An investment or an expense?

Spending money is personal — and of course, you’re going to have your categories. Housing, bills, transportation (obviously), fun — and then the big one, investments.

As a millennial who has admittedly grown up with a true lack of investment knowledge in school (a story for another day), I can tell you that the investment I’ve made in my own financial freedom has been a true investment. 

If it wasn’t for my father, introducing to me the management of money and importance of investment when I was young, who knows where I’d be today (but surely not here, writing to you).

Ever since I found my financial freedom through trading and investing, it’s been my goal to bring it to you. 

Why…?

Because my life has been forever changed because of it. 

Last year I started an experiment. I wanted to invest for my son, the way my dad taught me.  Except, with my son’s account, I put my own twist on investment.

How?

I used my Five Star/Phoenix method to pick my stocks. 

Now let me just say, my dad’s a wizard — but like everything I do, I wanted to do it my own way.

And so, I opened up a YouInvest account with JPMorgan Chase. It makes it pretty easy to transfer money (I transfer $200 a month) and invest it for my son. 

But, which stocks to pick?

For that, I always look to the Phoenix Finder.

Here’s what the account looked like at the end of last year:

For those of you who know me, you know I’m primarily an options trader — with a bit of futures, and aging into stocks. Which is ironic because I think it’s normally the other way around.

I blame John (in a fantastic way) for getting me excited to trade options in my young age. 

And, it was with my knowledge of options that I wanted to expand and begin growing long term investment accounts. I did this with my favorite method, just on a longer term time frame, and, with a different investment vehicle — stocks. 

I like to think about Warren Buffett, and one of his key points of wisdom. 

When asked about Warren Buffet, here’s what Jeff Bezos had to say:

“Jeff, what is the best advice Warren ever gave you?”

Bezos: “I asked Warren… your investment thesis is so simple. You’re the second richest guy in the world and it’s so simple. Why doesn’t everyone just copy you?”

Buffett: “Because nobody wants to get rich slowly.”

This stuck with me, and it was one of my primary considerations when I went about creating the Phoenix Finder.

I thought to myself… I KNOW which stocks are the best to trade options on. I know this without guessing it. But I also want to be able to do this analysis in a quick, easy fashion — that doesn’t require hours of work, and in a way that can be replicated by anyone using the same tool.

And so, I created the Phoenix Finder.

It’s that tool that I use to trade options, and it’s what I used to grow Leo’s account from 2k to almost 8k in a year. 

Now, you may say, $5,000 isn’t much is it? But this 5k was entirely passive income that I generated by picking 1-2 Phoenix stocks per month. That’s it. Some months I didn’t add anything. I just used my tool to pick the best names, most favorably at a discount.

Now, I’ll be the first to tell you… I love a good sale.

I don’t like paying full price, and I like getting more for my money when I can buy something I want on sale. I also believe in passing along my good faith and fortune — which is why for the final day of 2019, you can find the Phoenix Finder at a huge discount here. 

Because this right here, is an investment. Not a cost.

And 2020 for me, is all going to be about focusing on my investments.

What about you?