Tuesday, January 17, 2023, Delray Beach, Florida


Notes From My Journal

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Making a Stranger’s Day

Click here for a video clip about a passenger helping out an Uber driver in trouble. When I watched it, it reminded me of a similar experience I had several years ago.

Here’s my story…

I was getting a haircut in NYC. Through the plate-glass window of the barbershop, I could see a young Black guy pleading with a pair of cops. My barber followed my gaze.

“That’s the young man that cleans all the storefront windows in this area,” he said. “A nice kid. He works hard.”

“I’ll be right back,” I said.

I went outside to see what was going on. A small crowd had gathered, taking in the scene. “I think they’re impounding his car,” one of them told me.

“For what?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Sounds like he didn’t pay a bunch of tickets.”

The kid looked frantic. He was pacing back and forth. “I need my car for my work,” he said. “Please! I’m going to pay those tickets.”

“You got the money?” one of the cops asked.

“No. But I will get it,” he said. “Just don’t take the car.”

The cop began writing him up, and his partner walked back to the squad car. I went over to him and asked if they would let the kid go if I paid his tickets. He looked at me as if he thought I was crazy.

“I’m serious,” I said.

He looked through his paperwork. The total is X,” he said. X was a lot of money. More than I expected. But I happened to have almost exactly that in my pocket, because I had just come from the bank.

He pulled his partner aside, spoke to him for a few minutes, then came back to me.

“Are you sure you wanna do this?” he asked.

“I am,” I said.

He motioned for me to follow him, and we quietly made the transaction behind his car. I thought about asking for a receipt but decided against it. He walked back to his partner and whispered something to him. Then he said something to the kid, and the kid started screaming and jumping up and down. “I knew it!” he shouted. “There is a god! There is a god!”

He searched the faces in the crowd to see if he could figure out who to thank. But I was already halfway down the street. I don’t believe in a god, but that made my day.

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The Economy & Investing

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Sean’s 100% Guaranteed Market Predictions for 2023 

I’ve told you about Sean MacIntyre. He and his partner, Lindsey Hough, are running a personal finance business called DIY Wealth. It used to be called Creating Wealth, and I used to be its guru. Sean is the main man now, and that’s great for his subscribers. Because he’s very smart, but also honest, thoughtful, and funny!

Lindsey posted a video of Sean’s economic and investment predictions for 2023 last week. As you will see, he isn’t a big believer in prognosticating. But he does his best to explain some of the economic and financial fundamentals that are very likely to affect investments in 2023. If, like me, you are an amateur investor, you’ll find a lot here that will be edifying. One particularly interesting point that I intend to look into is about the proposed 15% minimum tax rate for corporations. If, as Sean says, this becomes a real thing, it could drastically depress earnings per share in 2023.

Check out the video here and let me know what you think. Is he right on or am I just a fanboy?

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News & Views

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One Way to Thin Down an Overcrowded Population

Tokyo is crowded. Really, really crowded. But with a declining reproduction rate, that shouldn’t be a long-term problem. That’s how I see it. The Japanese government, though – which is comprised of dozens of economists and sociologists and so on who are way smarter than I am – sees things differently.

Their plan is to give one million yen ($7,500) per child to each family that moves out of greater Tokyo. The incentive – a dramatic rise from the previous relocation fee of 300,000 yen – will be introduced in April as part of an official push to breathe life into declining towns and villages. Click here for more on this.

 

Okay, Go Ahead and Have a Drink 

Dubai has a problem. As a purportedly orthodox Muslim country, it doesn’t approve of alcohol at all. But since it has become an international center for business, and even tourism to a lesser extent, it has succumbed to pressure to serve alcohol to its wealthy foreign clientele.

As long as I’ve been going to Dubai, I’ve never had trouble getting a tequila and soda. But that’s because I’ve always stayed at the fancy hotels that cater to Westerners. Yes, the booze is expensive. But everything a foreign visitor staying in a five-star hotel in Dubai wants is expensive. So, what’s the problem?

The problem is that the cost of alcohol has risen to the point where tourists are complaining. And so, the government has decided to scrap its 30% tax on alcohol sales – at least for the rest of 2023. Click here for CNBC’s report.

 

Magic Mushroom Are Now Legal in Oregon 
Good news for all you Boomer freaks out there. On Jan. 1, Oregon became the first state to allow the use of psilocybin “magic” mushrooms. Click here for details.
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Worth Reading

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Overdeliver 

By Brian Kurtz

312 pages

Originally published April 2, 2019

Overdeliver is a book about direct response marketing that every entrepreneur and marketing director should read. It was written by Brian Kurtz, a friend of mine that once ran Boardroom Reports, one of the largest direct response publishing companies in the world.

As it says on the jacket, Overdeliver distills “the expertise he’s gained after almost four decades in the industry to teach readers how to build a business that lasts a lifetime.”

In the book, which summarizes 40 years of in-the-trenches experience, Brian explains the ABCs of finding and selling to an audience of buyers “without compromising on the respect and care they deserve.” He explains how to build marketing plans and how to track them so you know what is effective in the marketing you do and what is not, and how to “overdeliver” to your customers so they will continue to buy from you forever.

Click here to watch a very good review of Overdeliver.

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Health & Wellness

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If You Don’t Have Time to Exercise, Read This

I’ve been making the argument that high-intensity workouts are the secret to gaining substantial health and wellness benefits. And according to new studies, they are also the secret to healthy aging and even longevity itself. Click here for an article in National Geographic about one of those studies. The takeaway: Just five minutes a day can have a big impact.

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A Word to the Wise

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A neighbor and book club friend called me on my use of the word sciolism at the bottom of each of my blog posts:

“Were it not for hypocrisy, I’d have no advice to give.”
“Were it not for sciolism, I’d have no ideas to share.”
“Were it not for arrogance, I’d have no ambition.”
“Were it not for forgetfulness, I would have no new ideas to write about.”

“I love this word,” he said. “But I wouldn’t call what you do sciolism. I think of you as my good ultracrepidarian friend.”

Hmm… he may be right. Merriam-Webster defines sciolism as “a superficial show of learning.” Ultracrepidarian is defined as “expressing opinions on matters outside the scope of one’s knowledge or expertise.” There is a slight difference. The former indicates an inability to appear as if I know what I’m talking about. I’d prefer to think that my BS is convincing.

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Readers Write

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About My Books 

From JV:

“I have been reading The Pledge, which has been incredibly helpful for me in planning my future. I know it’s not going to be easy, but, for sure, will be worth it.

“My problem: There are so some many things I want to pursue at the same time. The goals I wrote down for 2023 included getting certified as a nutrition coach to help people achieve their weight-loss goals by Feb. 15, increasing my income to $80,000 by June 1, improving my reading speed to 1,000 words a minute by Nov. 30… to name a few. I would like to hear what you think.”

“Thanks for your time.”

My Response: Thanks for the question, JV. I’ll tell you what I think. (What I really think!)

Most people have trouble achieving their goals because they are lazy and unimaginative. They want more money, more fun, more sex, more leisure… more of everything. But they can’t be bothered to set down their goals in writing and pursue a program to get them done.

That’s not your problem. You have lots of goals and you have written them down and made them very specific. Writing them down is great. And figuring out what you need to do to get them done is important, too. But you are doing one thing that most goal-setting gurus advise, but which I think is NOT good. I’m talking about making your goals so specific.

When I first began to set and pursue my goals, I thought this sort of specificity made sense. But as the years rolled by and I actually experienced the ups and downs of goalsetting, I came to realize that for ambitious, driven people (like you and me), it is better to keep the goals more general. You can set a goal of “becoming wealthy in seven years” if “being wealthy” is a flexible term. Or you can be specific about what “being wealthy” means to you, so long as you don’t link it to a specific date.

I know this sounds counterintuitive. And I know it is what other people advise against. But I’m very certain that this is the right way to achieve many goals at the same time. I’ll be writing more about this in future blog posts.

 

From SH:

“Words That Work: 117 Ways to Speak More Powerfully

– is this a course?”

My Response: No. I wish it were. Alas, it’s just a book I wrote years ago, containing some of my favorite words. Unlike most of my books, including The Pledge (see above), it is not available on Amazon. But we do have some copies in storage. If you’d like one…

Send a check for $10 to cover shipping and postage.

Make the check payable to Cap & Bells Press, LLC. (No cash, please.)

Include your name and mailing address and mail it to:

Cap & Bells Press

Attn: GKoo

235 NE 4th Ave., Suite 101

Delray Beach, FL 33483

 

From HJ:

“I have always valued your excellent, pragmatic information. When I came across your website, I was thrilled, only to discover that the last book you wrote was from 2019 (excellent as it was). Will you start writing again? You have a lot to give this world.”

My Response: Thank you, HJ. As far as future books are concerned, I’m in the middle of nearly two dozen, several of which are close to being finished. My priority right now is to catch up on all my business projects. Rest assured, I’ll start advertising the new books here on my website as soon as they are finished.

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