The Basic of Investment

I-1.1 DEFINITIONS

By definition, "philosophy" refers to "the general principles or laws of a field of knowledge" whereas "methodology" refers to "a set or system of methods consisting of practices, procedures, and rules used in a science or subject." In this work, we focus on philosophy of investment rather than its methodology because our main interest is primarily on empowering the investor by increasing his knowledge base of the solid investment principles and laws.

By definition, to invest means to lay out or put something (e.g., time, money, energy, etc.) into an activity (such as education, business, sports, farming, trading, etc.) with the expectation of producing a later benefit or profit.

This definition of investing greatly generalizes the very limited concept of investment that most people use, which is a financial one and implies "putting money into a business enterprise for the purpose of obtaining an income or profit."

Therefore, in simple terms and generalizing the usual and limited concept of investment, we can now define it to mean, "putting a quantity of our time, energy, money, or other resources into a positive activity." Examples would include spending time to get knowledge through education, establishing a business enterprise, acquiring an asset class with a positive potential growth, creating a service company which helps others, etc. These are all done with the expectation of producing a later benefit or profit, whether tangible or intangible.

Therefore, using this wider definition of investment we can see that any and all things that we engage in on a daily, weekly, monthly or annual basis is a form of investment in some arena, where the return from that investment activity is completely dependent upon the viewpoint of the investor. For example we go to work, we are investing our time for a paycheck; we exercise by investing time and energy with the idea of having a healthier body as a return, so on and so forth.

From these examples, we can see that investment can be broken down into two steps:

a) Create a series of inflows into an arena in some form or fashion, which would then

b) Result in a series of outflows which are either desirable and profitable (called a positive investment) or undesirable and unprofitable (called a negative investment)

In this day and age, using the general definition of investment as stated earlier, we can see that no matter what profession one is in, one wants to be a successful investor, and for some, super successful to the point of full mastery. This means that anyone living a life and working in any profession perforce is an investor who eventually desires and expects to reap tomorrow what he sows today, and therefore wishes to operate with success at the helm of his business or life activity with total power and causation.

Therefore, we can observe that the concept of investment is ingrained in the nature of any living entity, plant or animal, a good Samaritan or a rogue, young or old, and bright or stupid all alike desire to achieve a return on their investments by succeeding in whatever they do. Only the degree of intelligence and mental brightness as well as one's drive will determine the type of investment activities to engage in and the form or the size of return to expect!

1-1.2 THE BE-DO-HAVE PARADIGM SHIFT

We need to alter our perception of the way we view the universe and how we go about achieving our goals. The way we usually go about our business is: we would like to have things (such as time, money, etc.) in order do things (such as complete a project, go on a vacation, etc.) such that we then can arrive in a desirable state of beingness (such as being happy, content, etc.)

For younger generations this would be equivalent to a simple process of "when I get my high school or college diploma, then I will be able to get a good job so that I could then get a nice car and lots of good possessions, which would then lead to my happiness." This can be seen to be the bottom-up approach.

The opposite approach as promoted by Zig Ziglar, the famous American author, goes as follows: "You've got to be before you can do, and do before you can have." This is a top-down approach!

This quote states concisely the essence of a major paradigm shift that we need to understand in life. It establishes one of the most powerful principles that helps us understand the process of growth and development in any human being in that:

First, One must understand and recognize who he is (or what he wants to be) in order to secondarily determine what he can do (or what he should do), culminating finally to having or possessing something of value that is in agreement and conformity with one's goals, and falls squarely within the scope of one's dreams.

In other words, in this top-down approach one must first be the right kind of person to do the right types of things in order to achieve the right kind of products and outcomes.

There is also a corollary (or a byproduct result) to this principle, where one could examine his current life's outcomes and possessions, and if they are not good or satisfactory, then it should dawn upon one that he has not done the right kind of things because he has failed to wear the right hat for the job; that is to say, he has failed to assume the right personality to begin with.

Of course, the correct solution to this problem is to polish up the "Be step" in one's personality enormously so that more competent decisions can be made. Needless to say, competent decisions are the result of correct education in the "Be step" and this alone would result in more effective actions (i.e., a better Do step) when combating the problems of the business world, and thus will cause better outcomes (i.e., an improved Have step).

It is interesting to note that other than Zig Ziglar, there have been other authors (such as Stephen Covey, Robert Kiyosaki, Brian Tracy, Tony Robins, etc.) who have further discussed this all encompassing and important principle of Be-Do-Have in their works.

The potent Be-Do-Have principle points us in the correct direction to organize our thoughts better and quickly realize that life is set up in a hierarchical manner (i.e., arranged in a top-down fashion), into a complex system of Be, Do and Have. Therefore, it behooves us well to employ this piece of wisdom in our lives and recognize its seniority in any form of education regarding any aspect of existence.

1-1.3 THE PYRAMID OF LIFE

We can visualize the "Be-Do-Have" concept in the form of an imaginary pyramid, which forms the foundation of life with three rungs on it, where:

1) At the top of this imaginary pyramid, one needs to "Be somebody," which translates into assuming a desirable identity or role, who then sets up a series of desirable goals and targets.

Note:It is important to note that the BE step is heavily impacted and influenced by any form of education or training.

Having completed this essential step, we then and only then can get to the next step of:

2) Engaging in "do" type of activities, which translate into performing meaningful actions within the scope of one's expertise and goals, which when carried out to full completion, will allow one to enter the final step of:

3) Having or possessing something, such as a desirable outcome, object or product, which translates into the fact that one now has achieved his desired goal.

The pyramid of life (as shown below) depicts the effect of true or false knowledge in its expansion or shrinkage, due to correct or incorrect education respectively.

From this diagram we can see that true education will expand one's viewpoint and sphere of influence and thus would enlarge the pyramid of life into a greater "Be level," a higher "Do level" and a more elevated "Have level."

On the other hand, false education will shrink one's viewpoint and reduce one's reach and sphere of influence. In fact, one may even start to develop false goals in this process that are quite detrimental to his overall survival. Therefore, we can see that this false education process would diminish the pyramid of life into a smaller "Be level," a lower "Do level" accompanied by a reduced "Have level."

This observation clearly shows the interdependence and interrelated-ness of Be, Do and Have in this order, which means that if "Be level" goes down "Do" and "Have" go down with it. The reverse is not true, that is to say, if "Have level" goes down the others may go down with it temporarily but not for long since a powerful "Be level" can reverse all of that!

I-1.4 BE-DO-HAVE IN PRACTICE

To be successful we really have to enter at the top of this imaginary pyramid at the "Be step", which means to assume an identity or role, who is capable of setting up a series of worthwhile goals, purposes and targets. The list of identities one could assume is almost endless and includes such things as an engineer, a dentist, a plumber, an investor, etc.

Moving down further and onto the next rung of this imaginary pyramid sits the "Do step" corresponding to a whole series of actions and activities. The Do step is all about performing or engaging simple or complex actions, which directly impact the world around one in one way or another.

Therefore, one should not allow these actions to happen by accident, rather must plant a strong purpose (as furnished by the Be step) in each and every one of them. Examples could include such things as doing an accurate technical design as an engineer, fixing a bad tooth as a dentist, repairing a broken pipe as a plumber, acquiring and managing an asset as an investor, etc.

On the bottom rung of this imaginary pyramid sits the "Have" type of actions, which allow one to have something and experience the joy of possessing it purely as a result of one's actions and performance in different sectors of life.

Of course, these actions are dictated by the goals and targets one has already set up in the Be step. Examples in the "Have" class of actions could include such things as receiving a paycheck because of a good engineering designjob, receiving a "thank you note" from a distressed patient after recovery from great dental pains, receiving a bonus check due to satisfactory and timely repairing of a broken water pipe, or receiving a good profit from one's appreciating assets, so on and so forth.

1-1.5 AN APPARENCY

It may appear at this juncture that without actions and motions of some kind or another one cannot achieve his goals (the "Have" step), so the "Do" step must be of paramount importance. It is obviously very apparent that without actions nothing can be achieved!

However, truth be told this is only an apparency and not an actuality. The actuality is that without a fully trained, competent and hatted personality at the top of any operation or action (the "Be" step), the right actions will be omitted or not be undertaken (i.e., incorrect Do) and thus mistakes could enter into the scene, which would then lead to wrong products (i.e., incorrect have).

Therefore, the most important one of the three is "Be", followed by "Do" and "Have" in that sequence of importance.

In other words, there is a great emphasis on the "be step" without which the other two would be impossible! And as you may have already guessed it, this work is primarily about the "Be step" and fine tuning of one's internal thinking process as well as setting up a correct modus operandi (mode of operation) to deal with any business or life situation in general. This powerful top-down method done in three steps will eventually lead one correctly in the direction of power and prosperity.

1-1.6 THE BE-DO-HAVE PRINCIPLE

With the above preamble, we can now summarize the entire Be-Do-Have discussion succinctly into the following principle:

The Be-Do-Have Principle:Life is set up in a hierarchical manner or top-down fashion into a complex system of Be, Do and Have, which as a result imposes a seniority of actions in all aspects of existence in that: First, One must assume an identity in order to secondarily perform an action, which would culminate finally in the possession of something valuable. This hierarchy is built into all aspects of life in conformity with one's goals, and falls squarely within the scope of one's dreams.

I-1.7 SUMMARY

In summary, to make long term plans and build one's own successful empire that can withstand the huge destructive forces of nature or one that can escape the society's economic turbulence and upheavals (which are caused by devastating internal and external political forces that easily destabilize a nation), an investor needs to know the "Be-Do-Have pyramid" as well as the essential investment principles and laws really well and implement them within an inch of his life, if he expects to get superior results!

The world at large, whether financial, business, marital, or spiritual surrenders to one the moment he starts thinking, acting and having like an investor, by developing long-term plans using what follows in this book as the blueprint for success.

The Modern Educational System

1-2.1 OUR MISEDUCATED SOCIETY

We are living in a society designed to make an individual into a slave, a working ant or more precisely a cog in the huge economic machine. In essence, we are dealing with an educational system that is designed to produce people who have over 95% financial failure rating.

It is no surprise that with this much financial ineptness and ignorance that is abundant in our financial executives and business leaders as well as the bulk of the society in general, we have constant economic turmoil and misfortunes of one kind or another, such as recession, inflation, financial implosion, deflation, market crashes, massive layoffs, economic stagnation and stagflation, so on and so forth with no end in sight.

To explore the reasons behind this observed phenomenon further, we need to put the educational system under the proverbial microscope and observe the invisible and hidden germs within it. If we do so, we can see that as one goes through the academic system placed in everyone's road from very early stages of life, we can not help but notice that the underlying theme throughout the many schooling levels, starting with the kindergarten, the grade school, the middle school, the high school, the college and the university, all could be summed up into one resounding statement and that is:

"Learn the presented course materials so that you can get a job as a worker, or else we will flunk you, put you on probation or academically punish you in many ways."

1-2.2 A CORRECT EDUCATION

It is interesting to note that they never teach you from the viewpoint of "Let's make a business owner out of you," because the syllabus has to be rewritten then and the curriculum has to be completely restructured than the current pure data-based one, which is designed primarily to overwhelm the student!

In addition to basic knowledge about math and sciences, they would have to include subjects and skills such as leadership skills, communication skills, capability to establish a company, management skills, organization and administration knowledge, skills to control the environment in a sane manner, skills in using investment principles, skills and ability to recognize trends, skills and ability to apply ethics and law correctly, skills to recognize opportunities, skills and training to understand markets, skills and ability to live with truth and not introduce fabricated data, ability to raise own and other's spiritual awareness (not necessarily as a religious practice), ability to help others in a positive way, skills in raising mental alertness and freedom from past regrets, so on and so forth.

Therefore, they never go near materials that would truly empower the individual into a higher realm of prosperity. In other words, they really set one up to be a slave in the elaborate labyrinth of the business world.

The modern education system has no clue about the fundamental and underlying principles of life and livingness, particularly "the investment arena." They only emphasize technical data and facts at the hard science levels and engineering subjects and purely "authoritarian opinions" at the soft sciences, humanities and art levels of education.

The student's mind is littered with so much unnecessary data and useless facts that he becomes a walking robot upon graduation. He has not been endowed to become a thinking being with a higher skill set, one who can analyze problems of life and provide meaningful solutions. He is not equipped with "the truly life-enhancing principles of lifelong investment." These powerful investment principles concern one's time, energy, money and mental resources and their mastery will enable one to rise to a higher plateaus of survival required to live in abundance and affluence.