8/19/2015: Easy Money / A Good Person is Hard to Find

8/19/2015: Easy Money / A Good Person is Hard to Find

5:15am – 7:06am

I’m debating on which title I should use for this one.  I read “A Good Man is Hard to Find” in my EPCC English class and I found some similarities between her fictional story and mine.  :)  The title is kind of off but it will make sense if you keep reading.  It’s supposed to be a catch.  :p

As mentioned in my previous blogs, I feel like I have the writer’s curse, which is, whenever I feel like writing or whenever I feel something inspirational or I have something to write about, I have to write to it.  Well, I don’t have to.  I could write it on a piece of paper for future blogs but the passion, the energy, may die off if I delay for too long.  And if I ignore the urge or passion to write, then I tend to forget or lack the passion of what I want to write.

I went to my financial business’ webinar today.  Every Tuesday at 10am is a webinar and it’s supposed to be special because the master trainer, Xuan Nguyen, which I learned a lot from, my financial mentor, will speak during that time.  I came at 11am because I know from past experience that the actual webinar starts at 11am.  10am is mostly a sharing time where they share on video various WFG (World Financial Group) sites and they share how they are doing.  It’s nice but it’s not a necessity.  At the webinar, I reviewed my reasons for going into the financial industry:

1) To make money for myself so I can, in sequential order, make a living, save money, and have fun.  [Although I’m planning to just shorten it to “To make money for myself” and I feel the clause “have fun” is kind of controversial because it is for fleshly reasons.]

2) To help people better manage their money.  [When I am selling is also an investment product and it is, imo, and I also have the same policy, much better than putting your money in a bank, 401k, etc.]

3) To contribute and build God’s Kingdom.  (The ones in bold are those I feel are my main reasons.  The manual wants us to have ten reasons)  [A portion of my proceeds and profits I get from this business will be for God.  I can serve God and His people financially.]

4) To better myself and to reach my full potential.  [This business is not just a business but it is a great learning and life growing opportunity.]

5) I am my own boss, this career is independent.  [No one tells me what to do, it’s on my own time, can be part or full time]

6) To advert or reduce the coming retirement crisis in America.  [From the book, but it’s something I realized.  Many people are not preparing for their future.]

7) To give people a hope and a future.  [I feel many people are struggling financial or they somehow just can’t save up any money.  This product can help people save money and save in the right place.  This is also one of my reasons I went into teaching.  I probably should have created ten reasons for becoming a teacher and just maybe I’ll stay in teaching.  :p  Taken from Jeremiah 29:11]

8) To help people in this area so they can help others.  [The emphasis for this reason is more on if they decide to join the team and recruit/sale to others.  The people that join has an opportunity to help others in this area as well.]

9) To fight against the injustices in the banking, credit card, and other industry.  [Maybe I’m a little biased but this is my economic orientation, that the rich takes advantage of the poor.  Why then would banks offer their customers such low interest rates.  Why such high interest rates on credit cards?  I know the usual “economic” reasons but I feel the root cause of it is human greed.]

10) To apply the concepts I have learned here to evangelizing for God’s Kingdom.  [I stopped at number nine and I felt I can’t think of any other reasons.  Then this though inspired me.  I can use what I learned and my experience in a different but also similar area.  I will share more on this later in today’s blog]

So today, I felt relatively excited.  I want to talk to people.  Well, not quite.  I kind of forced myself to want to talk to people about this because I set quotas for myself.  Quotas are not mandatory for my company but I choose so because it helps motivate me.  It’s like of like setting a deadline to do something.  Then I procrastinate which gives me additional energy to do the task.

However, as I guessed, from my experience, evangelizing and selling/offering a product is easy to say, hard to do or easy on paper but hard to do in practice.  My action plan for today is to evangelize and sell my product/recruit 50/50, starting with God first.  I planned to offer them a eternal future and then for the next person, their current future.  I went to Costco, which is nearby from the WFG office building.  I don’t have the membership so I can’t go in.  I walked around the entrance and the parking lot.  The first two I asked “Excuse me, do you have a minute?” refused to even talk to me.  In fact, it seems when I walk towards them they act super cold.  For the third person, I saw him loading his van with the goods he brought from Costco.  I asked the same thing and he told me yeah he has a minute.  I’m so happy he gave me a chance.  I tried to start causal by saying he brought a lot and that it is worth going to Costco if you buy a lot.  Then, I went straight to the point, “I would like to invite you to my Ignite Movement church,” because it’s not just a church, it’s a movement.  :)  Then, I tried to share my testimony but he then appeared disinterested midway through.  My testimony is not the typical “Before I knew God I was like this….  And after I met God, I was like this…” format.  I was raised in a Christian home.  Instead, my testimony is more like: I was raised in a Christian family but I rarely experienced God intimately.  There were times when I did, times of revival.  But I love worship songs and I love singing God’s songs.  Then in high school, I left God in favor of reason and science but during my senior year, I believed Him again thanks to Evidence for God from Science, a Christian website which convinced me of the existence of God.  But I never really “knew” God and have an intimate relationship with him until I joined the Army.  And I joined the Army because I was addicted to computer games, pornography, I would hide my grades from my dad until one day he found out.  I was practically kicked out of my house and forced to join enlist in the military.  But, look at me.  I am totally unprepared and the worse candidate for the Army.  I didn’t work out.  I was not in the football team.  I don’t have experience in life.  I’m afraid to even drive or buy stuff.  I just spend all day and most of the night locked in my room playing computer games.  I was so ate up in the military it’s not even funny.  So then, I had nowhere to turn to but God, the only One I know who can help me.  And by trusting in Him, he gave me supernatural grace and strength.  I would have died in the Army without God and I failed all my PT tests except the ones that count.  As you can see, my story is very complicated and I couldn’t really retell my story because I was part nervous and part I didn’t know what to say for my testimony because it is too complicated.  I didn’t know where to start.  And I’m still changing thanks to God and I can still share how after the Army, my relationship with God slowly died.  Sure there was revival but it was not until I went to Ignite that I started to become alive again, etc etc.  So because my testimony was too complicated, I felt it didn’t make sense to him and it was probably mumbo jumbo.  So I tried cutting it short by saying the key points, that God helped me so much in the Army and I know what he is real.  He told me he’ll check the church website out and think about it.  It was then when I saw his kid and probably his wife at the driver’s seat.  I paused.  I wanted to ask if we can pray but I felt it’s going to be awkward so I just thanked him for listening to me and his time and went off.  One spoken to. 

For me, as soon as I have a “success,” which is not really a success in a traditional sense.  I define “success” when I was walking around as people who is willing to just listen to me.  Getting people to just listen in the cold market is difficult overall.  I learned today that, in the cold market, 1) People don’t want to talk to you, 2) It doesn’t matter if you think you have something that is good for them.  Most, if not all of the people, prefer themselves to activate the process, not vice versa, like the classic fish hook vs fish net approach where one, they come to you because of your “bait” or two, you come to them, the “net” approach.  I can emphasize with them because if some random dude would to approach me, nine times out of ten, in the past, I would say “no thank you.”  If people don’t trust you, as it so happens with strangers, which most people don’t even give them a chance, there is no evangelizing or business.

I have an idea to counter this.  I can make flyers.  By making flyers, people don’t have to see me and I can reach a lot of people at one time.  And, I feel people spend more time looking at a flyer (that I made) than if they spend talking to me.

I have not been very active in my financial business partly because I am afraid of recruiting people.  For one, I don’t really have a “warm” market.  A warm market is people who are close to you.  I’m by myself here; My family are not with me.  And the close friends that I do have, I want to wait until I’m really prepared.  I find in life that I don’t have unlimited chances, in fact, many people just give you one shot at something.  I want to “practice” first in the cold market.  As a side note on friends, I find making friends is very difficult in this world.  I can’t just walk up to someone can say, “I would like to be your friend.”  No, friendships develop through relationships, though a medium.  If I don’t pay for college to go to school, if I don’t go to church, then how can I make friends?  Friendships come through interacting with people and sometimes, an excuse to go to college or to pay to go to an event would be to make friends.  How else will people have a shared need or interact?  I could walk around the street giving people free stuff but that probably won’t make any friends.  I could volunteer but I would rather work because I get paid.  Ok, so moving on.  Sorry, just many times, life is not fair.  The second reason why I don’t want to recruit is because I don’t’ want to set people up for failure.  Selling an idea to people, which unfortunately, since you thought of it first, is very difficult.  “You are not getting what I mean” someone recently told me, “It’s not being social, you have to be super social.”  I don’t want people to join thinking it’s so wonderful only to have them become disillusioned.  Although if they seem passionate even though they understand the difficulty, then it’s worth a try.  And, I don’t want to hurt my existing relationships in my “warm” and “lukewarm markets.”  So, I am going to continue this “business” part-time.  I will continue to learn more.  Many of the things they teach me can be used in evangelism and in my life overall.  The concepts are multi-purpose.  And this is a good life experience.

For this business, in a way, I know what to do, but I don’t know how to do it.  Xuan Nguyen said emotions bring people in but logic maintains the commitment.  He said:

When you sell to people, sell them the responsibility of taking care of their family and the possibly of building wealth for their family’s future.  At the same time, back it up with facts, figures, and track records.  Otherwise, they may make a decision to buy but will cancel when they think it over!

This is kind of like the approach I am taught to take with evangelism.  We have to tell with passion, genuinely, of what God can do for their lives but we back it up with logic, i.e. our testimony and, if possible, supernatural revelation about that person from God.  The latter is something I am struggling in using.  I don’t want to say something only to find out that the other person says it’s false.  When I told this to my spiritual mentor, she told me sometimes, the people we evangelize deny it or are lying because it is true.  I hope that is the case.  She also told me that’s why we say it in the form of a question like “Is your family struggling financially?” 

I write my blogs, the more lengthy ones, by creating an outline first so I won’t forget any thoughts but something it causes my writing to be too mechanical and I may repeat myself.  Sorry about that. 

But to end this early morning blog, and I need to sleep because I’m helping someone organize their classroom, actually I want to write about that first.  When people ask for help, I see it as an opportunity.  I win and they win.  I get to help people, interact with others, and learn about life while they get their tasks done.  I was thinking, and perhaps I read somewhere, that if I don’t know my purpose or if I can’t or it’s too late to achieve my purpose, then the next best thing is to help someone accomplish theirs.  The worse is to be selfish and live only for pleasure.  I have talent in computers but I always decided and resisted going into that field.  I tell myself that the main reason why I went into computers and technology is due to games.  While that is true, it can also be used for good.  I probably should have majored in computer science or information technology instead of social work.  I feel it’s too late for me to go back now.  I need to find a part-time or full-time job in addition to my part-time financial job to make a living and to save money for the future.  I can still help with the media team and with technology-related issues but I won’t be able to reach my full potential.  The pastor says when we are in perplexities, where there is no way out, we seek God.  I was in perplexities when I joined the Army and while in it and that’s the reason why I seek God.  And now, I feel I’m in a perplexity again, with my future and indecision.  But, the only way out, the only sure and true and best way out is to have a relationship with God.  But when times are good, I need to seek God as well.  That is a perplexity in the spirit.  :)

Man’s Mission on Earth

5/11/2015: Man’s Mission on Earth

S: 12:45pm – 1pm

Many times, I ask myself: If God wants us to follow Him, then why does he create the sciences, mathematics, Calculus, etc?  Why does he create the arts, the cultures?  These things won’t last in the next world.

But now, after some reflection and thinking, I know the answer (at least partially).  In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.  He created man in his own image.  God told them that their mission is to tend to the garden, the animals, and all that God has made.  Man’s mission from God is to take care of the world.  And humankind was naked.

All that changed when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the *knowledge* of good and evil.  Shortly after eating that forbidden fruit, the humans sewed fig leaves to cover themselves.  That is the first invention.  The first invention and thing that the humans created was clothing.  Note also that the first inventions came after Adam and Eve has sinned.

Why does God tell us not to eat from the tree of knowledge?  Maybe it’s because God knows that if we do have knowledge, we may use it for evil purposes.  We will be slaves to our flesh. 

So our original purpose in life is to take care of the world.  That was God’s intention.  Lord, help me to take care of this world, to take care of what you have made, to take care of people, for that is your intention. 

So perhaps God’s intention, the reason why he made us, is not for us to get knowledge but rather to simply tend the earth.  If not, why did God forbid Adam and Eve from eating fruit from that tree?  Life before was easy.  We are simply to tend and worship God.  The food will grow by itself.  We are simply to rest in God’s presence.  Perhaps God never intended or wanted us to learn the sciences, the maths, cultures, and other subjects.  

Most Important / The worst Steven

3/4/2015: Most Important / The worst Steven

9:57am – 10:58am

I want to write something now, so people will think I’m a sucky writer.  I want to post my other blog but I don’t want people to get the wrong idea.

The client I had my case with, she knows she has a problem.  She knows she wants to change.  But it is the cravings that threaten to destroy her.  She knows what the dangers of addiction can cause.  I told her that.  We explained together.  It takes time away from other things.  Time is life.

Trying to help her, I am reminded of my own vulnerability.  I also have my cravings.  I’m not sure if I’m addicted to it but I do feel that I really want to play computer games.  Other people tell me oh I like to watch movies or oh I like watch TV shows but I always tell them that playing games is better.  Why?  Because you don’t just use your eyes.  You use your eyes, your hands, your mind, and sometimes, your heart.  And I’m not counting those games that just require manual dexterity.  I hate those games too, well, not really but I relatively suck at them as well.  I’m talking about games that require you to think.  Puzzles that bring a challenge and fun that this world cannot provide. 

-

My transitional skills class I taught on Sunday.  It was supposed to be an hour and thirty minutes long.  I only taught for thirty minutes.  It was supposed to be about time management.  I did not talk about time management.  For a class like this, I need hours, probably five hours, to prepare, and even that, not fully.  I only had an hour and a half (depending since I was also making breakfast or lunch and playing games). 

Instead, I lied down on my bed and started thinking.  The self-help articles I read the day before helped me.  If I only have one hour to prepare, what should I do?  I thought about making a time management quiz.  I tried that, but, in the end, it didn’t work because it took too long and I wasted twenty minutes due to the effort.  I thought, if I only have limited time, I’m going to focus on what is most important.  Then, I remembered what my pastor at Ignite taught about time and purpose.  The sermon was so good that I actually took notes on my cellphone (yes, there’s an app for that :) ) and wrote them on my computer afterwards.  She said that if we are in our purpose then we will not waste time.  We will not waste time because we will always be doing what we are meant to do. 

So there I go.  I only have a little time left.  I want to use that time to teach what is most important.  Time management is just the tools.  If a person has no purpose or mission then time management is mostly useless.  I told myself half of time management is about knowing what to do, is about knowing your purpose.

So, I included these questions and points based from the sermon:

1) Seek God: The more you seek God, the more your life will be clear to you.  Air superiority- Spiritual world affects physical world.

2) What is most dominant in your mind?

3) What are you most passionate about?  What is your passion?

4) What do you pursue the most?

5) What releases your compassion?  Whatever releases your compassion is your purpose.

6) What makes you angry?  What releases in you a holy anger?

7) What can you do for free?  Whatever you find fulfilment in doing without getting paid.

I concluded the class with a quote, “The greatest tragedy in life is for you to live your life and not ever ever step into your purpose” and “stop wasting time, you are created with a purpose.”

I asked the class for any questions and comments and one resident raised his hand.  He told me the class today is very religious and there might be other residents that don’t share the same beliefs as me.  I anticipated his question but I still appeared to have trouble answering his question.  And, my eyes hurt.  Well, not hurt but sore and it’s been sore for weeks now probably because I spent too much time on my computer and lack of exercise.  I told him that I understand that other people may share a different religion and I respect that.  But, I said that almost everyone here probably believes in a higher power and that we are created and not here by chance.  The points I am saying is good and even if someone from a different faith hears it, they are likely to agree.  I’m not admonishing or giving them the judgment of God, but rather, the other half.  I’m giving them what people want to hear.  And, regardless of religion or faith, the questions of finding your purpose still has practical applications for everyone.  Lastly, I mentioned that the halfway house is named Dismas Charities and it is founded by a Catholic priest.  On saying that, another resident complained and said if this is Dismas’ mission, then Father Diersen  would be rolling on his grave.  I acknowledged his complaint and added that part of Dismas’ mission is to “heal the human spirit” (http://www.dismas.com/50-years-of-healing-the-human-spirit/) and that we might be doing a good job of it. But, I told him that this facility does have a mission and that is what matters.

Walking out, I felt this is the worse class I have taught.  I told the residents that I really have no experience with the offender population but that I am still trying and will do my best.  Well, do my best given my circumstances will be a better term.  But, I felt encouraged that when I told the class to write those purpose questions down, many of them did write it.  It may be my worse class but I felt I taught what mattered. 

If a person only has a few months to live, I wouldn’t teach that person math or social work.  I would tell that person about God and his grace.  I would focus on what is most important. 

S (first initial only), who is heading a women group after my class, asked me how it went.  I kind of avoided that question and talked about other subjects.  She was the one who “graded” my transitional skills class last week.  Since I came to Dismas early, she tipped me that she will attend my class.  Luckily, I had five hours to prepare for that.  I gave my class and we both agreed that it was great.  But, I should have added more interaction.  I see other interns with their classes and they all seem to mix with them more comfortably and effectively and there was more interaction.  All of them have more experience than me.  One of them was an offender himself and the other was a counselor and headed parenting groups in her workplace.  Not fair.  :(  :)  Funny how I went from my best to my worse class in a week.  Well, it may not be the worse class.  Only God can see and know that.  What matters is that I do my best and trust in Him and not let my cravings get the best of me.

-

My grades in social work are inflated.  If this was a nursing program, I would have failed, again.  This week has been a death valley week for many of us, well, or maybe just me.  We have two major assignments due and I could barely do them.  I told C (first initials only) that I made kind of a promise to myself.  I will still do the work, I will still finish the race.  It may not be the best Steven or the good Steven; it may be the worse Steven, the depressed Steven, the sad Steven, but the work will still be Steven’s, it will be Steven-quality.  :p  And due to the stress, I forgot to turn in my SOAP assignment.  I just lost 10% of my grade.  :(  Yes, it hurts a lot to me.  But, I still did it anyways (basically, I wrote a draft in class but I forgot to type it and submit it to blackboard which pisses me off even more).  I asked my professor that even though I won’t get any points for it, or I hope I’m wrong, I still would like the feedback.  Thinking about this ordeal, I reasoned that my grades last semester are overinflated.  I felt I didn’t try as hard as other students but I still got good grades.  Maybe God is just judging me and balancing my grades out.  It still hurts.  I may not get good grades this semester.  But, I will still focus or try to focus on what is most important.  

The Benefits of Investing in Commodities through Exchange Traded Funds (ETF’s)

The Benefits of Investing in Commodities through Exchange Traded Funds (ETF’s)

Source: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/

Part of my purpose in life is to help others.  I think, even if I don’t gain from helping others, it is still worth it.  I help others because God helps me and that I must decrease and He must increase.  Anyone with good intentions and willing to learn should help others.

That said, I think there are many benefits in investing in commodities through exchange traded funds (ETF’s).  I’m glad investors have options to invest in ETF’s.  It gives them an opportunity to diversify and it is much more feasible.  Imagine buying physical gold or silver and choosing to sell at a local pawn shop.  The money you get will not even be close to the market value.  But on ETF’s, the buying price and the selling price are closely matched.  It is also safer.  Having actual commodities on hand might require additional security.  Having stocks in a fund that holds them don’t. 

Here are some additional reasons why investors (and people should invest) in commodities:

1) Beats inflation

A dollar back in the 1980 is not the same buck as it is today.  In fact it is worth $2.87 in 2014 (Source: http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=1&year1=1980&year2=2014).  Every year, there is about a 3% inflation rate.  That means the money we have in savings and banks, which generate hardly any interest, is decreasing in value.  You lose money if you don’t spend it or invest it.  Especially with the Federal Reserve pumping $50 billion dollars per month into the money supply.

The price of everything is going up, however, if you invest your money, which is not backed by anything of value (fiat currency), into something of value, such as oil, gold, silver, something tangible, then that commodity, along with other factors, will be pegged to inflation.  

One concept many people don’t realize is there are two ways the government can generate revenue.  One is to raise taxes, a highly visible and unpopular method.  The other is to increase the inflation rate through the Federal Reserve, a stealthier and less noticeable approach.  Both results in a decrease in buying power.  

2) Commodities will always have value / won’t go bankrupt / safer than companies

My personal opinion is this: That no matter how much each of us researches on a company, which is time-consuming in itself, we will never know everything about a company because we are not insiders.  At any given time, a seemingly healthy company, although unlikely, may go bankrupt.  The accounting arm may cook their books.  There are numerous ways a company can do to give an impression that it is strong.  I’m not saying don’t invest in companies; there is a proper way to do so.  

Commodities, on the other hand, won’t go bankrupt.  Since the company is the commodity itself, it will never go out of business.  Well, unless people decide all of a sudden that gold is worthless, but that is probably not going to happen.  Commodities will always have value.  Oil is needed to run the engines of modern society.  Gold and silver, which is not only valuable since ancient times, are needed in various industrial applications.  People need to eat; Wheat will always have value.  Investing in commodities is much safer than investing in companies and it can also generate great returns if invested wisely.

Investing in commodities is also better than gambling.  I don’t really see it as gambling in the traditional sense because commodities will always have value and its value will always be adjusted for inflation.  I see it as another bank account, although more volatile.  And even if you “lose” in this gamble, you don’t really lose much.  If a person gambles in Vegas and lose, for example, that person will probably lose all their investment and the odds are for the house.  But if you “lose” in commodities, which is just buying at its peak, you probably will still retain 80% or 70% of its value.  Stupid people invest in lotteries and casinos.  Smart people invest in stocks and commodities.  

My picks for commodities

The adage “buy low and sell high” rings true in commodities.  It is poor advice for company shares because a company that does poorly will tend to do poorly while the company that tends to do well will continue to do well.  

In general, since we don’t know the times (only God knows), the best time to buy any commodity is when it’s at its low.  And the lower the commodity gets, the more you should buy.  Don’t sell out, don’t bail out!  If it’s at its lowest historical point, it is buy buy buy.  Be patient.  Eventually, the commodity will recover and you will get the returns.  Remember, commodities will never go bankrupt.  

With that said, these are my choices for the beginning of 2015:

Source: http://businessdayghana.com

1) Oil

Principle ETF: USO (United States Oil Fund)

Expense ratio: 0.45%

Average monthly volume: 24.7 million

(Source: http://etfdb.com/etf/USO) 

Oil is now at or near historical lows.  It was more than $100 a barrel in 2011 but that is now halved. A reason for the decrease in oil prices is competition from oil shale companies.  OPEC recently decided to decrease the price of oil in an attempt to drive those shale companies, many which is based in these U.S. states, out of business.  It costs more to get oil from shale then from petroleum.

Source: http://d.ibtimes.co.uk

2) Gold and silver

Principle ETF for Gold: IAU (COMEX Gold Trust)

Expense ratio: 0.25%

Average monthly volume: 5.6 million

(Source: http://etfdb.com/etf/IAU/)

Principle ETF for Silver: SLV (Silver Trust)

Expense ratio: 0.50%

Average monthly volume: 8.7 million

(Source: http://etfdb.com/etf/SLV/)

Gold and silver have both seen a recent decrease in prices from its peak in 2011.  Traditionally, people invest in precious metals when they feel that the national economy or the financial systems of the government is poor or unsafe.  With inflation at 3% a year, our high US national debt, and our USD currency no longer backed by gold or silver, gold and silver will generally continue to increase.

Figure 1: Historical Graph of Gold

Source: http://goldprice.org/gold-price-history.html

Source: http://griles.files.wordpress.com

3) Your eternal future

I saved the best for last.  The best investment anyone can make is for their eternal future.  Let me ask you this question: If you were to die today, where would you go?  Heaven or hell?  In the long-run, these investments are nothing.  We will be walking on streets of gold.  We won’t need oil to move around.  You say science can’t prove the Bible, well, your intuition can.  Science can only measure three-dimensional space (or if you include thoughts, feelings, psychology, then four).  God exists in more dimensions (some say seven) because he is omnipotent, omniscient, and omni-everything.  He exists outside of time.  Just because science can’t prove Him doesn’t mean he doesn’t exist.  In fact, he prefers it that way, for without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).  You can’t put God on a chart.  So test and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8).  You will find that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the true God and the God who loves us.