Long Term, Independent Thinking - Living Life on Your Terms

I have not always been a long term, independent minded, macro thinker and investor. In my early years on Wall Street, I followed the actions of a senior investment advisor who was an options specialist. He placed anywhere from 1000-5000 options orders DAILY, and his technical analysis was minute by minute, and many times second by second. It took me about a year to realize that this kind of investing just wasn't for me...much too risky and fast moving...with way too much guesswork. Jack (the options specialist) wound up having a heart attack, and while he recovered 100%, he was forced to give up options trading...turns out, it wasn't really his style of investing either.

Within about 5 years into the business, a mentor came into my life that perfectly suited my personality. Ted had been in the industry about 40 years when I met him, and he completely understood how the markets worked and why they worked the way they did. His view was that all successful investing and decision making started with the macro view...the big picture economically and personally. He believed that once you understood the macro fundamentals that you could then choose the specific industries and companies that made the best investment sense. He also believed that having a long term perspective was the only way to go, and that following YOUR instincts...not someone else's...was the key to making great decisions.

Over the years I studied the work of other well known macro investors. Experts like Peter Lynch and Warren Buffet are famous for their macro work, and it didn't take me long to realize that this was the ONLY way to build lasting, long term wealth...not just using the stock markets, but with real estate and commodities as well. Napoleon Hill taught me the same principals about life through Think and Grow Rich. Over the last decade plus I've done my best to describe and teach this style of living, and from time to time I receive emails that illustrate the success my subscribers have had.

Recently, I received the following email that I'd like to share with you here:

Dear Kip,

Thank you for your consistently passionate work and for steering us in the right direction. Before I joined WMI and began taking the VRA, my financial life was a mess. We were way too leveraged in real estate and had never had success in the stock market. If we had not listened to you about 3 years ago, we would have lost everything. When I first shared with my wife your views of the stock market and real estate market, she thought you were crazy. She told me "there is no way we're selling these properties now. Doesn't he know that we are already underwater and will have to take losses"?

We talked about these decisions for a couple of months and then bit the bullet and got out from underneath these properties. If we had kept them, we would be in bankruptcy today, with millions in losses. Instead, we are debt free and we are making money in the VRA and gold and silver.   

Every time we hear you say that you are "equal opportunity offenders" we both laugh, but we also know exactly what you mean by it. Thank you and Karl for being men of your word and for following your instincts. You have lots of fans out here and we are on board for the 50 trillion transfer.

Thank you!

M & M - California  

Solid investment advice is really no different than solid wisdom for life. And no, living your life with a long term, independently thought out mindset is not always the easiest thing to do. Many times you have to fight what might be 10, 20 or even 50 years of wrong way-conditioning, and frequently, this conditioning may come from those that you care about the most (family and friends).    

We deeply believe in the principals that WMI stands for. Authenticity...Loyalty... Freedom...Prosperity...and of course, The Truth. The truth resonates, and when you reach the point in your life where you recognize the truth, when you see it and when you hear it, all of your life decisions become more grounded...more real...and more concrete.

I appreciate the fact that I had both of these mentors in my life, Jack and Ted. They both taught me an incredible amount about myself, and the life that I chose to lead. As you continue on your journey to prosperity and authenticity, may your mentors serve you as well as mine have served me.

Your friend

Kip