In Search of the Perfect Investment

Since we can’t predict elections, stockmarkets or economic turmoil, I go with what has served me well:

1.  Enthusiasm. When I left Australia in 1966 to come to business school here, my Australian boss said “Harry, you’ll love the Americans. They’re just like you. They substitute enthusiasm for intelligence.” I was offended. But over, the years, I learned it was a profound compliment to me and the Americans who made it to the moon, and built the greatest country.
2. Join the bandwagon. All of us want a Vision — a hope that drives us. A Vision is stronger than money. Cellphones, networking, computer telephony were the Visions of the businesses I started beginning in the early 1970s. It wasn’t the money. It was Vision that allowed me to coral thousands of wonderful folk into joining our bandwagon. Great enthusiasm is contagious. Great entrepreneurs have it. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Andy Grove, Bill Zuckerberg.
3. Do it different. We were in publishing. When our competitors printed on newsprint, we printed on fine glossy paper. Different often works because just it’s different. People embrace it because the old way worked, or didn’t work. The new way is different. Try something new. Economists (remember that collection of astrologists?) say Trump’s economic policies won’t work. You can’t build infrastructure with full employment. You’ll get rampant inflation. You can’t give companies more money (with lower taxes) because they already have too much cash and they’re not investing it. You can’t create jobs because automation will take them away and coal miners can’t become computer programmers.  But heck, I started a lot of businesses in the face of daunting naysayers and my own total lack of market research, and never once employing an economist. Most worked. Hence, I’m optimistic for Trump. It’ll be a bumpy ride. But everything different is bumpy.
4. Technology and science always save us. Always. Today I read:”An experimental Ebola vaccine tested on humans … has been shown to provide 100 percent protection against the lethal disease.” For the full story, click here.

Hence I enter 2017 with profound optimism. You should too.

It’s not difficult to live longer, or cheaper: From the New York Times:

Two numbers are, to me, particularly emblematic of what science had to tell us about fitness this year (2016):

The first is 42 percent and represents the extent by which people’s risk for premature death rises if they are out of shape, according to a study published in July. That number almost equals the risk of early death associated with heavy smoking.

The second figure is $2,500 and is the amount of money that each of us most likely could save annually on medical costs related to heart disease if we walked for 30 minutes most days, according to a wonderfully pragmatic study released in September.

In other words, exercise science this year taught us that being inactive could potentially cost us years from our lives and many thousands of dollars from our wallets.

For the rest of the article, click here. 

Boy, did Apple blow this one.

Yesterday the Wall Street Journal said the best wireless ear buds were Apple’s AirPods.

So I rushed last night to the Apple section of our local Best Buy. No luck. No AirPods.

Then I checked online:

No Christmas sales. The only decent new thing Apple has made in eons. And you can’t buy it!! Yuch.

Stuff: 

+ Norton Internet Security is the best protective software around. And Norton service is the best. I have nothing but good things to say about this company and their products.

+ Writers and comedians love Donald Trump because he generates so much good “material.” There’s a restaurant in the Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue where Donald lives. A writer for Vanity Fair headlined her review of it “Trump Grill Could Be The Worst Restaurant in America.” It’s obviously not. But the article is very funny. Click here. 

My BIG date.

She is a fabulous tennis player. The idea was we’d play from 7-8, then go out to dinner at a ritzy non-Trump restaurant.

There were some minor problems with Harry’s Grand Plan. First, when I arrived at the tennis court, her back was spazaming as a result of a recent fall from a horse that put her into hospital where she lay paralyzed for two days. “Don’t do stupid?” She’s only 24. So she’s starting stupid early.

Second, she needed to pick up a mattress from a friend and take it to her new apartment. She’d been sleeping on the floor for the last three nights. Probably not good for her aching back.

The upshot? My first date in forty years of wonderful marriage ended with me dining alone at Whole Foods, with only the local weirdos for companionship. I’m not showing you photos. Let’s face it — who eats at Whole Foods three days before Christmas? You can imagine the pink hair (on the men) and the facial hair on the women. Whole Foods does not sell organic shaving gear, yet. I’ll suggest it. Maybe I should make it and sell it to them?

Season of goodwill.

Such thoughtfulness!! Such joy. All my struggling private investments sent me printed “Season’s Greetings” cards.

Christmas is now the season for robo-contacting suffering shareholders. If I take the Christmas cards and their share certificates I can paper my bathroom, including the ceiling.

When I come to sell the apartment, perhaps the papered bathroom will value to my price?

The more likely reaction will be “You invested in all this crap? There’s something wrong with this apartment?”

Harry Newton, who has a new friend who lost all his houses and most of his money to a recent messy divorce. But he’s bouncing of the wall with new happiness. “My life is now simple. I live in a rented one-bedroom apartment. I play tennis five days a week. I have no worries. Life is wonderful.”

When God closes a door, He (or She) always opens a window. That window always opens fast — often the same day. You’re allowed to wallow in enthusiasm.  You’re allowed to have fun. You’re allowed to be optimistic. And, you’re also allowed to say NO — except to your children and grandchildren.

They’re all coming this weekend. I’m psyched.

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