than tripled over the last ten years.
Recovery and what to do next
The fact is, over the first six months in 2021 the market dropped nearly 25% and this was the first time we were in “Bear-Market” territory in over a decade. Still down nearly 20% as the year ends if you are in retirement or almost there the pain and loss can be overwhelming.
So, what are we to do?
Re-evaluate your stock and retirement portfolios. Think only of the long term and diversify your holdings to balance your risk and reward levels.
Why a weak January 2023 may be a good thing
The Dow Jones Industrial Average has ended January down 15 times since 1998. If the trend holds once again, investors are in store for a dismal start to 2023 and after a brutal 2022 and gut wrenching December.
But not all hope is lost. According to Matthew Carr, Chief Trends Stategist of The Oxford Club, over the last 25 years, January has been one of the worst months for stocks. In fact the only month more dismal for equities during that same time frame is September (notorious for its swoons). He does admit that things were much different in the 1990s, but times change.
Is There a Reason to Rally?
Few trends, are absolute. The Dow has posted some strong performances in January during the past quarter century….. like 2012, 2013, 2018 and 2019.
Remember, December tends to be one of the best months for equities. Steep sell-offs during the month, much like we just witnessed are rare. But when they happen, it often leads to uncharacteristic rallies in January.
This pattern isn’t universal, of course. Half of all December sell-offs we’ve seen in the past 25 years did continue through January. That includes January 2003 and January 2009 smack-dab at the end of two of the last three “Bear Markets”.
From a broad market perspective, the outlook for January 2023 is probably not the fresh start investors were hoping for. Technicals, are also pointing to more pain ahead.
The upshot is that a steep sell-off continues in January which pushes those October 13th, 2022 lows – will trigger a rally.
Don’t try to time the Market
Though people think they can somehow pick the best time to buy and sell stocks, I’ve seen far more guess wrong than right. Even the so-called experts get it wrong enough times to make it necessary to control your behavior.
Why take unnecessary risks. Don’t reach for unsafe interest and dividend yields. Companies that pay high yields and dividends are always more risky. Both high paying dividends from General Electric and General Motors cost investors dearly in 2019 and 2009 respectively. High yield bonds are referred to as “Junk Bonds” for a good reason!
However, the T*pster says, now more than ever before, balance your portfolios. This can be done by balancing your stock holdings with safe bonds and other fixed-income investments such as various out performing annuities.
Do take a chance on some stocks, but make sure you have multiple endorsements from professional money managers.
Seven out of ten economists surveyed by Bloomberg are forecasting a recession this year. But it’s good to remember that the market is always forward-looking.
I believe that the market has already priced in a recession and now its sight are set upon a recovery. Will that take place in January? Or, will the bottom be pushed even further during the first half of 2023.
In Conclusion
I have presented key questions and even more optimistic answers that you, as individual investors, need to find out for yourselves in the new year.
It just might be the appropriate time to join an investment club if you haven’t already. I belong to The Oxford Club and for the first time ever, Alexander Green, Chief Investment Strategist, is set to reveal his #1 investment for 2023.
Finally, do not keep all your money in cash; but do keep enough to sleep peacefully at night.
Markets will recover and capitalism will more than survive.
If you are like millions of people in the world today, you depend greatly upon the information found readily available on the internet. Unfortunately, very few truly understand that this dependence is tragically the opposite of life.
When did we give-in and over to the feeling of needing internet assurance that what we see and feel is factual and relevant? Why is it so easy to grant this power to the internet and relinquish our God given power of insight and intellect?
What we want is reassurance and the internet can often result in misinformation that does that very dangerous thing!
Unintentional – YET – Unresponsible
Don’t get me wrong, I honestly believe the internet, for the most part, is attempting to be informative and helpful. However, the misinformation, whether unintentional or not is abundant and uninhibited by scrutiny of any kind. This, in itself, is the greatest danger we can succumb to.
When did we remove humanity from the equation? Is this insignificance we share, something we are actually aware of? Or, is it possible that this is humanity’s attempt to rededicate ourselves to each other, to live life and love all that surrounds us?
Anyway you choose to look at it, the internet is free to inform and at the same time innocent of misinformation.
The truth about Covid-19 and its effect on your pets
When my wife, Anna and I tested positive for Covid last week we hardly considered the consequences it could have on our beloved cat, Sage. However, love can be the demise of your pet when this virus infests your home.
Our healthy, young and fit Sage was the victim of internet misinformation. She was a baby, just seven years old and a real tiger at heart. Unfortunately, for her, she was loving and trusting of her mommy and daddy. She loved a good belly rub and being nestled in her daddy’s embrace. This love and trust did her in.
When she developed sniffles and sneezing it was both cute and comical. This didn’t occur until late Friday night the 23rd of December. Come Saturday morning she seemed both hungry and confused as her nose kept the sniffles present. Mostly she seemed upset that she was dripping sniffles into her food dish.
It was at this point Saturday that I decided to research the effects of Covid-19 on pets. The internet had numerous accounts of infected felines and canines and seemed determined, at the very least, to assure pet owners that there were no known deaths associated with Covid. In fact, they cited thousands of reported cases that resulted in pets recouping fully and quite quickly.
However, one European group of veterinarians documented a single case of an older cat in France with an underlining heart defect that died from the effects of the virus.
For all intensive purposes the internet was much more concerned with the pets infecting the household as to the opposite happening.
One thing for certain the information was comforting and went as far as to say isolating the cat was the smartest thing to do. The advice was to feel very confident in keeping your pet at home and letting their own immunity revive their health. There was both practical and scientific evidence that a visit to the Vet was totally unnecessary.
The shocking strength of Covid-19
By Sunday, Christmas day, I was beginning to feel much better and my wife still achy and probably a couple of days behind me, in terms of recovery, seemed to be my main concern for the day. Sage was still wrapped-up in her bed, in a blanket I placed around her the night before.
Anyway, this was to be an at home Christmas void of family and friends. This meant lots of phone calls to all those that mattered in our lives. The cat endured the day, mostly unnoticed by the two of us. I did some cooking for us and we watched a “Christmas Carol” that ended at 8pm. We were both exhausted, most definitely from the ordeal of covid over the last four or five days.
At this time I went upstairs to look-in on my baby, Sage. What I found was alarming and troublesome. She had made her way out of her bed and was now lying flat on her belly with her face in a significant puddle of clear as can be liquid. She was absolutely limp and unable to get to her feet. I made calls not to one, but to three different Animal Clinics in the area. All were closed for Christmas and also for the following Monday as well. They did offer an emergency number to call and it was at this point I realized that nothing was going to help my little girl make it through the night accept her determined Daddy holding and wiping her nose and mouth continually.
I proceeded to take her to our bedroom and lay her down on a soft thick blanket while I got tissues to wipe her soaked face and neck and nose. She now was responsive enough to be starring at her daddy and conscious of my efforts to help her. It became obvious that she was ready to submit to my care and with loving, trusting eyes she watched my every move. I kept telling her how good she was doing and reiterated the words: “just keep breathing Sagie……keep breathing.” With that look of the “TIGER” that she was, she listened to every word and seemed determined to do just that. Midnight came and all the tissues were gone and I now come back to her after getting a second roll of toilet paper. Her eyes followed me with every move I made. Anna had now fallen asleep on the floor, lying upon a new sheepskin rug we bought weeks before.
Suddenly, the breathing Sage was struggling to do with her nose ended and her mouth opened wide to continue to breath that way. She stretched in a peculiar way snapping her head, into a position that appeared as unnatural as it looked uncomfortable. I tried to correct her position, but her body was now in a rock solid phase that would not loosen or relax. I was now the only source of keeping her warm and dry as fluid seemed to be pouring from her mouth continually. The second roll of toilet paper disappeared in less than an hour.
Her breathing was well over 100 breaths per minute and I knew that her heart was undertaking a tremendous strain to continue. All I could do was to tell her how lucky I was to have the best little girl ever, how much I loved her and how sorry I was for letting her down. At 2:37 am she coughed two loud coughs and with lots of liquid in her lungs I heard a thump as her heart gave out. She died with her eyes wide-open, staring at me as if to say: “Daddy what happened?”
We had our beautiful little girl cremated Tuesday, December 27th.
While the covid-19 virus and various strands with lesser but still devastating oppression seem to be calming down, the world wants to return to normalcy; but, we’re not quite sure how to go about it. The new administration, faced with the largest inflation experienced over the past twenty years, seems indecisive and stubborn. They have clearly underestimated the cost of this pandemic and the essentiality of impending legislation.
The fact is, most families are either buried in credit card debt or recklessly unaware of the disruptions happening within and around them.
Can the government be foolish enough to continue to subsidize it’s people with checks that insult the working class and encourage those already collecting unemployment benefits to continue to do so! And, if so, can we the smart ones look to do something with this currency.
INVESTING, historically speaking…
As it’s been throughout the history of the stock market, the time to invest or “re-invest” is when stocks have been depressed and are approaching their all-time lows.
As it’s been throughout time people that take action, reap the results of their zealousness.
Right now, the three biggest stories running are (1) Inflation: especially the rise in food and gas prices (2) The war in Ukraine: especially concerning refugees and the Russian threat to surrounding countries (3) Abortion Rights, Mental Health, Guns, and Climate Change or the incompetence of the Supreme Court, Senate and Congress inclusively.
At least the Feds have adjusted interest rates, which by their own merit have created investment opportunities.
ANOTHER worthy T*psterism
I’ll let you in on a little secret…… The three big stories aren’t separate, and they certainly aren’t independent! In fact, they’re “ONE” story – and a big one at that. As a single identity, they represent a single narrative which consummately needs to be viewed as a single threat.
This is most certainly how mass media sees them and how Wall Street treats them.
A threat to the stability of both the U.S. and Global economies. Ultimately, a threat to the American financial market, which remains the most powerful in the world.
Furthermore, a threat to investors both individual and institutional who simply don’t get it! Unenlightened investors who just can’t seem to understand. Those who are uncertain of what’s really happening will remain crippled by their fears.
“It‘s just ONE THREAT and that’s all you need to remember when attacking it!”
Even though the pandemic erased a year or more of its growth, the global middle class since 2010 has grown at a rate of nearly 50 million people per year and has reached an incredible 1.5 billion worldwide. By 2030 that number will look more like 5.5 billion: this according to the European Commission.
Consumerism:
Middle-class consumers will drive economic growth and consequently the health of their countries and financial markets.
This is truly a big deal and especially over the long term, as economics is and always will be about “Supply & Demand”.
Inflation
Inflation is the uncontrollable result of scarcity. Wars, drought and other less important elements can lead to scarcity. It’s certainly obvious that over the remainder of this decade there will be a rising global scarcity of food even as demand rises. That frightening statement can paralyze or jump start your actions.
On its face, that sounds scary. However, if you understand the consequences of the scarcity ahead of time you can act to prepare and protect yourself. Yes, and you can profit from your actions, possibly creating meaningful wealth for you and your family.
By weaving together your intelligence and desire, you can use multiple resources at hand to discover new insights and fresh perspectives to enrich your life. The incomparable value of the internet and various outstanding professionals create a welcoming atmosphere to assist you. Consequently, you can find detailed answers to demanding questions enabling you to focus on the wonder of the world before you.
I firmly recommend joining longtime established investment clubs such as the “Oxford Club”. Without question they are worth the yearly dues hands down. On the free side there are various investment firms with an abundance of information. The latter requires much more work and determination, not to mention intelligence. Just remember, passion keeps you going but it doesn’t pay the rent.
The war in Ukraine
All wars, whether foreign or domestic lead to consequential manifestations and realities. This is an absolute fact and determination of the differences can be troublesome to say the least. That being said, today, depending on what news source you are listening to the differences are incredible.
However, whether or not the war in Ukraine is responsible for inflated gas and food prices the fact remains evident that these things are happening, concurrent to the war.
The government’s response
When hate motivated attacks on undeserving individuals and communities overwhelms the news again and again in this country the actions of a few cannot eliminate the despair of many. Mental Health can’t continue to be the reason for all this hate. Weapons of mass destruction, owned by individuals, was never the aim of the second amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America.
Depending on politicians to enlighten us can be risky business. To outmaneuver the government is certainly recommended.
“Actions speak louder than words” is a quote older than time. Take a real look at the procrastination of our government. The pretension of awareness from our senate and the downright partisan and contemptuousness of our supreme court justices.
The path of the righteous
Actions must be an antidote to despair and the fear of governmental inhibitors. I’ve discovered over the last decade that my own intelligence nurtured with the actions of others much more intelligent than I have given me great focus and resolve.
Maybe the biggest lesson I’ve learned is that there are no magical heroes. If we can’t or won’t help each other there will be no tomorrows worth living. But, if we all do what we can, it can make an incredible difference.
The “Promised Land”
Before Martin Luther King Jr., was taken from this earth meaninglessly in 1968, he spent his final night preaching to a packed church in Memphis. He spoke about his life like he was giving his own eulogy. He acknowledged that there had been threats on his life, but that didn’t matter. “Because I’ve been to the mountaintop,” he said, “and I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But, I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land.” The feeling in the church when he said these words had to have been indescribable.
I only wish I was there.
Every year I celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. on his birthday, because he was truly a righteous man and a gift from God. Every April 4th, I mourn, because that gift was taken away.
As for the T*pster, I’m waiting and watching for my next breakout opportunity. And, for those of you wondering if I would make a recommendation for an event like that, I’m not ready to risk any of your hard earned money right now.
However, to be safe and totally without worry, why not follow a well known billionaire’s approach to worldly fortune and wisdom. All Warren Buffett does all day is read, READ and R-E-A-D.
If you had invested 10K in the S&P 500 in May of 1965, when Warren Buffett took the helm of Berkshire Hathaway, and re-invested the dividends, it would be approaching $2.75 million today. Not too bad…..huh?
So, what can you buy in this market with absolute confidence that is totally safe, conservative and without worry? One answer, for certain, is Berkshire Hathaway: (NYSE = “BRK-B”).
When you own a share of Berkshire Hathaway you posses stakes in both public and private companies, including Coca-Cola, Verizon, Geico, Procter&Gamble, UPS, Duracell, Dairy Queen, and General Motors just to mention a few. The fact is, BRK-B is up over 4% in 2022 while the S&P 500 is down nearly 6%. Why people doubt Warren Buffett’s knowledge and insight totally baffles the T*pster.
In Conclusion
The media is continuing to feed you massive amounts of misinformation. Wall Street certainly doesn’t have your backs and U.S. Politicians promise exactly what you want to hear and do little to nothing to make that come to fruition.
Unfortunately, the stock market’s a mess and some stocks will drop further still. But others could be gearing up for an explosive recovery. The Oxford Club’s, Alexander Green, is searching for the next big catch on “Insider Trading”.
Places I like to investigate include: “fastfortuneclub.com” and “moneymappress.com”
Today, there are an abundance of Health & Wellness surveys out there so it can be overwhelming to say the least. Dissecting the data from the world’s experts in the field isn’t easy; but, my opinions are here for the taking.
Eating well / Living well
Eating well and living well can certainly go hand and hand. We baby-boomers have an awful optimistic view of our physical and mental health. Research studies have clear evidence confirming that as people get older they become more positive.
The majority of people know what they should be eating; however, most will keep eating what they enjoy regardless of the consequences. It’s not only about how long you might live, but also about how well you live. In a number of cases eating what you enjoy may be acceptable as long as you do so in moderation. This means you just can’t eat as much as you might want!
Moreso, eating a balanced diet of foods rich in Vitamins “C”, “D”, “K” and Magnesium are simply essential for longer and healthier lifespans. Therefore including fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, certain grains and fish in your weekly diets can be extremely beneficial.
Stay far away from “FAD” diets regardless of the celebrity claims. There are a number of documented studies showing a diet enriched with fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains while eliminating processed foods, especially meats, will extend one’s life expectancy. Sugar, processed sugars, corn syrup and white flour not only can trigger inflammation in your body and joints, but also are extremely high in caloric intake and may lead to worsening problems like diabetes and heart disease.
Eating right isn’t complicated, but often quite difficult to maintain. Over 10 MILLION older adults live in poverty in the United States alone and that makes eating healthy unreasonably difficult. Staying away from fast food establishments like McDonald’s and Burger King’s are critical. The freezer sections in most grocery stores would better serve people on a tight budget. Frozen fish, fruits and vegetables are much less expensive than fresh and far easier to maintain.
Vitamins and Supplements
I have a thousand different vitamins and supplements in my kitchen cabinets…….isn’t that sufficient?
No way, Jose!
Thousands of studies have shown that these pills do not do what the essential foods do. It comes down to the way the body digests and processes the foods rich in essential nutrients. The pills containing those nutrients lose their value, especially for older adults. In fact, only vitamin “D” has been shown in clinical studies to have significant value to older adults. And, the older we get, the worse low levels of vitamin “D” is for us. This deficiency can often lead to a high risk of cognitive decline such as Alzheimer’s, osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers.
How about my fish oil pills?
Many studies concerning the “Omega-3” supplements are “Non-Conclusive”. I would say eat more fish and foods high in Omega-3 such as certain nuts and grains and seeds. However, many physicians will claim that Omega-3 supplements can lessen the risk of heart attack and heart disease. Other pertinent supplements for the health of your heart can be: CoQ10, Selenium and a coated Aspirin taken daily.
Magnesium and Folic Acid help keep “Heart Rythum” steady promoting normal blood pressure, muscle and nerve function. Furthermore, Magnesium supports a healthy immune system, keeps bones strong, while helping to maintain an already healthy blood sugar level. The recommended daily dosage of Magnesium is 500 mg or more.
Protecting the Brain
Cognitive function is critical to extending a healthy lifespan.
For years very high doses of Lithium have used to treat brain malfunctioning and the condition known as “Bipolar Disorder”. Today, scientists and doctors alike are finding that Lithium in much lower doses, provide a number of neuroprotective benefits. Low-dose Lithium may reduce the risk of age-related disorders, protect brain function and extend a healthy lifespan. In fact, Lithium may improve mood, as well as prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. The national recommended daily dosage of Lithium is 300 mcg.
Exercise and Physical Fitness
Can I get by after age 60 with just a 15-20 minute brisk walk daily?
Maybe! But, I’d be more inclined to tell you that a variety of activities would be far better than just walking. I hate gyms with lots of loud noise, people and machines for exercise. For me, there’s golf, biking, skating, skiing and jogging that keeps me active and in shape.
Many physicians would also suggest more difficult activities such as weight training, swimming and yoga.
Joint, Neck and Back Pains
After I work out my body aches all over.
For many exercise soreness goes away after a day or two. For others, this might not be the case. Those with arthritis can still benefit by building up muscle mass around their joints. This can actually improve many arthritis symptoms and prevent more of them from surfacing in the future.
Many chronic pain sufferers are victims of their brain function. There have been a number of recent trials that have shown people can still generate pain signals even though their problem has healed. This has led to a new therapy called: “Brain Reprocessing”. This inclusive 7-8 session therapy teaches the brain to stop sending those pain signals. It has been conclusively evidenced with brain scans showing reduced activity in pain processing.
I have found that stretching in the morning helps with many of the body aches I experience waking up with each day. There are a couple of significant stretching exercises that can reduce back pain as well. One very popular exercise for the back is inversion which stretches the vertebrae. If you have a “Teter” exercise machine that’s great. Another stretching exercise requires you to lie on your belly with your elbows bent and your hands under your chin. In this position now lift your knees, hips and torso as high off the floor as you can and hold that position as long as you can. Your weight should now be on your elbows and toes. Don’t let your belly sag. See if you can maintain this position for at least 10 seconds. Take a minute after that and repeat at least once more.
Reducing Oxidative Stress and Chronic Inflammation
Aging and age-related disease always include discussions of oxidative stress and inflammation. Curcumin is a powerful supplement with multiple benefits that protect against both. Curcumin helps shield us from oxidative damage. It also helps bolster natural antioxidant enzymes and compounds.
Chronic Inflammation is the driver of practically every age-related disease, including atherosclerosis, diabetes, dementia and cancer.
Curcumin is a “Polyphenol” found in the roots of Turmeric plants. Many different causes of aging have been scientifically identified, including oxidative stress, chronic inflammation, cellular senescence, loss of telomere length and more. Many of them are powerfully and positively impacted by curcumin.
The big drawback to curcumin is extremely poor “oral bioavailability”. Very little ingested curcumin ever finds its way into the bloodstream.
A method has recently been discovered that improves the absorption of curcumin into the blood. This method combines curcumin with a fiber derived from “fenugreek seeds”. Blood levels in people that received curcumin encased in fenugreek fiber were significantly higher. Look carefully for this curcumin formulation.
Youthful Energy and Appearance
Studies show that feeling younger is associated clearly with better mental and physical health, cognitive function and satisfaction with your life and surroundings. For older adults a healthy sex drive is one that makes a couple feel younger and exuberant. It can be motivational and inspire general well-being while improving strength, energy and physical appearances.
In Conclusion
Many older adults experience a decline in their appetites. By eating less there is a natural reduction in the overall intake of essential vitamins. This is why a good daily Multi-Vitamin is definitely recommended.
Also with age come the loss of certain important functions of the stomach and digestive tract. This includes the production of stomach acid, an intrinsic factor needed to release B12 from foods, and for its absorption in the small intestine. People suffering from alcoholism, hypothyroidism, anorexia, celiac disease, or Crohn’s disease have a much greater risk of developing a deficiency in vitamin B12. I also recommend a daily dosage of vitamin B12 for this reason.
Zinc and Vitamin C are best taken every 2-4 hours to eliminate a severe cold or even a possible mild infection. They both absorb into the bloodstream rapidly, but have very little lasting significance. You can never take too much vitamin C however, you would be far better suited to drink a fresh squeezed glass of orange juice.
It’s not easy being beautiful just because you have great beauty. Being beautiful requires hours of thought and preparation. It can’t be easy as easy is seldom beautiful to the creator of such.
Great beauty can turn ordinary into magical or even extravagant. Great beauty can almost always turn mundane into wonderful or even whimsical. Great beauty has the power to raise spirits, stop crying and even produce laughter.
Harvesting Beauty
Like anything of great value, beauty needs nurturing and constant care to exist. Your eyes may miss more beauty in your lifetime than you, quite possibly, ever could imagine.
Like capturing sunsets over still waters or sunrises over rolling mountainsides beauty is certainly available, but often overlooked.
What is it to know or harvest great beauty? Honestly, it can’t ever be captured as the capture would instantly diminish the beauty and depreciate the beautiful. Still, with that quite evident, too many attempt finding beauty in this way.
After snapping three rolls of film at an awe inspiring live event, it’s that special shot which reveals the blood, sweat and tears of the performer that captures the beauty of the moment. However, it’s the actual attendees that will harvest this beauty forever.
So, great beauty can only be harvested by those conscious and obligated to creating the very things necessary to make it transpire. More than desire and more than need, great beauty has only a persuasive influence on those receptive to its harvest.
Yes, to say beauty is in the eye of the beholder is true, but only partially so, for great beauty has always been in the mind’s eye of those fully committed to it.
Making Time To Make Good Choices
In uncertain times great beauty can be lacking and quite difficult to harvest. In these moments the commitment not only needs to be upstanding but also unwavering. Consequently, the more committed you are, the easier it becomes over time. When you are paying more attention and spending some extra time in preparation great beauty can be the reward.
Remember, it’s the time we devote and the choices we make that will equal the beauty we create.
Let’s face it, after all the loves of my life, it’s easy to start right here when it comes to what makes me tick.
GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS !
and sunsets
Chantilly lace, a pretty face, and a ponytail hanging down………
a wiggle in her walk, a giggle in her talk……….makes my world go round!
A big eyed girl with green or gold eyes and a far away look within them……….
WHAT SOME OF MY FAVORITE WOMEN HAVE:
Betty Davis’s eyes
And Natalie Wood’s tears
Audrey Hepburn’s smile
And Jane Mansfield’s body
Karen Carpenter’s voice
And Cyd Charisse’s dancing
Elizabeth Taylor’s acting
And Grace Kelly’s style
Ann Margaret’s sassy
And Barbara Streisand’s ballads
Judy Garland’s heart and soul
And Virginia Woolf’s writings
Lastly, Artemisia Gentileschi’s paintings
And Mother Theresa’s Faith
Mother Theresa said: “No color, no religion, no nationality should come between us, we are all children of God.”
My First Movie Theater Boner
I can remember it like it was yesterday. We were in Radio City for a Sunday matinee. You see, all through the sixties, my pop would take the entire family once or twice a year to see a movie at Radio City Music Hall. Pop really enjoyed the movies, and it was a brilliant way to keep his large young family of rascals quiet and contented. And, these movies were absolutely magnificent on a tremendously huge curved screen. They called it: “Sense-A-Round”.
I was 10 going on 18 in 1963 and the movie was “Bye Bye Birdie”. When Ann Margaret sings “How Lovely To Be A Woman” while in her bedroom changing from her school clothes into a sweater and jeans, and all the time bouncing on her bed, I was in a very happy place. Good thing movie theaters were dark and extremely comfortable even back then. We were sitting in the 6th or 7th row and I was dead center! It seemed like Ann Margaret was changing her clothes as I lay beneath her bouncing body. Need I say more?
There were so many memorable trips to Radio City. I was just 6-7 when I saw Stephen Boyd, the mighty Messala, get trampled to death by a 4-horse drawn chariot; and, Charlton Heston, Judah Ben-Hur, win the most hair raising and absolutely terrifying chariot race ever filmed. The tremendous curved screen made this race come off the stage and into my lap.
The Sound Of Music, It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, Goldfinger, The Pink Panther, The Bridge Over The River Kwai, Lawrence Of Arabia, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Lord Jim, Gigot and My Fair Lady are all movies my parents took me to see in Radio City Music Hall. This was an event that always made me “tick”. It also helped make the “60’s” my favorite and most memorable decade.
Favorite Movies and Performances
Albert Finney as Scrooge and Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates. Fredric March as Al, Dana Andrews as Fred and Harold Russell as Homer in “The Best Years of Our Lives”
Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick in “The Days of Wine and Roses” and other Jack Lemmon movies like “The Apartment”, “Mister Roberts”, “Some Like it Hot” and “Save The Tiger”
Paul Newman in “Cool Hand Luke”, “The Sting”, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”, “Hud”, “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and “The Color of Money”
Kirk Douglas in “Spartacus”, “Lonely Are The Brave”, “Paths of Glory” and “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”
Dustin Hoffman in “The Graduate”, “Little Big Man”, “Midnight Cowboy”, “Papillon”, “Kramer vs. Kramer”, “Marathon Man” and “Tootsie”
Natalie Wood in “The Great Race”, “This Property is Condemned”, “Splendor in the Grass” and “West Side Story”
Peter Sellers in “Dr. Strangelove”, “There’s a Girl in my Soup”, “Murder by Death”, “The Pink Panther” and “The Magic Christian”
Jack Nicholson in “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”, “Chinatown”, “The Departed” and “The Shining”
Steve McQueen in “Papillon”, “Bullitt”, “The Great Escape”, “The Getaway”, “The Magnificent Seven”, “Hell is for Heroes” and “Baby the Rain Must Fall”
Marlon Brando in “The Wild One”, “On The Waterfront”, “Guys And Dolls” and “The Godfather”
Charles Bronson in “The Magnificent Seven”, “The Mechanic”, “The Dirty Dozen”, “Breakout”, “Rider on the Rain” and “Once Upon a Time in the West”
Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, “Sabrina”, “Charade”, “My Fair Lady” and “Funny Face”
Humphrey Bogart in “Casablanca”, “The African Queen”, “The Big Sleep”, “The Caine Mutiny”, “Sabrina” and “The Desperate Hours”
Peter O’Toole in “Lawrence of Arabia”, “Lord Jim”, “The Sandpiper” and “How to Steal a Million” with Audrey Hepburn
Robert De Niro in “Raging Bull”, “The Godfather Part II”, “The Deer Hunter”, “Once Upon a Time in America” and “Falling in Love” with Meryl Streep
Elizabeth Taylor in “Giant”, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”, “A Place in the Sun”, “Cleopatra”, “Raintree County”, “Little Women”, “Father of the Bride”, “Jane Eyre”, “National Velvet”, “The Taming of the Shrew”, “Suddenly Last Summer”, and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”
Tony Curtis in “Operation Petticoat”, “Spartacus”, “Trapeze”, “Some Like It Hot” with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe, “The Boston Strangler”, “Houdini”, “The Defiant Ones”, “The Great Imposter”, “The List of Adrian Messenger”, “Sex and the Single Girl” and “The Great Race”
Cyd Charisse in “Black Tights”, “Party Girl”, “Silk Stockings” and “Brigadoon”
Betty Davis in “All About Eve”, “Dark Victory”, “The Man Who Came to Dinner”, “Pocket Full of Miracles” with Glenn Ford and “Now, Voyager”
Robert Mitchum in “Crossfire”, “Out of the Past”, “Cape Fear” with Gregory Peck, “The Longest Day”, and “The Enemy Below”
Other great performances like Michael Caine and Lawrence Olivier in “Sleuth”, Anthony Perkins in “Fear Strikes Out”, Barbara Streisand in “The Way We Were”, Al Pacino in “Dog Day Afternoon”and “Serpico”, Bruce Willis in “The Twelve Monkeys” and “Pulp Fiction”, Kim Novak in “Bell, Book and Candle” and “Vertigo” with Jimmy Stewart and “Picnic” with William Holden, Charlton Heston in “Ben Hur” and “Soylent Green”, Gary Cooper in “High Noon” and “The Pride of the Yankees”, Jimmy Stewart in “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Rear Window”, Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz” and “A Star is Born”, Teresa Wright in “Shadow of a Doubt” and “The Best Years of Our Lives”, Charlize Theron in “Monster”, Jessica Lange in “The Postman Always Rings Twice” and “Frances”, Robert Redford in “The Natural” and “The Sting”, Clint Eastwood in “Dirty Harry” and “High Plains Drifter”, Richard Widmark in “No Way Out”, and “Pickup on South Street”, Glenn Ford in “3:10 to Yuma” and “Blackboard Jungle”, Faye Dunaway in “The Eyes of Laura Mars” and “Bonnie and Clyde”, Cary Grant in “Father Goose”, “North by Northwest” and “Charade”, Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Departed” and “Titanic”, Marilyn Monroe in “Bus Stop” and “The Seven Year Itch”, Frank Sinatra in “The Manchurian Candidate”, “Some Came Running” and “Pal Joey”, Spencer Tracy in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” and “The Old Man and the Sea”, Gregory Peck in “Moby Dick” and “The Omen”, Warren Beatty in “The Parallax View” and “Shampoo”, William Holden in ” Sunset Blvd.” and “Stalag 17”, Burt Lancaster in “Jim Thorpe – All American” and “The Rainmaker”, Mel Brooks in “High Anxiety” and “The Twelve Chairs”, Mickey Rourke in “Diner” and “Angel Heart”, Jane Fonda in “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?”, “Klute” and “The China Syndrome”, Gene Kelly in “Singin in the Rain”, An American in Paris” and “On The Town”, Robert Preston in “The Music Man” and “Victor/Victoria”, John Travalta in “Michael” and “Pulp Fiction”, Walter Matthau in “Hopscotch”, “The Odd Couple” and “Charley Varrick”, Richard Gere in “Internal Affairs” and “Days of Heaven”, The Marx Brothers in “Duck Soup”, “Monkey Business” and “Cocoanuts”, Abbott and Costello in “Buck Privates Come Home”, “Hold That Ghost” and “Abott and Costello Meet Frankenstein”, John Favreau and Vince Vaughn in “Swingers” and “Made”, Robin Williams in “Good Morning Vietnam” and “Aladdin”, Ben Stiller in “The Heartbreak Kid” and “Flirting With Disaster”, Jerry Lewis in “The Nutty Professor”, “The Bellboy” and “The Patsy”, George Segal in “Where’s Poppa” and “A Touch of Class”, Griffin Dunne in “After Hours” and Steve Martin in “The Jerk”……….JUST TO MENTION A FEW !
The Music of My Soul
Give me the “MOODY BLUES” and any of their albums or live performances. I’m a “Moody Blues” fan club member and have seen them 7 times to date. And yes, I will be seeing Justin Hayward once again Saturday night October 2nd, 2021 on Long Island, N.Y. .
After that, Elvis, Elton John, The Beatles, Neil Young, Cat Stevens, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Dion, and Neil Diamond round out the top 10!
Soul, give me Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson, Ray Charles, Diana Ross, The Delfonics,The Stylistics, The Temptations and Earth, Wind & Fire.
Jazz, I’ll take Tom Grant, Art Tatum or Dave Brubeck on keyboards and Pat Matheny, Wes Montgomery or George Benson on guitar, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Al Jarreau and Nina Simone on vocals, Charlie Parker, Stanley Turrentine, Stan Getz and Sonny Rollins on sax, and Gene Krupa on the drums.
Country, I’m old school, give me Charlie Rich, Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Willie Nelson, George Jones, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Conway Twitty, Glen Cambell, Marty Robbins, John Denver, Skeeter Davis and Reba McEntire to name a few.
MY FAVORITE ALBUMS:
1) The Seventh Sojourn (The Moody Blues)
2) Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Elton John)
3) Behind Closed Doors (Charlie Rich)
4) Tea For The Tillerman (Cat Stevens)
5) Deja Vu (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
6) Songs in the Key of Life (Stevie Wonder)
7) Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (The Beatles)
8) The Dark Side of the Moon (Pink Floyd)
9) The Stranger (Billy Joel)
10) Harvest (Neil Young)
Favorite Songs
1) New Horizons (The Moody Blues)
2) Old Man (Neil Young)
3) Oh Girl (The Chi-Lites)
4) I Dreamed Last Night (The Blue Jays)
5) Sunday Kind of Woman (Charlie Rich)
6) Take A Pebble (Emerson, Lake & Palmer)
7) Silver Stallion (The Highwaymen)
8) Holding on to Yesterday (Ambrosia)
9) Locomotive Breath (Jethro Tull)
10) Where do the Children Play (Cat Stevens)
11) Country Girl (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
12) Tonight (George Michael) and (Elton John)
13) Kentucky Rain (Elvis Presley)
14) Superstar (The Carpenters)
15) Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (Elton John)
16) Old and Wise (Alan Parsons Project)
17) Time (Pink Floyd)
18) Scenes from an Italian Restaurant (Billy Joel)
19) I Used To Be A Brooklyn Dodger (Dion)
20) Send Her My Love (Journey)
21) Another Star (Stevie Wonder)
22) Moonshadow (Cat Stevens)
23) Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey (Paul McCartney)
24) Poor Side of Town (Johnny Rivers)
25) If You Don’t Know Me by Now (Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes)
26) Young Girl (Gary Pucket and the Union Gap)
27) Stand Tall (Burton Cummings)
28) Sing Me Home (Kenny Loggins)
29) Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen)
30) What is Life (George Harrison)
JUST TO NAME A FEW………
GRANDKIDS
BEST DECADE: The Sixties / BEST YEAR: 1969 / BEST ACHIEVEMENT: Earning Series 7, 31, 63 & 65, as well as, Life and Health Insurance Licenses in 1998 / BEST MOMENT: The first of my four grandchildren, Tommy, is born 10/08/2009.
FINALLY
True love of amusement parks and fast Roller Coasters
Watching Evil Knievel jump cars, buses, over rattlesnakes, or a pool of sharks, etc.
The 69 Mets especially Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman // The 86 Mets especially my favorite, Sid Fernandez, the true World Series savior. “*FU* Vin Scully” !!!
The Super Bowl winning Giants of 1986, 1990, *2007*, and 2011.
The Rangers of 1993-94 – Stanley Cup Champions.
The 1969-70 and 1972-73 Knickerbockers.
Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicholas, and Tiger Woods on many magnificent Sunday Afternoons.
Willie Mays, Lawrence Taylor, Willis Reed, Wayne Gretsky, Tom Seaver, Eli Manning, Henrik Lundqvist and A.J. Foyt.
Superman, Captain Kangaroo, Popeye, Bonanza, Mission Impossible, You Asked For It, Night Gallery, The Wild, Wild West, Star Trek, Wanted Dead or Alive and The Twilight Zone.
“Pluck your magic Twanger, Froggy!” and Midnight the cat.
Let YouTube play a couple of the songs I listed that you might not remember or possibly never even heard. T*pster smilin at yas……………………….
“This was everything I could find in the Refrigerator ! ! !”
…………………….. Are you kidding me ?
*HOPE*
Hope is one of the most widely interpreted feelings that can only leave one wondering what exactly does that mean. To hope is to wish perhaps, but not exactly. Wishing always comes to an end based upon the object, subject or experience wished for. Hope on the other hand, comes from a much deeper recess of your being and is never really relinquished.
I would argue that hope is a conception derived deep down in the soul. A promise of great spirit and compassion to fervent its existence endlessly. Hope, is that thing that lives on and on and on.
Hope requires infallible belief in one’s ability to hold on, and more meaningfully, aspire to. It remains at all times both encouraging and uplifting. It can also be quite comforting and reassuring.
Hope is gracious, enthusiastic, cheering and void of capitulation or desperation. It can truly capture one’s soul. Unable to hold back, hope can grow into a lifetime of power to help manifest one’s dreams. It more than provides for survival and may be the only reason for continuance in times of dire need. Hope in its greatest form will be patient as well as persistent, always strong, always ready, always willing, never renounced.
The heart is the most powerful broadcaster of our being. A troubled heart, desperate and repressed can leave one unable to enliven. Hopelessness will be the result and this can lead to serious depression.
A life without hope can be unbearable, crippling and even end up in drastic measures like suicide.
Chronically unhappy people
Chronically unhappy people believe that somehow their lives are destined to be more difficult than others. They are certain and without a doubt that “LIFE” is “HARD”. Their outlook is always grim and escape from their plight unthinkable. They see themselves as victims and remain there with a “look what happened to me” attitude.
Happy people
Happy people know that life is hard and tend to bounce through difficult times with an attitude of curiosity rather than victimhood. They take responsibility for how they got into a mess and actively focus on getting themselves out of it. They use perseverance towards their problems and have an unlimited resource of hope that helps them to prevail.
*TRUST*
Trust, like hope, can be defined many ways. As a noun, trust can mean reliance, confidence, credence and dependability. It can also mean, dependence, guardianship, liability or duty. As a verb trust, like hope, has a nearly limitless amount of legitimate meanings.
Just as with hope, I would argue that trust is a conception derived deep down in the soul. To trust is self acknowledging. Trusting individuals are always very trustworthy themselves. Trusting people often lead lives of honor and high esteem.
When one puts their trust in another human being they’re saying that they have confidence in that person to do the “right” thing. Therefore, trust carries a tremendous amount of responsibility and even guardianship.
Happy people
Most happy and well adjusted people are trusting of their fellow man. They believe in the “GOOD” of mankind versus the assumption that everyone is out to get them. These same people foster a sense of community around themselves and meet new people with an open heart. Generally, they have strong family ties and loyal abounding friendships.
Chronically unhappy people
Unhappy people are distrusting of just about everybody, including supposed friends and possibly even family members. Strangers are definitely untrustworthy. Unfortunately, this behavior closes most doors of opportunity towards making meaningful connections with new people or situations. Furthermore, this behavior often promotes and festers crippling resentment towards others.
*FAITH*
Faith, is by far the most intangible of the three virtues depicted in this passage of mine. However, I would argue that faith, like hope and trust is a conception derived deep down in the soul. It is more unyielding than either hope or trust. Faith remains constant through a lifetime without really knowing how but the why, is always a complete certainty.
A life inspired through strong faith will assuredly amplify both hope and trust already in place. Faith can often be incorruptible, conscientious and resolute. An undeniable belief in the nature of human existence, faith holds no answers, but asks no questions either. Scrupulous and sincere, faith knows no limits or boundaries.
Faith includes a hope for tomorrow and the trust in mankind.
It is this faith alone that will be the guiding light through the darkest of hours and the greatest of challenges.
Chronically unhappy people
Chronically unhappy people concentrate on what’s wrong in the world versus what’s right. They will turn a blind eye to what’s actually right and focus on what’s wrong. Unhappy people are those that respond to any positive statements about their lives or the world they live in with, “Yeah but…”. They don’t want to be distracted from what’s wrong.
Unhappy people believe that others’ good fortune steals from their own. They are certain that there’s not enough goodness to go around. These people end up jealous and resentful of the successes of others.
Unhappy people tend to micromanage in an attempt to control all outcomes and then totally fall apart when things go off course.
Happy people
Happy people believe that they have a unique blueprint that can’t be duplicated or stolen from. Their faith in mankind is matched by their faith in themselves. They know of the unlimited possibilities offered to them and no other person limits their outcome in life.
Happy people have no jealousy or resentment in their lives. This allows them to stay focused on their goals and accept the unexpected or unpredictable difficulties life throws their way.
In Conclusion
Obviously, none of us are perfect and good virtues are not that easy to obtain. A good understanding of them is a great starting place and might be enough to help one manage a life that’s filled with promise.
We’re all going to swim in negative waters once in a while, but what matters is how long we stay afloat and get ourselves to calm and peaceful waters.
We can hope, trust and display tremendous faith in ourselves.
It’s about walking, running, falling down and getting back up again. It’s how we get back up again where all the differences reside.
That being said, I hope you will continue to join me looking back and ahead of the various life experiences I’m writing about in these blogs. More importantly, trust that I will present my experiences as I recall and/or foresee them to happen. Finally, keep the faith in our friendship and connection, because you all are quite special to me.
The real question here is: “What’s Love got to do with it?”
The answer: “EVERYTHING!!!”
The Beetles may have said it best: “All you need is Love………….da ta da da dah!” Yes, “Love is all you need.”
Really now…………..just saying
Some might refer to me as: “The Master of Love” or even “Doctor Love” or possibly “The Love Guru”…… It just could be that I’ve learned the hard way, what is and isn’t L-O-V-E.
The truth is…………“Real Love” doesn’t come easy, doesn’t survive without constant nurturing and will only be as real as the Love you, yourself, contribute freely, openly and honestly.
Poems, Songs, Stories, Novels & Movies
Love has been the theme of countless numbers of poems, songs, stories, novels and movies. Nothing has a greater command of an audience than the “searching” for Love. This pursuit for Love and ultimate recognition comes with an ever present quest to appease oneself.
To scrutinize this point further, are we driven by inadequate feelings of Love ourselves? This deduction may be true in more cases than not. I’m not certain that anyone knows for sure. However, those that live it and know the essence of Real Love, are also captivated by the interpretation of others dealing with this quest.
Harmony
Order, placement, disposition and uniformity are all synonyms of the word harmony. So, what’s this got to do with Love? Well, as a verb, to harmonize is to make order of various things that just might be out of sync. Take Real Love, for example, it goes without saying that things can and will get out of sync at one time or another…….. This requires order, placement, disposition and uniformity to correct and overcome. This desired reinstatement of Love to ultimately mend the situation can only occur with determined harmonization.
Constant harmony is nearly as hard to achieve as reaching infinity.
Nurturing
Nurturing helps to invigorate something that is in need of restoration. More significant, nurturing from the onset can keep something whole, fervent and without detachment. If you enjoy plants or gardening you know exactly what it is to nurture things. As little as three days of excessive heat and drought can lay a cruel death upon your garden. This mere let down and lack of proper nurturing can be devastating. Recovery, regeneration or a return to normalcy may be impossible.
This is not to say that Love can be as fragile or delicate as a garden; however, only the participants know what level of nurturing is necessary to maintain a solid footing. Involvement in daily, weekly, monthly and yearly nurturing will deepen the Love between partners without question.
You can nourish Love in many ways, and it’s important to choose those that express your intimate thoughts and desires. Most significantly, this should be merely a feeling, desire and eagerness unconscious of any effort to sustain.
Giving without measure
Over time, all loving relationships have enormous amounts of giving and taking from one another. An appetite for giving without expecting anything in return undeniably indicates Love of the deepest kind. Even more meaningful, is when this undertaking happens naturally and honestly without a need for recognition. More often than not, this behavior will only be evident to God and intuitively adept bystanders.
The key to this behavior is the joy and fulfillment one gets from being the giver. It is invigorating to say the least.
You must understand, this is an unconscious desire fully intended to give without measure or redemption.
Influence and flexibility
All loving relationships will certainly face trying times and moments of doubt and concern. These situations will always challenge the partners to communicate openly and honestly. The influence and flexibility of their interchanges are critical to resolve most issues. Influences should be wholeheartedly acceptable by both parties. This can mean a tremendous amount of flexibility will be necessary to obtain agreements.
Giving in to your partner’s wishes or instructions are not a reasonable way to handle most issues of importance. Once you relegate to yielding you not only remove your commitment, but lose your respect in matters of consequence.
You’ll hardly ever overcome a failing partnership once weakness is implied or indicated. Susceptibility of indifference will destroy most relationships. Those that do survive will never be reflective of Real Love.
Obvious “yes’s” are more than acceptable and even highly encouraged when it comes to trivial and unimportant decisions, like what movie to go see. Keep one thing in mind, “I told you so’s” are never appropriate or appreciated words.
Living in tune with each other
Will most couples dreams come true overnight? Not likely! Loving desires and good intentions will take an awful lot of flexibility, influence, attention, nurturing, harmony and most importantly, giving. The giving of time and patience, support and encouragement, as well as compassion and understanding will proactively subscribe to Real Love.
Living hand in hand and heart to heart will reflect one another’s commitment to living in tune with each other. Confirmation of this Love will be determined by its perseverance.
All those lucky enough to be in L-O-V-E
Thank God for bringing your desired partner into your vision. Live and Love openly and honestly without regret for any previous attempts to find Real Love that may have failed to develop.
Take heed to the beautiful words of Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues in the song, “Never Comes The Day”:
“Givejust a little bit more, take a little bit less from each other tonight, and bid what you’re feeling and see what’s in front of you……….It’s never out of your sight!”
“You know it’s true……..We all know that it’s TRUE.”
The electric vehicle revolution is not just about cars. It’s about engines guzzling gas and the eventual overhauling of everything under the hood. Let’s face it, electric vehicles are the future. We’ve come a long way and the future is changing every day.
Gas consuming vehicles polluting the earth are about to see their own demise. There’s a lot of support for “clean energy” right now. Biden and his new administration have a very progressive congress looking to change the landscape of the world for future generations to come.
Unfortunately, for some very huge corporations and even nations who haven’t diversified these changes, now in sight, will result in billions of dollars lost. Oil exporting nations, oil companies around the world and businesses that produce combustion engines and components will be consumed. Only those companies that are willing, and more importantly, able to evolve into clean energy producing manufacturers will survive.
This means the loss of millions of jobs in those factories and all traditional auto repair facilities. You ask: “What about muffler and transmission specialists?”………..I’d sell those stocks sooner than later!
Electric vehicles don’t have engine blocks, pistons, rings, valves, coils, spark plugs, injectors, fuel pumps just to mention a few components!
The Tesla electric “Drivetrain” has less than 20 components while a typical gas engine, transmission, has around 200. Electric vehicles have far fewer moving parts, whether it be an automobile, truck or bus. This proves to be the most important and practical evidence that the future will be an electric one.
Crazy money
Now on the wings of this clean energy movement many capitalists will venture into the market of electric vehicle manufacturers and new evolving technologies associated with them. Companies that will emerge as the leaders in the coming months and years ahead will be those best rated by both statistics and value.
I’m talking here about auto, truck and bus companies who will break new boundaries for battery range and cost effectiveness. Large legacy companies will be using their size and creative reconstruction to capture huge sales and returns. This means the GM’s and Fords of the world.
Companies in China and Europe have put 1.3 and 1.4 million electric vehicles on the road in 2020. Germany on its own finished 2nd to China with the U.S. coming in 3rd. Volkswagen has been ahead of the field extending vehicle range by 50% and cutting charging time to a mere 15 minutes.
It has been forecasted that the electric vehicle market will reach $1.5 trillion within the next ten years. Crazy money will be made by those investors buying equity shares in companies that will drive the future of these vehicles. On the other hand, money management firms will short shares of those corporations destined for their demise.
Where will the money be going?
The trillions of dollars will be awarded to those emerging companies producing the new technologies driving this revolution. Companies manufacturing the electronic components necessary to advance the growth of the industry are most critical. My top ten list of companies would include makers of:
1) Batteries and Battery Development
2) Charging Stations
3) Thermal Systems (Cooling)
4) Transmission Replacement Technology
5) Electric Traction Motors
6) Computerized Electronic Controllers
7) DC/DC Converters
8) New On-Board Charging Systems
9) Vehicle Charging Ports
10) Traction Battery Packs / Auxiliary Batteries
Already The Future Holds:
Traction Battery Packs store all of the electricity for use by the Electric Traction Motors. Auxiliary Batteries power computers and accessories such as windows, sunroofs, stereos, A/C and heaters. The vehicle’s charging ports and charging stations are self explanatory.
The Electronic Transmissions transfer power from the Electric Traction Motors to the wheels. However, some electric vehicles have already eliminated the need for a “transmission” by attaching their Electric Traction Motors directly to the wheels. This is often referred to as the “Drivetrain”.
Thermal Systems maintain temperature ranges of all electronic components.
A DC/DC Converter converts high-voltage direct current (DC) from the Traction Battery Pack into low-voltage direct current (DC) to power the accessories by recharging the auxiliary batteries.
Finally, an On-Board Charging System takes incoming alternating current (AC) from Charging Ports and converts it to direct current (DC).
Where are we now?
Electric vehicles are just out of the starting gate, but technology is advancing at a pace that is hard to truly comprehend. Based upon today’s tremendous computing power we will be amazed at the advancements over the next decade.
Batteries, in my estimation, are the keys to a future that will never look back again.
Lithium-ion batteries which consist of only four components: 2 electrodes (an anode and a cathode), a liquid electrolyte that moves the ions between the electrodes, and a separator keeping the electrodes from touching are powering most of the current electric vehicles. However, scientists and chemists are hard at work to advance this technology experimenting with new cathode materials such as aluminum and iron to make lighter and less expensive batteries than the cobalt, nickel and manganese ones being used already.
I’m also tracking the development of a new technology that could change the future of the “clean energy” revolution forever. This includes technologies that will reduce the use of heavy amounts of graphite needed to store lithium ions. Various small, independent companies have sprung up using labs working with materials to make solid-state batteries that will do just that.
I’m really excited about a small company that is currently manufacturing a battery they call the “Quantum Glass Battery”. This may change the landscape of battery manufacturing and send the market for this technology into overdrive.
I’m certain that the future will include a battery capable of taking a vehicle 1000 miles on a single charge and also able to fully charge as quickly as your cell phone. This battery will be much more cost effective. It will be smaller, lighter and longer lasting than anything on the road today.
Where are you going?
Never underestimate the power of fate and destiny. As we get older we definitely slow down; but, the surge in mental awareness is incredible. We now have the courage to admit what we want and the knowledge of how to get it. Yielding to our wisdom is remarkably simple as we now “know what we know” and can trust our intellect. Most importantly, using our minds has become as simple as habits like taking a daily run or drinking a cup of coffee.
Dear Brother
We have been blessed with the care of loving parents, had a very privileged upbringing and acknowledge these truths. Pops was our truest critic applauding our successes and pointing out our failures. He gave us the freedom to discover our own selves. In his memory and with mom’s continued love we have made the value of our family imperative.
I honestly believe that Pop wanted to write his memoirs so we could understand his childhood and even to reveal his inner self to us. I know that Renee has his last written words and some cassettes he recorded. I wish he was here so I could put his words down for him and help him finish what he was unable to do.
I hope this blog has given you a reason to read others I’ve written. I’d love to get some feedback from you. Remember, you’re not just my older brother you’re also someone I really admire.
Life is too short and the time we have left is precious.
Acknowledgment of one’s identity is not always a snapshot representation. Along the way of human development there are changes to the physical, psychological, philosophical and spiritual outline of one’s being. Our blueprint can take many shapes, dimensions, influences and educational doctrines. It’s no wonder that this process can leave many searching for their “true” identity.
Significant research shows that the adolescent years of one’s existence are the most critical to stimulate growth and development. One’s surroundings, affiliations and youthful encouragements can determine one’s characteristics. This, however, does not reflect the unanticipated disturbances that can occur in anyone’s early maturation process.
Foreordained formative development can often be the most constructive means of one’s fortune. This results from great influences of those parents and/or caretakers that direct and ultimately produce their child’s future. Often it’s a family legacy which can predetermine one’s existence. This advisory effort is contrary to those schooling years where educators are trying to help students determine their own way.
Exchange of ideas that enlighten and arouse curiosities can circumscribe one’s choices in adolescence as well as anything else. Practically speaking, we tend to excel at those things we are most meaningfully drawn to. Enthusiasm, playing a major role in enhancing one’s development.
Life choices
When you love the desires you develop this usually produces strong undeniable traits. Realizing who you are and who you intend to be is emotionally uplifting. Committing to these desires makes the hard work of accomplishment reasonable, and in more cases than not, completely acceptable. This can collectively empower your unwavering faith in your own value and importance. Life takes on real and physically established dimensions. Your self worth becomes your “Certificate of Achievement”.
Your life choices may now seem to be more mechanical than spiritual. Instinct, resources, and higher level desires take over, in a way, to protect and insure what you want.
Setbacks and recovery
There may come a time when you see yourself as separate from what you want. This can occur when things become difficult and overwhelming. What you want is already established within your being. Therefore, matching the energy of your desires with determination will lead to attaining the thoughts of your desires. We all create our own intentions. Recovery from setbacks can be a simple renewal of our desires and our thoughts.
Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
We are born into a world that promises nothing, expects something and offers everything. The old adage that all you are assured of in life are “death & taxes” is so ridiculous yet so emphatically believed. In reality, we are what we think, do, and desire. Life offers us infinite possibilities.
What we are today comes from our desires of yesterday. Consequently, what we desire today builds our tomorrows. Most people spend too much time doubting their intentions and desires which in turn derails their futures.
If we would plan our tomorrows as we plan a summer vacation we would fully understand the self empowering nature of our desires. All our intentions and desires are part of the whole perfect person we have become.
Doubts and limitations
Doubts and limitations are often self created. This may be brought on by a lack of focus and trust in oneself. Often, money, health, time, energy and circumstance are blamed for these limitations. However, could it be something more powerful like a desire that needs to be refreshed or adapted.
If you want to see change you and only you have the power to make changes become reality. Life doesn’t stand still and is constantly changing. Why is it that we have a hard time readjusting to those changes.
When we gain new perspectives on things around and about us, we have the ability to alter and even upgrade our life’s desires. Our intentions and desires are unique and dynamic. There are no limits to our self endowments. With that being said, we have our self created blueprints and the dreams they represent. If things get detached we can act to correct them.
All roads lead to home
The power of our desires is an energy that rules our lives. When we believe in ourselves there are no limits. We know that consciousness can lead to reality. What we want to see is always there in front of us. It’s the choices we make that lead us on our way to there.
In essence, all roads lead to home. This is the “Home” of our innermost thoughts, cares and desires.
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To my beautiful and awesome wife as she turns 65 today….. I’m so blessed to be able to celebrate the powerful, passionate and confident woman she has become. I’m touched by her love and support daily.
SEPTEMBER 2003
To all of our yesterdays and tomorrows, today is the day I look forward to the most.
It was a great friend and former partner of mine that brought the subject of indirection to light. He called me a master of indirection; and, when I asked him what he meant it was with an elevated disposition to say the least. I didn’t appreciate being labeled something I was unable to surmise and his opinion of me was very important. Heck, I thought he was disparaging my character.
He began explaining his comment by making pertinent references to my somewhat every day performance. It was as he unmasked my intentions that the relevancy of his statement began to take shape in my mind’s eye. You see, being in sales, the preparations I went through routinely had great purpose. I was always trying to generate sales and attract new business.
He is one of the wisest men I know, and made me realize that my well conceived sales process was designed to manifest strong results in an absolutely indirect way. The more he spoke the clearer a picture of myself developed. It became clear that I was really never selling my goods at all. Instead, I was helping my intended customer sell them for me.
In fact, whenever I found that my diligence to this sales process was lacking in effort, I would corrupt and discredit my salesmanship putting my customer on the offensive to assure me of my value and great help. That being said, I was always cognizant of my surroundings, the level of reception I held, and the purpose of my words. I never failed to be a steadfast listener and especially humble and grateful for the sales that proceeded.
Psychological profiling
The truth is, I could never pass the psychological profiling of a person most suited for a life of selling. This, I was told many times by numerous firms for which I had applied for sales positions. The whole profiling issue got me so disconcerted, that it became the essential ingredient in my quest to prove all those so called sales gurus wrong.
I never really thought about the art of indirection, as my friend named it. I just thought that I brought something refreshing and different to the process of selling. In my mind, I always labeled it as yielding. Trying to help people help themselves and making a living doing so seemed so much easier than selling for the company. Being a company man was the last thing on my mind.
I was always a good story teller. Most of my clientele were happy to exchange life’s changing moments with me. This not only made a customer more comfortable it opened the doors for me to empower them.
I’m just a guy who likes to take great big concepts of how things function and break them down in simple terms. I enjoy making the complex easy by looking at it in its simplest form. It was this process that ultimately became my basis for yielding! Thus, my selling became unembarrassed, spontaneous and manageable.
Most of my customers were eager and receptive to giving me leads. These leads were quite solid and of great value to me. Respect for my clientele was always answered with great respect.
Prestige
To all those that broke records in sales, whether it be in volume or revenue, the prestige that went with these triumphs was and will undoubtedly remain their driving force.
I’m now retired over two years and after forty years in sales, I can honestly admit that prestige was never a driving force. For me, it was always about the friendships I found along my journey and the lasting episodes we created together.
In conclusion
The art of indirection might well have been created to prove a point to myself. I really was a sucker for a good sales presentation when I was young. The result of which was buyer’s remorse when faced with the truth of being sold something absolutely worthless for my immediate needs and/or situation.
Today, I only acknowledge those salespersons who are willing to tell me something about themselves, enlighten me with evidence of something I may have missed and listen carefully to what I am asking them.
In order to really enjoy success you must first define success. Webster’s dictionary defines it many ways; and, that means success may have many varying definitions. Moreover, this may muddy the waters of understanding, eventually making success harder to reach and totally occupy.
There is no real road map to success without clearly defining what it means to be successful! Today there are numerous self-help courses as well as audio and video lectures on the subject. Does that mean we all need to think bigger and more often? Are we looking for wisdom to come in the form of some profound revelation? Do we honestly believe that the best successes come after terrible disappointments? Dream big and visualize better days ahead. Take charge of your own destiny. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. And so on and so on…..and so on. Clichés are exactly what they are………clichés!
Is success about achieving wealth and personal possessions or something more significant?
Beyond wealth
Wisdom, humility and equanimity are all strong contributors to a rich and fulfilling existence. However, these attributes are often discarded when defining success. What then does it mean to be truly wealthy? Are we to believe that you can never have enough money; and, wealth only comes to those that are willing to push beyond the boundaries of most others?
We must categorize our desires. If it’s money and possessions that rule your life, then be certain of it. Do you truly get what you pay for? Will there ever be enough relaxation and peace of mind to make this worthwhile?
Beyond wealth there is the freedom to truly create the existence you want. Money can’t buy freedom or character.
True wealth can only be measured by the individual attempting to live a “Good Life”. Consequently, corresponding attainment of character can lead to the full experience of success. This reaching beyond wealth may be hard to understand because there is a wide range of attributes and distinctions that may matter. Finding one’s true character and realizing great worth often go hand and hand.
Depression
Some try to define a successful life in terms of all the riches they can mass. Pressure to attain such riches can be devastating. This pressure can surface in the form of unrealistic goals set by oneself or, worse yet, by the influences of others or a troublesome existence. Many who fail to live up to their own expectations often end up with harsh delusions and seriously unattainable relief. Depression can be the result of such actions.
The fact is that this depression is expected and nearly always impounding. The depressed often do the very same thing day after day, week after week and month after month. Unfeasible as that may sound it is most often the case.
The use of anti-depressant drugs has grown to unheard of proportions in this country and, without a doubt, like depression itself, will continue to rise. The enormous penetration of depression in today’s society can only be considered catastrophic.
A person consumed with depression will continue their behavior, knowing what they are doing is wrong. As hard as that is to believe, they will define their actions with the rationalization that somehow this wrong behavior will change their future outcome.
Practical wisdom
The art of understanding all of the knowledge we learn and, the guarded use of spiritual reflections can broaden and inspire great elaborations of success. We never stop learning until the day we expire. To distinguish the successful may require one’s philosophy or trust in oneself.
Practical wisdom comes with the development of trusting the knowing and believing wholeheartedly what we know. Hence, the trusting of what is supported in our minds as reasonable, evidenced fact.
We don’t take what we’ve heard or read as factual without trusting our own practical wisdom.
What’s Love got to do with it?
It was the Beatles many years ago that said: “all you need is love” and later, Jackie DeShannon that beckoned the world to listen to her request! So, if you really want to know, all things begin and end with the love that is given.
Simply put, to master every unfortunate event of human experience it takes great focus on love.
Your connection to success
A connection to success is subject to massive debate and classification. This means that each person may interpret their own connection without assurance from others, even being able to disregard those that may disagree. Ultimately, this interpretation indicates the difference between knowing and believing. Thus, each successful person is equipped with the knowledge of their defining principles and is able to defend and advance their beliefs. You are, in fact, the only one able to change yourself, enable yourself, enjoy yourself and free yourself.
This discretion is your connection to success. It allows no one to overturn it or discredit it. Most importantly, it defines who you are and what principles both rule and emphasize your existence. And last but definitely not least, it sustains, manifests and attracts continued success.
Many of my friends and acquaintances know that I’ve been subsidizing my existence for years now by playing poker for money, wherever and whenever I can. This could be one of the reasons for my four marriages, as many of those so called friends would say. However, anyone who really knows me – knows better. That’s right………I’m just so very lovable!
Just like life – Poker takes effort to be successful
It’s easy to be wrong. It’s easy to say no. Giving up is simple; and, retreating can be much more comfortable than forging onward. Anything you really want to excel at takes unwavering discipline and resolve. Consequently, finding success begins with desire, accordance and effort.
Hooked at an early age
For me, poker was a Friday night event at my house growing up, at least monthly and sometimes more than that. You see, my folks and their friends loved to play and the games were always on Friday nights but, moved from home to home. These games were fun and they included many variations of “Poker” which were played for stakes between a penny to as much as a dime. Primarily, it was the enjoyment of the games themselves, which dominated the evening, and not the money to be won or lost. I watched wholeheartedly and extensively, which led me to begin to analyze the play, and more importantly, the players. Even though I was just a child, not yet a teen, I developed a strategy of how to play and win at these games my folks called poker.
However, by the time I was able to talk myself into their game, I was too old to appreciate what I knew and never excelled when playing with them. Later in life, I would realize that this game, like almost every other one I played, allowed you to play to the level of your competition. Thus, playing with bad poker players led to playing poorly myself.
Awareness of commanding composure
Once I sat down with dedicated poker players I became aware of the one thing they all championed. They all had commanding composure and reflected great confidence because of it. This lesson was not exempt of painful monetary hardships.
However, recalling all the nights of poker I consumed as a child, I soon realized the great, yet simple, secret of success. Somehow stored deep in the recesses of my mind, I always knew this simple formula. The problem was that frankly, I was undisciplined, leaving me unable to exercise the simple keys to success.
Simplicity rules
Yes, like many of the secrets of life, we always miss the obvious by having a propensity to complicate the process of interpretation. Nothing can ever really be as simple as we might think! With poker, this reflection is the downfall of most players. Over thinking, over complicating and over speculation destroys even the smartest individuals when playing poker.
How to remedy this situation
Can a true competitor of the game reveal his simple and fool proof answer to this dilemma? The answer is “NO”! However, for the sake of contention, I might give you this information knowing that great knowledge still requires an able and confident user to work appropriately. Now does that mean I’m putting you down? I wouldn’t say that; but, being a master of indirection allows me to incorporate tremendous arrogance and autonomy.
Why you will still struggle
When it comes to believing in God or the Tooth Fairy, some have no problems at all, while others struggle to understand what it is they truly believe. So, that being said, the solution to becoming a master poker player will take down many players who will forever struggle with the simplicity. For them, nothing can be that easy to figure out.
Now remember, it was while I was in my pre-teen years that this wisdom was unintentionally yet vehemently developed. Who can ever really deny the nature of its conception.
Surely, I can’t play the game for you, I can only tell you this very basic secret to employ if you really want to have success. Let’s face it, I’m a student of my own preachings. Truth is, the masses are more inclined to play for the enjoyment of the games and the sociability. The rest of you will be skeptical at best with my secret and your level of play will remain as it is today.
Time to entrust indefensible purity
Well, if you’ve come this far and read all of the previous paragraphs, you have proven to me as well as yourselves that you truly desire to evolve into winning poker players. You see, most players are happier with losing, especially if they lose to really good hands or to those they consider really good players.
Revelation is not always handled correctly, so now it’s time to take this to heart as well as to the BANK! Precursor: The secrets I’m disclosing can only work if you utilize them!!!
First and foremost, winning at poker takes luck. Now before you get angry, take this honest assessment and remember it well. Second, luck comes to all players on any given night and, so called “bad luck”, comes too infrequently to even matter at all.
So, what is the simple solution you ask? O.K., I’m ready to advance all your poker playing talents if you are seriously ready to act. The third, and most important part of the equation to success, is patience. Without this, all players eventually fail and the result is a losing proposition. It takes incredibly disciplined patience to win consistently at poker.
“Patience”, you say, “are you seriously telling me that’s the secret?”
Absolutely! You are obviously waiting for your luck to come; and, when it does you need to be ready to capitalize. Unfortunately, as I have stated before, most of you will forget this SIMPLE instruction and others will disregard it as worthless jibberish. The one thing you cannot dispute is it’s undeniably incredible purity. That being said, most players lose at poker the moment they get frustrated enough to lose their patience.
T*psterisms are: Meaningful teachings that the T*pster loves passing on to all his friends, old and new. Nothing more, nothing less, just lessons already learned by trial and error. Hopefully helping to make things a little easier and a bit more fulfilling.
A Pyramid Approach
All successful investing starts by admitting that uncertainty will always be a part of the equation. Hence, there is no perfect strategy. However, there certainly is a strategy to employ when it comes to dealing with your new found friend, uncertainty.
The fact is, your strategy may change as your needs change or as father time changes your tolerance for risk. This is where I believe your pyramid begins to define your strategy. Through your past, to the present and into your future.
Building your pyramid
If you take your life and all its holdings and list them out on a piece of paper starting at the bottom of the page with the most abundant things you possess (like food, clothes, books, etc., etc.) working your way up the page to more valuable but limited possessions (like jewelry,vehicles, keepsakes, etc.) all the way to the very top which would hold just your most valuable possession like a house or possibly more……
Near, or at the top of this pyramid will also be your esteem or profession. You may value yourself at the top of your pyramid and there is no reason that shouldn’t be. This is to say that without you all the rest of the blocks in your pyramid would be unstable and in danger of collapsing.
The key to this exercise of building your pyramid should now come into focus. We can’t get to the top without building a strong foundation. Stay with this principle and investing can be easier than you ever thought possible. It all starts with a strong foundation!
Keys to Success
There are really just “Five Keys” to what I describe to be a winning Investment Strategy.
1) Having the means to begin investing
2) Learning how to yield the highest return with the lowest amount of risk
3) Finding the best research online today
4) Protecting your profits
5) Cutting your losses
Diversification
Until you have properly put together a diversified long-term portfolio you cannot implement my speculative short-term approach to wealth building. This can be done through a 401K at your place of employment or by building your own IRA’s with help from the likes of Fidelity Investments or various other investment firms. Do not go this alone; and, heed my warning that all that glitters is not gold.
This long-term “Core” portfolio must focus on diversification of assets. So, this doesn’t mean three or four of your favorite tech stocks! Asset allocation means spreading your holdings across various asset classes. Some stocks, both small and large cap, some bonds, both long and short term, and various mutual funds both domestic and foreign.
Your very unique asset allocation allows you to boost returns while limiting your volatility. Most often, the more diverse your allocation is the safer and consistent your returns. In other words, the more diverse the easier you feel about it.
It’s all connected
Just remember, your past, present and future are all connected. This past year the pandemic gave us eerie insights to a world of changes and uncertainties. More importantly, those who would forget the past are doomed to repeat it! But, those that embrace and clearly define the past can benefit from it, and garner all they can from it because, it led us to where we are today.
Remember, we came into 2020 riding on the waves of a strong economy and a raging “bull” market. 2019 posted whopping returns in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite. Equities were at all-time highs in February 2020 to no one’s surprise.
Then suddenly the corona virus pandemic hit and with all the might of an out of control tsunami. But, investors seemed to hit back even harder. It was quite surreal and almost mind boggling.
What continued through the spring and into the summer, with brief and minor adjustments in September and October was encouraging and incredibly heroic in its own right. Quite possibly the greatest lesson I have ever witnessed in all the years of my investing. That is why we must remember 2020.
First and foremost, the Federal Reserve came to the rescue. The opening of the purse strings so to speak. Sending massive amounts of stimulus checks, additional unemployment compensation and small business loans with incredible income forgiveness out to frightened and desperate Americans. These Americans, some stuck at home, others isolated and looking for an answer to their dilemma decided that this money wasn’t enough to make a significant difference. Consequently, many took the funds and reinvested this money. This was extremely true of younger Americans that took those stimulus checks and decided to bet on the future. Young first time investors opened millions of new brokerage accounts and poured millions of dollars into the market.
Retail investors, instead of selling out, helped launch a bull market by buying with their free trading apps all through the February and March plunge. Institutional investors then followed that lead and backstopped each upward thrust, chasing those same stocks and generating tremendous momentum. This, of course, invigorated retail investors even further.
Even though most of the “value” stocks being scoffed up didn’t have great earnings they were now cheap and first time investors were ready to leap. “Cyclicals” were next and at prices that many investors were looking for. Finally, institutional investors had to buy everything the retail investors had bid up so they didn’t look foolish and left behind.
At the end of 2020, set up by the Feds, many new retail investors rushed to build a stock portfolio and good old American optimism ruled the Market.
This is where we are
This can be a starting place as good as any heading into a new year with a pretty solid foundation under our feet. The equity markets are not to be feared. While some valuations may be getting a bit stretched, others are still ripe for the choosing. The pursuit of meaningful wealth can and should be one of your goals for 2021.
Why might this be the year to invest? Will things really ever be perfect? Not likely, and that’s because uncertainty is always a given. Yes, some valuations are getting stretched, but that might lead to another correction like we saw last February and March. Any good dip in the markets will trigger another solid opportunity to jump in. And, as vaccine distribution and the coping with covid-19 gets significantly better the economy will follow suit with a slow but steady recovery.
Where we want to be
I’m delighted you have made this decision to join me in a pursuit of meaningful wealth in 2021. Where we go can be down different roads, but the main highway will lead us to our destination.
Many promising paths
The travel industry could be set to explode this year. After a beating down in 2020 those companies that have managed not to buckle under will have the wind in their sails sooner than we might even expect. Most of the companies that remain, allowed customers to postpone and reschedule as travel bans and lockdowns get lifted. This means that there will be a backlog of bookings just waiting to happen. Furthermore, on top of the old bookings to be filled many millions of us are going to book new travel plans as our escape from the year of seclusion we’ve been subjected to.
Prior to the global lockdowns international tourism was up over 10% from the previous year, which translated to nearly $9 trillion. After covid that number plunged by 80%!
I believe there will be so much demand for travel, whether for work, vacations or just to get away for a while. Consequently, the rebound in global tourism should be enormous. This leads to other company booms such as hotel and lodging, car rentals, travel agencies and ticket sales industries.
Could Expedia Group, Inc. (Nasdaq – EXPE) or, perhaps Airbnb Inc. (Nasdaq – ABNB) be poised for the bulk of this travel activity to come? This investor believes so.
Others claim with Biden now in the Whitehouse and a very progressive congress at his disposal, clean energy companies are worth investing in right now. Mike Porter, a founding partner of Stansberry Research, Inc can educate you on what he thinks can be the number 1 move financially in 2021. Go to: (stansberry.go2cloud.org) to hear this powerful man who does not mince words and doesn’t aim to be politically correct.
Help along the way
I personally use Fidelity Investment Research, The Oxford Communique with Alexander Green, The Money Map Reports and Money Morning Reports from the Money Map Press.
I recommend the book, “Beyond Wealth” by Alexander Green, a chief investment strategist. And, I wholeheartedly suggest joining the Oxford Club at: (www.oxfordclub.com/contact-us)or call (800)992-0205.
My success
Most of you who know me now know that I made my biggest reward when I invested in Tesla three years ago. It seems General Motors is to begin making electric cars to compete with Tesla. Tesla stock is off the charts and continues to rise against all odds kind of like a magical mythology tale. GM has had a very nice run since November 2020. Ford and Volkswagon are about to unveil tremendous new electric vehicles which should give them a large boost in the market as well.
What I see down the road is the development of the “Quantum Glass Battery”. Already in existence and being massed produced as you read this. I’m not ready to leap, but instead have just sent for a copy of Matt McCall’s “The Secret Battery”. Until I research this further, I will hold off on any recommendations except, that I believe you too should send for this book.
Investment Clubs
Joining investment clubs is sound advice and fully recommended. Most older clubs are worth their advice in gold. They are designed to help increase and protect the wealth of their members.
Make your New Year’s Resolution to join at least one and dominate the markets with explosive profit opportunities.
In Conclusion
Warren Buffett, commonly referred to as the “Oracle of Omaha” and renowned investment genius, has amassed his fortune by using a simple strategy. He only buys stocks that exhibit these fundamentals: 1) strong earnings power 2) continued growth 3) industry leaders or the potential to be so. Furthermore, he only buys these companies when their stocks are trading at a discount to their intrinsic values.
This is why the information that is readily available is critical to your success. Do the research and reap the rewards. You can never have enough information so just keep reading and learning.
Joyful, steady and prosperous investing is my wish for you all. T*pster smiling at yas…………..
Many seniors do not realize the consequences of social isolation. In fact, many are in denial or completely unaware of their inevitable entrenchment. Seemingly anesthetized, they carry on as if time and space has methodically immersed them into their now appropriate situations.
More admonishing is the evidence that social isolation can impact both mental and physical health. Prolonged isolation can lead to irreversible conditions such as depression, malnutrition or even worse, anemia. Food banks and free meal package programs can help seniors stay properly nourished; but, these programs may not reach all those that are in dire need.
The Coronavirus Effect
Even before the pandemic, nearly 20% of seniors in this country were experiencing social isolation. “The Pandemic Effect: A Social Isolation Report” recently released by the AARP Foundation in partnership with the United Health Foundation concluded that 66% of seniors reported feeling high levels of anxiety and social isolation.
The AARP Foundation has created a very valuable resource to fight adult isolation: “Connect2Affect”, which aims to end social isolation and assist older adults build social connections. It does so with free assessments for seniors helping to find answers to income, health and legal needs.
Unfortunately, more than 40 million seniors in the United States do not have enough money coming in to sustain a healthy existence. The past year has brought overwhelming crisis levels in communities throughout the country. Fortunately, programs like the innovative ones AARP have developed, can do so much good to strengthen seniors’ social connections.
As the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic continues to be felt across the country, foundations like “AARP” and various National Food Banks remain paramount towards the feeding of seniors. The AARP Foundation also has programs to help seniors find employment opportunities as well as offering free counseling and legal services. The foundation strives for a future without senior poverty.
To learn more about the AARP’s efforts to help seniors in need go to (aarpfoundation.org). To make a donation to assist these various programs you can go to: (aarpfoundation.org/DAFund).
With older Americans experiencing prolonged social isolation throughout the coronavirus pandemic, there is even a greater need for these programs to be funded and expanded.
Through the past, in the present, and into the future we can make a difference. Just ask yourself what each of us can do to all stay healthy and connected? This is only the beginning.
The actual difference between knowing and believing could be as simple as those that can differentiate wisdom from discretion. However, that may prove to be harder than you think. The case to show definitive evidence while answering this question is nearly impossible, so it’s all about opinion and speculation.
Science
Those that form their answers based upon scientific fact will tell you that the truth here cannot be determined through laboratory experiments or even statistical tests. In order to reach the “burden of proof” evidence needs to be repeatable and consistent. Yet most scientists, even when experiments seem conclusive, will admit no scientific claim is beyond repute. To doubt is the natural scientific answer. So, that leaves the view of knowledge mostly provisional while the intention of believing firmly speculative at best. These scientific views end in awe and mystery.
Religion
A Pope, a Rabbi, a Mormon or Muslim all use their faith and religious teachings to answer this question. This approach takes the statistics out of the equation and inserts the how to believe in to it. As now it becomes a question of “how you believe”. In turn, the knowledge comes from a strong belief in the written word. Yes, there can be common spiritual principles that make believing ultimately real, yet it’s still an end result similar to science as many will doubt the truth is absolute and genuine.
In conclusion
Science is more a tool for the understanding of the natural world and advancing technology. It attempts to distinguish what we know is true from what we believe is true. In doing so often bringing about probable truths. Religion, on the other hand, attempts to morally lift the spirit and answers questions on how and what to do or believe. This eliminates the value of science while never discrediting any scientific revelation.
Yet at their best, both emphasize and equally embrace a deep sense of humility.
If you are a mindful and observant friend, you know, through the years and various roads traveled that change can sometimes be of the totally unintentional kind. Sometimes you aren’t even sure what took place; but, you are certain it could not have been planned. All you know is that you stand in testimony of the memory of what used to be, now no more ever to be witnessed. Yes, shit happens, we may assume; but, is it really that simple? Could it be that there’s a completely dehydrated element of unknown origin at work. The ever present “ORB” that rules and governs all of existence.
Feasibly speaking, those circumstantial transformations may be part of an altered universe yearning to contribute. The enigma which is fundamentally beguiling can never really turn out to be definitive in nature. It’s not like an Einstein theory or even a proven scientific formula. What you see isn’t always what you get. This may even have been a figment of your imagination gone off course. While it looks new and different could it be something else?
Trying to consume the changes your mind knows it’s witnessed can lead to empowerment, and can be as inspiring as the last peg played in a game of cribbage. Nonetheless, this phenomenon isn’t anything like you’ve seen before; but, something you’re sure you will see again.
Foreseeable Future
One thing for certain, tomorrow will be the next day along the path to our journey’s end. Each day, each week, each month, each year blends into the next. Sometimes it feels like we’re just marking time. Countless members of the human race feel exactly the same way.
However, others like yours truly, the T*pster, have a completely different feel to the outcome of each and every day. It might be a bit of transcendence as well as a higher insight of what is to come next. Something like a willful exercise to exploit my subconscious into delivering what I consciously want.
The Transcendentalist Movement
Transcendentalists and their movement began in the early 1800’s. Renegade essayist and poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson was a philosopher in his eloquent writings about society, culture, reform and the human spirit. Another, who was an advocate for reform and civil disobedience was Henry David Thoreau.
Thoreau believed that as we aged we fell more and more into a routine, mindlessly beating a track for ourselves. The great masses of men, he wrote, live lives of quiet blameless desperation. He condemned this condition, blaming it entirely upon the rat race of materialism. To avoid this fate for himself, he escaped to Walden Pond and built a home in the wilderness. He was certain that to find peace and serenity one must be in communion with nature. It was there that he found great existential truth, harmony and contentment.
For all transcendentalists, nature is the key to peace and spiritual attainment. It offers a deeper realization of existence and allows one to think about the future. In many cases it is more about how to spend one’s time, and understanding how to appropriate and appreciate their existence. Consequently, being a part of the future and less a victim of it.
Visualization
When Norman Vincent Peale wrote “The Power of Positive Thinking” over 60 years ago, he had a difficult time getting published. His book seemed laughable and trite to publishing house after publishing house. However, it is a known fact, that his wife pursued a publisher behind his back and ultimately got his book published.
His book sold over 20 million copies and in 47 languages around the world. Much of the advice in Peale’s book may sound amusing to the masses, but that’s mainly because human wants and desires are conceivably insatiable. Most people are trapped like Thoreau said, in a hedonic treadmill of repetition and unfulfilled desires. The beating of their drum day after aimless day.
The T*pster says
I say, dissatisfaction is not all bad and can even be of great motivational importance. Yearning can turn into learning if proper visualization is employed. To truly excel one needs a steady flow of visual achievements both real and imagined.
On the other hand, a continual sense of lack or yearning can create anxiety and depression. It undermines our satisfaction and can plunge us into deepening despair.
Negative Visualization
Fortunately, ancient Stoic philosophers like, Epictetus knew that all wealth, possessions and stature could be taken away at any given moment. They understood that everything we enjoy in life is simply “on loan” to us by the gift of good fortune. Any or even all of it could be removed without a warning or notice.
These Stoics knew a technique to override yearnings, dissatisfactions and even despair. It’s called negative visualization. Yes, truly imagining that you have lost the very things that you cherish the most.
Most people already have the dream of success and the life they want. Unfortunately, along the way they become jaded, bored, resigned to regiment and even numb to the true blessings around them. The Stoic’s goal is to wake us up and to make every person aware of what they have. It’s an old adage, but oh so true, that one really doesn’t appreciate what they have until it’s suddenly not there anymore.
To truly appreciate what good fortune you have takes an understanding of transcendence, and the power of visualization. Norman Vincent Peale got it half right. Positive visualization helps to get you what you want. The Stoics concept of negative visualization consequently, helps you want and value what you get.
The Last Word
Lastly, the Rolling Stones remind us, “You can’t always get what you want; but, if you try sometime you just might find you get what you need”.
Over the next several months companies large and small will be making decisions that they had no idea they would have even contemplated making in the past. As telecommuting comes of age, with many workers who spend most of their time on a computer, employers will be determining which of those employees should be returned to the office and which should remain working from their homes.
Older workers
For some older employees, there might not be any choices offered other than continuing to work remotely from home due to their age and or health. Others, with underlying health conditions may face the same reality.
Reasons to keep employees at home
Beside the obvious reasons employees may have, employers are beginning to see the significant gains of having a workforce at various home locations. First, a reduction in costs of office space and upkeep. Next, an unexpected trial period that has shown the way for employers to fully interpret and understand the process. Besides the lack of office distractions and downtime, it seems production has been the most pleasant and undoubtedly unexpected windfall for most employers.
For many employees there is a greater feeling of accomplishment without someone standing over their desk checking their every move. Most certainly, removing the need to commute creates a more relaxed worker, as well as safer and ultimately healthier one. Long commutes can often be stressful and time consuming, which definitely reduces production.
The potential savings from this surge in telecommuting is so incredible that going back to the way it once was seems more than impossible. It is a “win-win” situation for employers and employees. With the gain in time and lack of stress employees can truly work on bettering their own lives; whether, through exercise regimes or self study courses they hadn’t the time to pursue previously.
This new work from home model also allows companies to hold on to their senior workers, who might have been contemplating retirement. In many cases retaining experienced employees can be critical to a company’s success. And, part-time opportunities now have a really different significance as employees may gain new found freedoms in terms of days, hours, and schedules. Part-time remote work can truly offer get flexibility for all.
A cultural shift to telecommuting has led to retaining work ethic, loyalty, knowledge and production at reduced hours and significantly less compensation. The best part is that all involved do, in fact, save money. Older employees concerned about their health and retirement funds can save money by telecommuting. The lower fuel costs and wear and tear on their vehicles can lead to savings that can be invested. Other savings will come from less laundering and dry-cleaning expenses. Meanwhile, employers will be the largest gainers based upon their new levels of productivity, lower real estate costs, reduced turnover and absenteeism as well as outright development of future holdings.
There is no going back. For one thing, employees will balk at the old normal. The consensus is already out there and most desire to remain working remotely. Those that haven’t embraced this new normal, will eventually find their way back to an office or a new job. Others will flourish with this new found freedom that meets their needs to get stronger and more self reliant. Character development and life improving all at their own command.
What will tomorrow bring?
During the current career climate all new graduates should have an updated resume. They need to be fully prepared to think in different and relevant ways. Those that are ahead of the curve have already defined the new normal in their minds and hearts.
The ever growing digital world and ever dependent world of the internet will be the front running opportunities for high paying jobs in the future. Read more“THE NEW NORMAL”
That word, embrace, is a word of “action”. It is never passive. So it is not enough for any of us to say we are not racist, particularly when we see so much racism around us.
What should we do?
I believe we need to start by exploring ourselves and challenging our own perspectives. I suggest reading about racism in the world and the history of it. Reflect on our own privileges and our own actions. Learn to listen to others and try to understand their experiences, especially those that differ from our own.
We all have blinders on when we view the world. Maybe so it won’t hurt so much. That is normal behavior in most instances of our early development. But, it is by listening carefully to others that we can learn how they may be experiencing the same world, very differently. This “action” of learning to understand by deeply listening can remove the blinders from our eyes.
The uncomfortable truth
The events of the last couple of months have made quite clear the uncomfortable truth of present-day America. Those of us with the blinders still exonerating our recognition believe that much progress has been made. However, racism continues to be a deeply rooted part of our society. The killings of three African-Americans: Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, and George Floyd in Minnesota are horrific acts of violence against Black people.
Pain, sadness and anger
We hold the vulnerability, pain, sadness and anger of people around the country. We recognize that multiple forms of societal discrimination are all intertwined and of the same toxic family. We stand in grief and solidarity with Black communities. In this moment we affirm the full humanity, dignity, and rights to freedom from violence for all Black people.
The need to commit
We truly need to commit to eradicating our biases, and to end daily expressions of discrimination whether overt or subtle. Commit to lifelong learning and dialogue, and to stand up for the humanity of all people at all times.
We need to recognize that this historical moment requires us to especially uplift the experiences of Black people while we stand in solidarity with all who experience marginalization, discrimination, and violence.
This is an “action”, it is a process, and it will take us on a more fulfilling journey through life.
Remember, change is inevitable…………wisdom is knowledge……………….however, growth is optional.
…act.
2013
1973
Undercover Spys
T*PSTER
Wanderer
LOVE
My Daughters & Son-in-laws
Tommy & Dylan and Halloween
