"Common Sense" Coaching

Under Construction - "Common Sense" Investment Coaching

Do you consistently break Warren Buffett's #1 Rule: "Don't lose money"?...and his #2 Rule: "See Rule #1"? Would you like to know why that apparent paradox is true, and how learning its subtle but profound truth can save your financial future?

Would you like to become an "intelligent investor"? Would you like to become "financially literate"?

If so, I offer basic "common sense" investment coaching on a limited basis. I call it "common sense" because, as history proves over and over, most investing, once understood seems like common sense in hindsight - AFTER 1929, AFTER 1987, AFTER 2001, AFTER the latest 2008 "crash" - and even the great Warren Buffett only invests in things he understands, things that are "common sense" to him.

Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad used to tell him to "be careful what financial advice you listen to". I am not a financial advisor. I do not sell you stocks or mutual funds or real estate. What I give you is something I believe to be, much more valuable to both you and me: investment coaching, based on the great financial literacy books shown here. However, to Kiyosaki's point, my offer should raise two serious questions in your mind immediately:

1. What qualifies Coach Ben to teach you to invest?

2. If old Coach Ben is so smart and rich, why would he want to waste his precious time teaching you to invest?

The first question takes considerable time to answer in detail. I can explain it to you at our first meetings, but the short answer is this: Over the last 10 years, my ROI (Return On Investment) has averaged about 15%, and over the last 5 years, I've been spending virtually all my spare time learning to invest, so I expect to do at least as well in the next 10 years. Even in this last year (2008) with latest market downturn, I have "lost" only about 13% of net worth on paper. Warren Buffett and Seth Klarman have "lost" about 25% . ("Lost" is in quotes because you don't really lose until you sell.)

Admittedly, luck has been a part of this latest minimal loss. That is to say, I don't for a moment believe that I'm as good as Buffett or Klarman and most of the other investment gurus, but like them I have learned how to "buy low and sell high" - easy to talk about, but hard to actually do - both from a "fundamentals analysis" point of view, and from an emotional point of view. I will teach you how do both, and it will probably be vastly different from anything your financial advisors have told you. I will teach you all the investment terminology and supply you (or point you to) all the software needed for the budgeting and fundamental investment analysis .

Having been a life/health insurance agent for a year, I have also learned how to protect my assets, and can teach you why and how to do this without "spending a fortune to protect a fortune".

The second question is easy: I love to teach subjects which I myself love and have learned well, and I have a long track record as a great and patient teacher.

I especially love to teach what I consider to be important, "high-leverage" stuff, and investing truly is - lots of "bang" for a few "bucks". With the demise of the defined benefit pension plan (your grandpa's blue-chip company pension plan) in America and the rise of the 401K and IRA plans to take its place, we have in effect been forced into becoming our own private pension fund managers and frankly, most of us are not very good at it. But like it or not, boring or not, the cheese has been moved and it has become vitally important that virtually all Americans learn to be "intelligent investors". I personally LOVE learning and teaching investing: stocks, bonds, real estate, you name it. If the subject involves making a lot of money (slowly at low risk or quickly at high risk), I want to deeply understand it, and I want you to understand it as well.

Real estate has its own terminology. Stock investing has a somewhat different terminology. I will teach you the basics of both, but "investments" are all essentially the same because at their core, they are about "putting lazy money to work for you". You then become your money's "manager" which - make no mistake - will someday become almost a full-time job for you as you become rich. The better manager you learn to become, the harder your money will work for you, and the richer your money will make you. What you do with the profits is up to you. You can spend them on luxury yachts, fancy cars and other such "doo-dads", or use them for great good in the world, like Tim Ferriss, Paul Newman, Room To Read, Bill and Melinda Gates, Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett.

If this sounds like fun learning to you, please contact me. Your first session will be free-of-charge. After that, I charge $75/hr for investment coaching individually or as a small group, with a sliding scale for low-income families.