Category Archives: Of Interest

I am about to buy some government bonds. But, I have taken a closer look at international investment options. Many of the popular funds put a lot of money into the U.S. government, Japan, and other well established companies. However, if you look at the debt to GDP ratios of U.S. and Japan and see how it keeps growing, that will make you start wondering.

America is at 104% debt to GDP.
Unfortunately, the largest contributors are not China and Japan like we think. It is the social security administration. And when America goes bankrupt and we become the land of paupers as my guru predicted, people who paid into the social security system (which is mandatory) will not get their money back, or at least not the total amount. The SS administration is a ponzi scheme where the young pay into the system so the old can retire. Personally, I feel we should all have retirement accounts that we control as well as medical accounts.

Japan is at 229% debt to GDP
How can Japan afford the interest payments on this phenominal debt? The answer is that interest rates in Japan are negative, at least for the time being. How can this be? The same scenario is in Norway. It looks like the entire world is going upside down in ways that are completely unpredictable. But, what happens if interest rates rise in Japan? The entire government will go broke within a few years! After seeing what is going on, I’m convinced that the banks artificially keep rates low to keep the government in business, otherwise they will all go underwater. Meanwhile, real estate prices have been going down little by little every year for twenty years. Is this what America has to look forward to? How bizarre. I think it is entirely possible since the government is the slave of banks and the banks are the slave of the government!

What if there is a depression?
Some of the less stable countries like Mexico, Columbia, Venezuela, Brazil, African nations, etc., could easily go broke if there is a severe worldwide depression. So, when I look at credit ratings, what I really want to know is how well you’ll do during “the big one.” In California we talk about having a big earthquake called the big one. But, how about a huge financial calamity?

Currency devaluation
Some countries like India offer competitive interest rates, but have currency devaluation. You might get 9% or 6%, but how good will that be if the currency loses value at a rate of 5% per year, or perhaps 20% in a particular year?

Summary
There are many depressing things to think about when it comes to international bonds. Worldwide economic downturns, devaluation, and governments that are drowning in debt (and perhaps sake.) Will you ever get your money back? Or will you make a fortune if interest rates go down even further? Or maybe this is all part of God’s plan to end lending money for interest by making all interest rates in the world zero or even negative. That means you pay someone to borrow your money. Get real!

I love analyzing stocks. I’m not experienced at it, but by reading and investing and tracking my investments I have learned a lot of practical knowledge. By investing in multiple stocks, I learned what happens in real life with the ups and downs. I found a few stocks that I was lucky enough to be able to sell very quickly for a nice profit while others just went down for a very long period of time. In stock investing, you really need a plan. You need to know when you are going to sell the stock. Your exit strategy should have a particular price or PE ratio where it is not worth having the stock anymore.

PE Ratios as a Selling Analytic
Keep in mind that company earnings fluctuate over time. So if a company’s income goes up, then their stock is likely to soon go up as well. There is no point selling at a 10% gain on a company that made a 20% gain in income as the stock became more valuable than the increase in price. It makes more sense to have a selling PE ratio. When it becomes a less “efficient” stock to own, then sell it. But, decide ahead of time what your lucky PE ratio to sell will be.

What about happiness?
I purchased many stocks recently. Some I am satisfied with. IBM went down, but I’m not crying as I want to keep that stock during good times and bad. Whole Foods sells lots of holistic products which makes me happy. I’m just concerned about the future of their management. But, owning one particular stock made me upset. I meditated on their future and got a bad feeling. CBI is a stock I regret buying. Even if I can sell it at a small profit that nagging feeling that I am in a bad investment doesn’t leave me. Additionally, the quantity of that stock that I purchased was just too much considering how unstable they are. Investments not only can make or lose money, they can influence your mood.

Happy Stocks
I’ve decided that the mere thought of buying DIS (Walt Disney) stock makes me happy. They are a happy and magical organization that pleases children around the world. They are also very stable and well managed with high profit margins and along history in business. Additionally, I feel that Facebook is far overpriced as a stock, but that is because everybody loves them and depends on them for their social life. I want to buy a small quantity of FB stock just because the thought of it makes me happy. I’m also a fan of Mark Zuckerburg and am convinced that his venture will grow like wildfire over the next ten years. What happens after that? I’m not so sure.

Coca-Cola
And then for some reason, I really like KO which is the symbol for Coca-Cola. I cannot figure out why I like it so much. For the lifetime of Warren Buffet, Coca-Cola has been one of his absolute favorite companies. Even though I feel it is overpriced, Warren still has 14% of his multi-billion dollar portfolio in this stock. What is it about Coke that makes me so happy? I don’t even like to drink their product anymore (except in India where it is sweeter). So, what gives!

Investing can be for profit, but also can make you happy. So, why not find some happy stocks and enjoy investing like a child would? (And no, sorry, you may not use Monopoly money — this is for real.)

As business people, we need a constant supply of business ideas and solutions to business problems. But, one pressing business problem is that we don’t always have a lucky spot to think about our business issues. Most blog writers surveyed seem to agree that the office is the wrong place to think. Offices are good for meetings, and getting work done, especially in an environment where you need to watch people. Those who are a little more reliable often get more done working at home. But, where can you go to think clearly?

The answer is that home, home offices, and office-offices are not the best places to think. Those who work from home often claim that they get more work done at home because they are more comfortable and have less disturbances (until their kids come home.) But, coming up with innovative ideas in a place you do busy work just doesn’t usually work.

Some of the most creative geniouses of all time took long walks. Walking is a great way to spend time in nature and think. Spending time walking in the city is not as good a place to think though. You get more oxygen to the brain. In Los Angeles, we have buildings where a lot of creative work gets done. Picking up on that energy does miracles for my personal creative energy. I had a writing block for a week once. I stared at the computer and couldn’t come up with more than two blog ideas after hours. I went to my lucky spot in the media district and came up with twelve ideas in twenty minutes. I often also go to the beach at night and come up with ideas. I even have a pasta spot in the city where for some reason ideas just come to me. That place I can’t figure out, because there are no creative people who go there — at least not to my knowledge unless I’m picking up on the vibes of people who went there in 1968 (the place was open since 1966 by the way.)

Your skill as a business person is not how good you are at doing work, but how good you are at strategizing how to efficiently get projects done and missions accomplished. To do this you need to find ways to think through complicated ideas. Sometimes having the right person or team of people to bounce ideas off helps as much as a lucky spot. But, for me, an hour a week in my lucky spot does miracles.

It’s time that you find your lucky spot. Just don’t steal mine because I need elbow room.

America gained freedom from the British in 1776, but roughly eighty years later had a civil war where 7% of the country ended up dead. India gained independence from England, but the Hindu-Muslim crisis looks like it will eat everybody up. Meanwhile in Lebanon and Syria the heinous violence that has been going on for decades continues and is getting worse.

My question is, would the world be better off under colonizers? It was more peaceful when Britain controlled half of the world. Some historians claim that England engineered the American civil war in an attempt to regain power of a broken America. Nice try, but it didn’t work. Others claim that America is in charge of ISIS through covert means. I hope that is not true, but we have supported every other evil government on the planet, so where does it stop.

Having countries that have internal divisions is very dangerous and can leave everybody dead. Part of the problem is that England and the other colonizers purposefully drew the boundaries of their colonies in such a way that each colony would have deep internal divisions. Lebanon had four religious divisions, Syria has about 20 ethnic groups that all hate each other, Iraq had the Sunni’s, Shiites, and Kurds. America had only North and South who were both Anglo controlled at the time of the civil war, but war still erupted.

So, what is the solution? I believe that countries need to find a way for their citizens to be on the same page for the most part. Otherwise, dividing into smaller units makes sense. Easier said than done, but it is better than civil war. Whatever units people create for themselves, the main point is to be united in their units. However, the powers that be seem to prefer to divide us one way or the other so we are easier to control. So, is it the big guys who are manipulating us, or is it our fault for dividing ourselves?

Personally, I mingle with everybody, but am constantly reminded about all of the racial barriers that others have towards people who don’t look like them or are not from the same country they are. It is this type of widespread narrow-mindedness that causes the problem. Yes, it is the common man who causes the problem, not the big corporations or colonizers — they just use our preexisting stupidity to their advantage!

Sometimes it is hard to know who your most beneficial friends are. But, I have a collection of stories about mine. I have three people in my life who I am close to who all give me excellent luck.

My Housemate
My housemate is a lady who I have known for years. Although we don’t always get along, in the long run we are still friends. Many of my most valuable contacts and social connections came to me as a result of her including my psychic who I think is one of my top three most prized relationships. Through my housemate I have been introduced to dozens of interesting people throughout the years, and she has many interesting stories and experiences to share as well. I have been happily living in my current location for 15 years as a result of knowing her. And yes, we met in meditation — so go to satsangh today!

My Webmaster
My webmaster is someone I have known for seventeen years. I started out with another guy who was just a pain in the neck. They were unfriendly about getting anything done and were always trying to gouge me. How selfish. So, finally one day I had had it and found someone new. I have been with my current webmaster forever and he has become like a family member. Additionally, we go out from time to time and I have had the most meaningful discussions about personal and business topics during these outings. I got excellent programming help for years through him. Later on he stopped being involved in programming and started social media where he offered excellent help to me as well. There were many times where he saved my neck when there were emergencies regarding servers as well.

But, there’s more. Whatever projects I start with my webmaster seem to have a good luck charm. We created my site 123notary together and that turned into a huge money maker and long term life changer. My life would be a disaster if that site hadn’t done well. He was the only guy with programmers who would actually cooperate and do good work which helped me a lot. Additionally, he got me going on Facebook and blogging which both became a huge success. Perhaps 50% of my web traffic comes directly or indirectly as a result of my social media activities. Last month we got 7500 clicks from Facebook which lead to exponentially more clicks to my site. Last, but not least, I have been studying feng-shui for twenty years. My webmaster and I went on a trip to a great feng-shui place and it proved to be the best luck I’ve ever seen. Since then I have been going regularly and prospering. Last, but not least, something very lucky resulted from a phone conversation two months ago where I wanted to help him with feng-shui. I told him that feng-shui could help him with his social media campaigns of which he has hundreds. But, that I didn’t know how it worked. So, I spent two months researching locations that stimulate the qi energy that helps social media campaigns and miracles happened!

My Psychic
My psychic is responsible for helping me interpret my dreams, deal with emotional situations, plan my business and more. Half a year ago we spent 12 hours channeling the greatest business minds out there. Some were alive and some were in spirit form while others were group consciousness(es) that we tapped into. This was the most meaningful business activity I had ever done. Additionally, he was the one who told me to become an expert at feng-shui. I studied it very seriously and now have a long list of locations with a wide variety of feng-shui positive attributes that nobody else knows about or can understand the theory behind. He has changed my life in such a huge way.

A Final Note
Sorry, that I keep writing about feng-shui which is something you probably know little or nothing about. But, I visit places for an hour at a time once per day which give me good luck that helps me get more sales, more clicks on social media, retreive older customers, etc. I am not actually meeting anyone at these places. They just have good energy and are places like restaurants, or hanging out next to an office building, movie studio, etc. It seems very unassuming, but I assure you that the power of qi energy can change your business and health if you understand how to use it effectively.

Nostradamus and Revolation in the New Testament seem to agree that a huge war and massive disturbances on planet earth will occur. It seems that WW3 has already begun although there is no actual technical beginning date. The first U.S. invasion of Iraq seems to be a huge milestone in the progress of the war. It is hard for me to see exactly how this horrible war will play itself out. Is it the Communists and terrorists against the West? Or is it Shiites vs. Sunnis with Russia and the United States getting involved in a violent Middle Eastern drama?

Or perhaps, it is about Syria which has eight factions fighting for control. The U.S. and Russia are supporting different factions with ISIS, Kurds, Hezbullah, and other groups involved in this insane conflict that is leaving most of the country homeless. The problem is that this conflict will most likely spread to other countries. It is easy to see how Syrians being present in Europe is creating a huge crisis. It is also easy to see how the entire Arab world can so easily be lured into regional wars against extremists. But, my guru says that conflict will spread to India and will be so severe that no life will be possible anywhere in India except the Deccan Plateau — what a statement!

On a brighter note, in 2028 a huge asteroid is supposed to come close to the earth. That could offset our planet’s equilibrium. Others are predicting a pole shift and other huge catastrophes. It seems clear to me that we have 12 years left to enjoy a normal life. I guess my guru’s advice of living each day as if it were your last is making more sense to me. It seems like we have very little time left.

I’ve noticed that I have tried and tried in my social life. I tried to make friends with people who didn’t value me. I tried to meet girls who just didn’t like me. I tried and tried and tried. But, the relationships that I have that last were ones that I did not try for. Those relationships just came to me. Long ago a friend told me that I put too much effort in meeting new people. He said I should wait and see who comes to me. I sounded like a very deep suggestion. Unfortunately, not so many people are interested in me. And those that are are not usually my type. I decided to devote my life to work and spirituality as the frequency of people being interested in me is not great enough.

I just wonder if my friend was right. When I am working hard at meeting people I’m sending the universe a message that I want to meet people. Since I have stopped trying, the universe has not sent me too many people. Perhaps it is because I live in Los Angeles or because I’m in my 40’s. I can’t say.

In any case — don’t die trying at relationships. Perhaps a balanced amount of effort is the right amount.

If you are involved in a business, forget about profits and focus on business karma. You don’t have to be Indian to understand how important karma is. Of course you need to be in a profitable business and yes you need to look at margins. But, don’t spend 100% of your analytical hours focusing on that. Focus instead on being helpful. What’s important is how helpful you are to others.

Do you create good biz karma?
Do you get your work done on time and correctly? Do you communicate adequately with clients when something needs to be told to them or do you keep them in the dark? Do you offer free tips out of the goodness of your heart? Do you give a little extra?

Karma in the directory business
I am in the directory business and during the last year I have had a conflict of interest that has caused me a lot of grief. As a directory owner, I want to make sure that the listings on my sites, particularly with high rankings on my sites are good quality listings. Can you imagine that you are a regular person looking for a service provider on a directory and find a horrible service provider? That will influence your decision to use that directory again. It is better to use good directories that give you consistent good results.

My tough choice
Unfortunately, the choice I had to make was between pleasing those who used my directory to look for services, and those who paid me to advertise their services. I decided that if the absolute worst service providers on my directory didn’t login regularly to their listing (which was required in writing) that I would remove them. On the one hand, they would not get what they paid for from their point of view. But, on the other hand, my policies page allows me to remove them for failure to login, so legally they were not being cheated out of what they paid for — they were cheating me and themselves. But still I wondered about the karmic effect of removing so many listings for failure to login.

The realities of business karma
It took a few months for me to find out what the real effects of my actions were. I had no idea what it would be, but I knew that the universe would respond somehow or another. Since I had removed people prematurely based on technicalities in my rules, and didn’t inform them, I noticed that many services that I had paid for were removed from me after I had paid for them. No huge disaster happened. But, I was paying for an old server which I had been told was cancelled. I paid for fixing my email system on my site which broke two months after it was fixed at great cost. My assistant stopped doing certain phone calls which I had assumed she was still doing. So, I learned my lesson. Half of the problem was not giving people what they karmically deserved regardless of the terms of my contract. The other problem was not telling them.

The solution
So now, I am telling all customers who did no login that they better login or they will be removed — unless they are the bottom 3% in which case they are so horrible, that I would rather sacrifice my karma in order to have them off my site. In life sometimes doing the right thing involves a sacrifice or two, and I know the price I’ll have to pay as well. So, I am warning clients, and giving them a few days to login. If they do not, then I’ll remove them. Now the ball is in their court. We’ll see if the karmic effect is better. But, my site continues to get excellent traffic and great revenue, so I am not too disappointed with my little karmic experience.

What goes on in your business?
Are you doing little secretive or unpleasant things to others that you should not? There is a karmic effect for this. They only way to find out what it might be is to stop doing whatever you’re doing and see what changes in terms of how other people or organizations treat you! I encourage you to find out and learn!