27 September 2005

RAW Choice Cut: Scar - "Be Prepared" (The Lion King Soundtrack)

Originally, a different topic was scheduled for this RAW column. But due to some unexpected situations, I've requested that I be given this time to clear my mind. Speak my peace on something things. Don't worry, Terence will be back next time to talk about whatever the hell he was gonna whine about. Probably something overly sensitive or borderline homosexual. Either way, it probably wasn't worth reading anyways.

"What's fifty million dollars?"

That quote written on "paper" doesn't boggle the mind the same way it does when it's spoken aloud. But hey, when do you ever hear that spoken aloud in a non-joking fashion anyways?

I have. And you don't realize just how much of a culture shock - no, culture destroyer that is. And I could tell that it wasn't just me who had their entire reality shattered by that. Here I am, sitting down with 3 other "kids" around a board table, as an Executive VP of one of largest financial institutions in the world kicks back and goes, "yeah, so what's fifty million dollars when you have half year earnings and profits in the billions?" And I think the thing that caught us off guard the most was that he wasn't talking about a $50 million dollar loss. It's weird seeing people talk about a $50 million dollar inflow of money with such normalcy.

I know I've talked a big game over the past few months. And while I can actually back most of that up with numbers, or information that I know and the like, this is something I completely wasn't prepared for. Now its almost as if there's been a paradigm shift. I've had my boss in the upstate say similar things, but it never really smacked me upside the head like this. As I looked around the table at my peers while the EVP was briefing us on different corporation plans and such, its almost as if you could read all our faces clear as day. It was a look that clearly said, "Holy shit. This is big time." I like this. But I'd be a liar if I didn't say I wasn't scared shitless too.

///// Mr. Polk's Financial Tip of the Moment: Reading is important /////

I can hear the collective "duh" from the 2 of you that stumbled across this update, but hear me out. I'm not talking about being able to read written language. While that is important, I'm talking about being able to read numbers. This was a lesson I had passed on to me earlier in the summer and I'm thankful for person who taught me that. You don't really realize how many people can't read numbers. I watch a lot of CNBC now. Have been for the better part of my time between jobs. And while I'm no expert in everything, I have a solid grasp of what's going on and why. My parents, not so much. They're not the only ones. There was definitely a 15 minute school session with my friends on how to read the stock ticker, the market graphs, P/E Ratios, stock splits, round lot Bid/Ask prices and the like. I'm sure that was an interesting scene. Six black guys in the room following the market. To steal a line from Piddy, they would have had their hood passes taken away had I not already had mine revoked. Thus making the whole thing acceptable. Anyways, back to the point. While now I know reading numbers is important to 0% of the population our age, I'd still at least look into learning how to do so. If not now, for the future. Mortages, Retirement plans, Investments. There's a lot of numbers there. If you can't read them, some "very trustworthy" salesman would love to be able to tell you what they say.

"...And when you start an army
When you set out to do what no one else can do
The first thing you do is you look to your blood.
You look to your buddies.
You look to your friends.
You look to The Kliq..."
- Triple H
I love my friends. All of ya'll. But I'll be honest, I break ya'll up into groups. I've been doing that since high school, and if you know me, you knew that already. It's not anything done on purpose, its moreso me analyzing then grouping. It happens.

But now I can say I've actually constructed a group. And I wouldn't be telling all this if there wasn't a greater (financial) purpose behind it. Somewhere in all my reading that happened before I woke up one day and decided, "fuck working, I got to find a way to retire early," I read that the best way to go on a journey is with others. Whether it be a physical, spiritual, or emotional journey, the trip is always easier as a group. Seeing as how this "change of reality" isn't going to be a short trip, I decided to construct my own "Dream Team." I've got my coaches (mom, stock broker, middle mgmt at my new employer) and my players. There wasn't a big scientific selection process either. It was just the 6 people closest to me when I decided to embark on my journey. (In other words, the people who got first crack at listening to me ramble on and on about all this.) Which is amazing, because when I decided all this should be put into effect, I was still chained up at CCF. Thus, I wasn't close to anyone except about three people. I later added Amanda as my fourth player after we left CCF, but that's another story. Chad (that's two, can you guess the other two?) has ideas on who else I'm looking at, but I might just leave it at 4. We'll see as time goes on.

Now I didn't tell this story to put anyone down, to outrank anyone, or anything like that. While this may be my first "constructed group" it's the only one that doesn't have a buddy list category. So yeah, it's not a group of mine that holds water really. I shared this moreso to share my thought process with everyone. It's always good to have a variety of people close to you just to bounce ideas off of. People who'll give you an honest opinion. At the same time, it's always good to have people around to help act as your eyes and ears. I can't catch everything.

And it's amazing what comes up too. Whether it's something big like, "Hey, there's a lot of unused land out here, let's get together and brainstorm what kind of business to open up" or "Hey, you should call up the owner of Fashion Shack and see if he wants to sell instead of leasing, its in a good location," to little things like "hey, there's cases of beer on sale in Columbia for $5.00, you want some for the next time you go to Clemson?" I've been extremely pleased with the results of this "project." They were all great friends before, but now there's like an added-value here. Now if I could only find a way to get everyone out to dinner at once. While it'd be fun/funny as hell, I'd kill to find out what kind of business ideas we could come up with together.

"Big rims, more ice. V12s or better. No itch, strictly leather." - Big Tymers
Walking through the Bank of America parking garage is always interesting. At 5:30 you see everyone leaving. Big wigs, middle management, yuppies, twenty-somethings. You name it, they're leaving. And they're all driving the fancy cars. Lexuses. BMWs. Jaguars. Escalades. Cadillacs. Buicks. While impressive, I have to ask myself, "If these people are smart and/or powerful enough to where they're making these nice salaries, why are they wasting it on these expensive fancy cars?" But who am I to judge what other people like? Some people might have an alter-ego that likes to show of fancy cars. I have an alter-ego that likes to show off wrestling belts. To each their own I say.

"Some things slide by so carelessly. Smile like you mean it." - The Killers
One last note. There's a complete change in attitude when comparing Bank of America Plaza to Carolina Culinary. At CCF, when I saw people, I spoke. When people saw me, they spoke. That's just how it worked. Not so much at BoA Plaza. I've been there about 7 times and outside of the security guards, one person has randomly said "Hi." Now I'm not talking about people in the office, they're great people. Just people you pass in the hall or on the elevator. What happened to southern hospitality? But as they say, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." Do I smile or greet people now? Sometimes, but I'm not going to go out of my way to do so. And it's cool, because now I don't have to feign happiness or hold meaningless conversations with complete strangers. But at the same time it's not cool, because I genuinely like people. Holding conversations with complete strangers is what I do.