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Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Investing not spending is the key

 
Every american has asked themselves this at some point. Some found out by getting lucky, the rest either had investments not work out or maybe even lose money to a scam or crash. 

 Being a millennial I notice people my age that aren't educated enough about stocks (as I was and most public educated kids aren't as well) tend to fall asleep learning about them or see the risk and run away. Not just millennials but my parents and other baby boomers have this mentality. There's a reason the 1% controls the true wealth in this country and it's not by saving their paychecks. 

 I just recently got into stocks this past year. Trading, investing has become my main income source as well as one of my hobbies. I didn't learn a damn thing about stocks in school and most won't unless you go to a serious college which a lot of us weren't fortunate enough to afford. But it's like having a succesful business, taking the right steps learning the dos and donts will eventually lead you to the answer if this is for you or not.

 Stocks are looked at like gambling and that's because a lot of people don't know how to properly analyze a stock so most look at it like placing a bet. This isn't true and like any business affair if you're ignorant to it you are indeed gambling. If you don't know what you're doing with a business, job , real estate etc. You'll lose everything like a bad investor does on Wall Street. People have learned to embrace entrepeaneurship in America, they should embrace finance as well.

 I'm not telling you to be a broker or aim to be rich, but learning banks, finance, etc. and how it works is key to living life the way you see fit. People should always invest in some way, see what works for you. When it comes to banks I've had horror stories like the next guy but as long as you don't put all your money in one account it protects you if things go wrong. But believe me having a smooth, cooperative bank for the active business account is a blessing you just have to take the time to find the right one. 

 I recently read an article on cnnmoney saying millennials prefer having only cash. That's fine to keep enough on hand but you should always have some money big or small being built up for you. most investments require a healthy debit account. But too many people have learned to avoid banks and look at them as all that's wrong with the world. Whatever your opinion is you have to work with them to move money efficiently, get credit, etc. 

When someone asks if stocks are a good investment the data proves they are. All things lose value, but not all recover like stocks do. Real estate can to through the same up and downs as stocks and it's certainly easier to invest or trade compared to flipping homes all year long.
Whatever sparks your interest you owe it to yourself to pursue a secure lifestyle as well as manage and invest your money wisely. 

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Herbalife is a pyramid scheme and Wall Street knows it

 If you trade stocks and watch any of the major channels for your news/updates (Bloomberg, CNBC, FoxNews) by now you've probably heard of Bill Ackman and his attack on Herbalife. Ackman claims Herbalife is nothing more than a scam, a pyramid scheme luring in financially ignorant investors as the Wall Street investors profits soar. If you were watching these same channels yesterday, surely you saw them jump to Herbalife's defense saying Ackman has proven nothing. Well, I disagree.

 In order to see how much of a set up Herablife is one needs to understand the supplement industry which admittedly many of the wall street men and women do not. They claim that the only reason retailers are struggling with the product is because they don't know how to run a Business or Market a product. To this I say bullshit. First off, anyone in the Supplement industry will tell you if your product is unknown, not endorsed by Athletes, then you have little to no chance of success. Think I'm wrong? Try to sell your products next to ON Nutrition, HPI, N.O, Dymatize, etc.  You will be buried on the shelf before you know it.

  Look, supplements aren't cheap and people want to buy what they either know works or what others will vouch for. I've had experience with some of the above brands and I was pleased at some of their products, others were a waste but that's what you're always going to get in the supplement industry. I've yet to hear anyone having success USING let alone retailing Herbalife. Does Wall Street care about this? Of course not, because the only thing that maters is that the stock price goes up, period. And believe me they will do whatever it takes to make sure this happens, even having the major networks bash Bill Ackman saying he's full of it in order to protect investors.

                                                             Lets compare two products..
1.6 LB of Protein
37.99

2 LB
$30.00
Besides the obvious price and size difference, there's one big thing here that ON has over Herbalife. A proven track record. If you don't believe me, simply do some research. You will see people rave about the ON Nutrition Brand.  I used ON and Dymatize for years ever since playing football in High School. The only time I ever stopped using those brands was when my budget got a little tight, when that happens I usually go to more natural and cheaper Protein sources, not only that but it's good to give your kidneys a break from supplements as well...But back to the topic at hand. From just what I know, I would laugh at any retailer trying to push the more expensive, less effective herbalife onto me. Guess what that means? That means you as a retailer lose. So how do people save face when it comes to Herbalife? Well, it's simple really. They try to convince others to sell the product for them ala a pyramid scheme. So now instead of one person losing, more and more people continue to lose. While this happens herbalife continues raking in the profits and folks over on Wall Street get richer while hard working retailer and the customer gets screwed. As I said before, you will continue to hear Wall Street and the major news networks defending this pyramid scheme because it makes them money.

  But how about we ask the consumers? they don't seem too thrilled They aren't alone either...More complaints But wait, where's the BBB on this? Dealing with more complaints  In this article, Forbes tells you the power that this company has and why they're still and will continue to stand read here

Look, I can sit here all day linking you to articles, or I can provide more then enough examples of how Herbalife is overpriced ($159 for a months use?! What? and I thought normal protein powders were expensive..) But I'll let you do the rest, just Google "herbalife" and let the shit show begin.

So to my fellow small Business Owners and Fitness enthusiast, Do you and your bank accounts a favor...Stay far away as possible as you can from these products. The Supplement industry is full of good and bad products besides scam such as Herbalife. Before buying any product I strongly urge you to do your research on anything you put in your body.

I've found bodybuilding.com to be an excellent source for not just pricing, but helpful information regarding these products.