What I’m doing with $100,000 Investment Fund

Does playing FIFA or PES make you a better football player? Maybe not. But, does it make you more knowledgeable about football? Absolutely.

No, I do not have $100,000. I was given by Investopedia. I mean I am playing an investment simulation game on Investopedia. So, this is how I am investing $100,000.

I am not going to give deep details like accurate pricing and precise cash available because I am typing all this off the internet and really in a rush. I have so many blogs I plan to share with you over the next few days.

So, on the first day: May 31, 2019.

I knew I was going to invest in Microsoft, no matter whatever. It’s a great company at the moment. Things are going well on every side. I knew I wouldn’t put my money into Apple or Google. The trade war between US and China will largely affect these two companies than it would Microsoft.

I bought 100 shares of Microsoft. At around 125 dollars or so, that’s some 12,500 dollars. In the short term, I do not see Microsoft going past the 1 trillion dollar mark it reached weeks back. But in the long term, the growth would be continuous.

Then, I looked at Facebook. I saw a market cap of 520 billion dollars. I looked at the growth chart for the past days, weeks, months, and years. I still remember they lost over a hundred billion dollars in a single trading day in 2018. I know Facebook suffers whenever there’s a privacy breach or security threat even if and when it’s not related to the company. They are making some good strides to push forward with Oculus which isn’t news, but I still think 500+ billion dollars for Facebook might be too much in the near short term. So, what did I do?

I shorted Facebook. Haha! I have suffered in this my journey of understanding finance. Shorting Facebook (or any company) implies that I’m making a bet that Facebook shares would still slump and I would make a gain by somehow trading the shares by shorting it.

I shorted 100 shares of Facebook. The price was around 185 dollars, I shorted at 180. And by the close of trading, it was around 179 or thereabout!

This method of investing is wack by all standards. But, I’m just starting!

MSFT and FB in the bag. Who next?

I bought General Electric shares. Around February last year, GE had a market cap of around 300 billion dollars. Now, they are worth less – lower than 100 billion dollars. I do not think they will be worth as much as 300 billion dollars going forward, at least not anytime soon. But, looking at their revenues and other financial statements, as well as knowing that they have listed some companies such as Baker Hughes while GE Healthcare might be going public soon, I knew they are divesting their public holdings. I bought 1,000 shares, I think.

Tesla and Elon Musk are going through some tough moments. Currently worth a little over 30 billion dollars, the value of this company has reduced by around 50 percent because I remember it used to hover around 50-60 billion dollars. They have themselves to blame. Even if the company is sold today at 30 billion dollars, they wouldn’t have enough cash to liquidate shareholders equity. They owe around that mark. I won’t go further about Tesla issues; everything about them is well covered by the media.

I know of the bad financials and reduced demand. But, I am really for Tesla. I am for Musk. I believe the company will earn investors’ trust again. I believe the EV/AV market is still there, perhaps just some consumers getting scared of trade direction between countries. I bought 100 shares as well.

At this point, I was having a little over $70,000 in cash.

Misses

I wanted to buy JCPenney just to have a closer look at the company, but the game wouldn’t allow you buy shares that are not up to one dollar.

Intraday goings-on, Microsoft stock was slightly down. Meaning, my MSFT shares had lower value than I paid for them. But, GE was up, TSLA was up too. FB was trading around the mid to late 170s! I was on a profit of 250+ dollars.

June 1 2019

This was definitely not a trading day. But when I checked my portfolio, I saw MSFT still down. FB down too (meaning I was gaining on FB since I shorted it), TSLA up, and GE up. I was on a gain of 300+ dollars.

I wasn’t gonna rest.

More Trades

I ordered for more stocks which should be completed on Monday, June 3, 2019. What I bought:

I bought Opera Software stocks. I know well (maybe not so well, but a good knowledge) what the company is doing and where they are headed. It is a growth direction. So, I bought some shares.

I bought Baker Hughes too! The company is growing and in my eyes currently underpriced.

And to keep in touch with the Sage of Omaha, I bought Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares; I couldn’t buy the Class A (it’s worth almost 300,000 dollars).

Misses

I couldn’t invest in Zoom Technologies and Beyond Meat because they were newly listed on the stock exchange.

Last Words

I can’t wait for Monday to see how things are playing out. I am still a rookie. And I remain a tech enthusiast. The investments I made clearly show that. I’ll gladly invest in other sectors if I find something worthy and great, but this is where and how I am starting.

Dogma -- The One Thing I hope You Let Go This Year

If there is anything I hate, it is doing what others do, thinking like others, acting like others, being the representation of the norm. Don't get me wrong. Even if I'm in a place where everyone is doing fantastic, I'd still be fantastically different.

Being different is at the core of being human. Many of us just stick to the status quo, leaving behind our uniqueness.

Since the day I saw a Facebook post that said "Even those who don't give in to societal norms, still give in to other norms", my thirst for being undogmatic just became greater. After several months, I've found that post to be true. Humans, no matter how maverick, are susceptible to being dogmatic. I read this extensively in Malcolm Gladwell's book Tipping Point.

People and media form opinions they want you to believe are true and never changing. No doubt, you might believe some; but consult your brains, your instincts! Being dogmatic, I have known, leads to directionless living. You'd think you are progressing, but you are aimlessly drifting.



The best definition I have found for DOGMA so far is culled from Merriam Webster Dictionary: belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted.

There are billions of dogmas in the world today. You know the ones that apply to you. You know the ones your circle of friends have held to their heart. Debunk the myths and live with your own opinion of the universe.

The Universal Dogma

One of the dogmas people around me (and my industry) believe is that tech is the only next thing. Dogmas come in different shapes and sizes. LOL! Even these high grossing, highly intellectual folks still consume irrational opinions.

While I think tech has lots to offer in the subsequent years, we should know that tech has always been the next thing! It will always be. Tech started being the next thing since the days of Standard Oil, General Electric, Ford, Intel, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and Uber. It will continue that way.

Innovation, particularly software, will continue to power the world. There is nothing scary about this. This shouldn't make you change career path from something you are passionate about to something you have no talents in.

Now, many want to learn coding which I don't think is entirely bad. In fact, it is a great development. The bad thing would be leaving your area of strength to learn how to code.

I'm seriously betting on finance as a great career path for anyone. It has always been a great path like tech. I could ask you the difference between World Bank and IMF and I'm sure most educated chaps have no clue. Have you sat down for a week watching the stock market? It's just as difficult to comprehend as software engineering. And there's a reason FinTech is now a sector on its own.



How about energy? Energy has continued to be a challenge. The USA emitted more carbon in 2018 than in 2017. 1 billion people still don't have access to electricity. Solar is still not very efficient and cheap.

Streamlined Entrepreneurial Thinking

Lemme tell you of another dogma. These days, everyone says being an entrepreneur is really about finding the solution to a problem. Yes, it is. But no, it's not entirely true. Being a successful entrepreneur or businessperson is about bringing an improvement to human life. It could be a giant leap or a slight increment.

The world didn't need a mobile tablet. Autonomous vehicles do not solve any problem. In fact, many of the innovations that will be coming in subsequent years won't solve any underlying problem. They'll only make the human race extremely modern and digitised.

Think about your present state. Or the world at large. Is there any fundamental problem that needs to be explored? There might be. But now, think about the world again. Are there things that can be improved from zero to one, one to hundred? Lots.

This is the way you should think. Stop searching for problems. Investigate how you can improve human life. Make it happen. And people will say you solved a problem.

I know many will argue this. Just give me a call or schedule a meet-up. I just love thinking different when everyone says or does the same.

Smart Work vs. Hard Work

Smartphones, smart watches, and smart cities have brought with them a new phrase: smart work.

The difference between where you are right now and where you want to be is effort. And effort is work. Whether it’s hard, soft, smart, or unsmart. Just do it!

Leave behind the societal buzzwords (I hope someone really checks what buzzword means). In fact, I could replace dogma with buzzwords or myths. I just think dogma is good enough. We get carried away in the thinking of others. We let the media and people who have never walked in our shoes dictate what we believe as right or wrong.

I feel this is the time you have to be opinionated. Even if it’s just for your own sake, think through. Don’t just sit there, scroll web pages, watch TV, and give in to generic thoughts and opinions.

If only one million people in Nigeria were like this, we wouldn’t be in this mess.

In a Wrap...

The world would be at a great loss if we all exert our focus on software development, artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, and IoT. We would all lose if we keep thinking the same.

These dogmas are corporate dogmas. There are street dogmas in our communities and institutions. The earlier you unplug yourself, the more directional you drive your thought. And your life!