Thursday, August 12, 2010

My Dreams, Why I Buy Stocks

I like buying stocks because it fits my nature as a social outsider / observer. I like buying stocks because I can make boatloads of money off of opportunities that everyone has (in the sense that it's publicly traded) but few have the temperament to execute on. I like buying stocks because it's scalable (unlike in poker where you can get pocket aces but no one calls your all in) and I can do it the rest of my life and actually get better each year (unlike nearly any physical sport). I like buying stocks because it forces me to learn about the world, the people running it, and the quiet unnoticed forces that influence billions of lives.

And should I be successful and make millions, what do I want to do with it?

I want to be a force for good. Yeah it's tacky, but honestly, I think giving money even if it's just $300K a year to poor people either in my direct community or abroad can make a freak'n huge difference. The other day Jess met a family of 6 (5 kids) that were living in a van down by my dry-cleaners. Imagine if I could give them an apartment to live in for a few years what difference that could make? Apartments in Hollywood can go as low as $12K a year. That’s 25 homeless families in rent-free homes per year. $300K goes even further in countries where people are living on less than $2 per day (i.e. I could feed 150K people for 1 day or 400 people for one year).

If I can amass $10mn the possibilities for good are endless. I can probably compound at 5% after-tax with little difficulty thereafter (assuming lumpy returns) or roughly $500K a year. Spend $200K on my family (if that), and the rest goes to improving the world. Maybe these are delusions of grandeur, but they are my dreams.

1 comment:

banrock said...

these are definitely worthy dreams, buddy. it's always been a pleasure seeing how things have panned out for you. thank you for keeping up with your writing, so that we can continue riding along with you.