Quote for this month:

“There are two hedges I know of; one is cash and the other is knowledge.” —Bruce Berkowitz

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Since last update I have started a new segment called “Bi-Weekly Munchies or BWM” which I will be releasing bi weekly (obviously).

My Investing Journey "From $100K to $1M"

BWM - Issue # 1 - July 23, 2022

Welcome to the first edition of BWM (Bi-Weekly Munchies) not related in anyways to BMW. BWM is a new series that I want to try out. It’s “Monthly Munchies” segment from my “Monthly Updates” that I believe should have it’s own little space on the web…

4 months ago · 8 likes · Mr Zaye

I’m also working on another new segment…

Lastly, I will try to do post with my thoughts on the earnings for companies that I own (most will report by the end of this week, Future Fuel on next Monday).

Portfolio Update*

I am NOT a financial advisor, I’m sharing my investing journey. Do your own research.

Portfolio:

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https://cdn.commonstock.com/ad3bd9c3206b26edac779498ccdeea536eb09720de591f25e41dc3f6984a4bdd-1200x600.png — Commonstock

Portfolio Discussion

First of, I have removed $10,000 from my portfolio to take care of something personal which now brings us back to “normal” journey without inflated Total Account Value (sort of speak). You may or may not remember from 06.07.2022 Portfolio Update (Monthly Edition) post that when I added $10,000 I said I might take it out / which I have…so now back to normal TAV on our way to $1,000,000.

I have exited my (at the time) to have enough of $$$ to be able to withdraw $10,000 also at that time did trade with and so both SSSS and DJCO were exited for profit (minor but profit) 1) for the lack of possibility to build up position (both were less then 1% and 2) because I wanted to take care of the thing that I needed to take care of with the ten thousand.

For me to get position in DJCO stock need to go below $250 and I need to have enough cash to build up the position.

As with regarding SuRo Capital, I have started working on Deep Dive for it and while doing the Deep Dive I realized that this is not the company I want to go all in (yet) as with DJCO, SSSS needs to go below $5 for me to consider getting heavy + need to make sure I have cash to do it.

I’m planning to release “Not So Deep Dive” on at some point this month.

Dividends for July:

Otherwise things are more or less looking the same. is releasing earnings tomorrow (8/2) so that will be “fun”… no idea how things will go but its my largest holding and my first Price Target is $8 bucks and so I have been unloading a little bit just in case things go south tomorrow.

If they do I maybe or may not add back to position (depending how low it would go) and if things go north, I may unload more from $8-$10 range … I have to be careful with when I sell to get Long Term Gain and not STG so I don’t pay too much in tax.

QUICK THOUGHTS ON THE MARKET/MACRO

Lastly, removing $10,000 (yes I know I said it too many times last one I promise) means I need to build up the CASH cushion because things can still go south, real quick, if Fed and the Market will not be on the same page.

Some predict that we are in bear market and this is a bear trap, others are predicting that this is the beginning of a new bull market. I don’t know.

What I do know is that:

Inflation is still on everyone mind
There is still war between Ukraine and Russia
Europe (if nothing to be done by winter) will be in big trouble due to U&R war
People (at least in US) are still working, going on vacations, and doing what they did before COVID which may or may not “bring us back to normal”
Cars are still too expensive (this is just me complaining because I want to get a new car)
I invest into individual companies with bottom’s up approach and with some potentially appreciating sooner then I thought, I need to start looking for new companies but currently THE BAR is set high for any new company.

Do what you want with this info.

P.S. I’m probably going for a gold medal at being mister obvious…

Comments From Me

I have been very pleased so far with the numbers on the new segment (BWM) and been inspired to try a few more things while also working A LOT … so my hopes are not too high to not disappoint myself.

Otherwise its business as usual and I hope all of you are having a great summer!

GIVEAWAY Winner Announcement

In July post I have put out GIVEAWAY section as a “thank you” to my subscribers and said the winner will be announced in August (aka now)…

The list of individuals that qualified for it was/is HUGE and to play it safe I have decided to pick a few winners, If first person doesn’t respond within a week I will keep going down until one does just to make sure someone wins it.

If the winner chooses so I will post their name or social media tag to announce that they won, but if they want to keep it anonymous I will respect that decision…

I may or may not do something again after passing 1,000 sub mark. 😊

Why Pay for Fund Managers

I saw this twitter post..

Shane @Compound24

I wonder how Pat is doing in 2022? 😮

Modern Value Investor @modern_value

@Compound24 Why pay someone to buy you Meta, Google, Disney and Paypal?

… Why pay someone to hold well know / “low risk” large/mega caps…

That’s actually a great question to which I’m guessing a lot of people have different answer to…

My answer though (at this point) is/will always be because “when it comes to large amount of moneys and large draw downs you might just chicken out and sell out at the bottom instead of adding or holding”

Now, I’m not saying that every professional PM has the mental energy/strength to do what he or she is supposed to do when “crap hits the fan” but I would say most likely they stand better chance then a “regular person” (I don’t have any data to back it up).

If you are reading this blog you are probably in minority of people who have high tolerance for risk (or you AT LEAST you might think so) now again I have no way of proving it but that’s my gut feeling based on what people did during most previous crashes (before 2000, during 2000 or 2008 or even 2020).

“History Doesn't Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes” – Mark Twain.

Most/all people that I speak to day to day are not passionate about investing or money management and when I discuss with them any type of scenarios of market crash they confirm they would panic and that is also one of the reasons why they still do not invest (in stock market) as they believe that personal property or saving account is better preserver/multiplier of wealth then stock market and it’s crooked wall street players.

The problem that I’m starting to see and consciously myself trying to learn how to deal with is that professional money managers are also regular humans and have feelings/emotions and might not really be suited to manage other’s peoples money in the long run.

(The pressure PMs have to deal with when they are in the shop and have other people they have to answer to can be huge, I understand that)

One of the reasons why I’m documenting this is also to see how I will act during any kind of draw downs / bear markets to learn how to cope and excel in this kind of environment (I’m not saying I have master it (or even close to it) but most people are not consciously trying to get better at it)

So, if you are emotional/having gambling problems/etc maybe it is better to let someone else to manage your money especially when you can focus on other things like your profession, your business, running organization/non-profits, do I dare say just “relaxing” (if you made a lot of money)? etc…

What I’m saying is, if you are not fully committed to the money game and you just don’t care about markets, let someone who is committed and who is passionate about it to handle the “risk” and the “headache” …

…now finding that right person … that’s a question/topic for a different day…

More Books

This time around I finished one audiobook and one I did not finish…

Am I Being Too Subtle?: Straight Talk From a Business Rebel by Sam Zell

Am I Being Too Subtle is a autobiography book about Samuel Zell (read by Sam Zell). Samuel Zell is an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. A former lawyer, Zell is the founder and chairman of Equity Group Investments, a private investment firm, founded in 1968. The company invests across industries and geographies and throughout the capital structure.

I didn’t know anything about SZ when going into this book, but his story is truly an inspiration although he took Real Estate route (and later ventured in to Public Markets) its an amazing story that gives me hope in pursuing my dreams.

This is easy to follow book and is told with no B/S about Mr Zells life and I think everyone can take some life lessons from it.

I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.

The one book that I did no finish is…

Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers: The Acclaimed Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping by Robert M. Sapolsky

Although I liked the idea of learning about Stress and how to cope with it… This book takes idea way way in too much nitty gritty details.

This booked is well suited for someone who is (probably) in medical field or who is really obsessed with topic of STRESS… I love learning about mindset, stress, emotions, etc but not in this kind of level of details…

I give it 2.0 out of 5 stars.

Sharing “one” Way I Look For Companies

Circling back to idea of famous gurus/investors and knowing what they own.

I wanted to share one way (I have many different) that I look for companies…

I still think its a great way of finding great companies to research / get to know via “your” favorite gurus 13Fs.

Now, you can’t “buy” conviction … if you didn’t do your research and blindly buy and sell when gurus do, you will most likely … not do so well.

But you can use them as your personal/free analysts (I think I’m stealing this idea from Mohnish Pabrai). It’s not cloning.

When you are PM and you have analysts working for you (I’m just guessing here, I’m not a PM but I do have people working for me) they bring you ideas and its YOU who decides if you should pursue them or not.

The idea is (after you create your checklist) you quickly can let “your analysts” know that you are not interested in their picks. They can go and invest their own money into it but you don’t have to.

And so every now and then they will come to you and offer you companies at the time some will be “over bought” and some will be “over sold” and just like with Mr Market you can accept or reject their offers.

I will say when it came to PayPal one of my “analysts” brought it up to me and I thought it was an interesting pick that he has been holding for long time and there were many others like oil companies and social media platforms that I just had no interest in, so I politely declined.

Thank you for reading all the way to the end…

I would love to hear your feedback (both positive & negative feedback is welcomed).

Lastly, I would really appreciate if you would share my newsletter with at least one person who you think might enjoy reading (learning from) what I’m writing about.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Mr Zaye

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My Investing Journey "From $100K to $1M" & More.

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