BennyEast.Com/Blog The official blog of Kenny West

Tuesday Night Things

So, I'm sitting here working on editing a new song... I have two very close to end stage production.  One is closer than the other.

I'll be starting cover art soon and then on to the copyrighting and uploading stages.  Both are quite catchy.

I'm also doing a little stock research too.  Musics and stocks... And maybe work on some book writing.  The stock thing got a little more big time recently... I'm trading commission free at the moment because I deposited a sizable sum.  I get 60 days of commission free trades.

So, my trading account is beefed up now.  I'll use some of that beef to buy a new fridge.  And maybe buy some actual beef.  But for now... I'm doing research for trades.  So far I have made one trade... and I'll most likely make another tomorrow.  But we'll see.

I guess these are mostly investments and not so much trades.  I guess I hold and collect dividends and mostly trade longer term holding for years at a time so they aren't quick little trades...

Anyways... My plan for the long term is to track my investment portfolio against the portfolio manager of my trust.  I want to see if I can beat the portfolio manager.  We're now getting monthly statement updates of things, which is nice.  Let's us see what it's invested in and the activity happening.  Something that was hard to come by up until this point with the trust.

It's just sad how much less there is compared to what my grand parents and great grand parents had, but oh well.  It's still in the 7 figures range, so I'm not going to complain.  Most people don't have that.  Or anywhere near that.

So, my game plan at this point is to just keep up everything I'm currently doing and see what takes off.  Things that don't work I'll tweak or change.  And then I'll introduce new things and see if that works.  My latest new thing is the acting class.  I'll see if I can get some acting gigs and if that takes off... I'd like to balance my projects with things that are fun, or true passions... and things that actually generate income.  If I like it but don't love it... I might be inclined to scrap it and try something new.  If it's generating income.... I'll be more likely to keep it.  If I love it and it's not generating income but it's not sucking money from me either... That's okay too.

The chart will be as follows:

Hate it, taking money = scrap

Hate it, making money = scrap

like it, taking money = scrap

like it, not taking or making money = keep

like it, making money = keep

love it, taking money = scrap, unless it's not TOO much money, but if it's not sustainable and it's taking so much money that I might run out of money.... Scrap.

Love it, breaking even = keep

Love it, making money = DEFINITELY KEEP.  This is the ideal situation.  I'm loving it, and it's generating income.

We all do this in our lives all the time.  We balance things that we love with how much it costs.  Most stuff is... We do stuff we don't like to spend money on things we do like.  Which, is a rough way to live.  But sometimes there's no way around it.  So my goal in life is... Change that system so I'm doing things I love to make money to spend that money on more things I love.

Then it's just fantastic all the way around.

We'll see.

Some of my friends have said to me... You JUST got money from your trust!  Go have fun with it!

The answer is no.  Because that's now how I operate.  I'm not interested in buying fancy things.  I don't have fancy stuff around my house.  My mom never did.  And that's my view too.

I keep that money in accounts, guarded and triple password protected and requiring 50 different forms of ID to even touch.

That's where I like it.  I like to see my net worth going up, not down.  I like to see my investments making money and then those investments diversified into new investments and so on and so forth.

I like to know that should I suddenly find myself unemployed, I have enough in the bank to live off for years and years to come because you never know.  You never know what situation might happen.  That's the way I like it.

I like a tip of the iceberg way of living.  My physical tangible things are the tip of the iceberg... Then the part under the water?  That's all my investments.

I like it kept under locks and keys and surveillance video cameras.  I keep zero cash on hand.  I don't have valuable stuff.  I just need the basics of life.

Yes, if I had a significant other, of course this would be different depending on her needs/wants/desires... but since I'm single... I live like a single guy lives.  Just the basics of life.  And then I put all my efforts into the projects that I'm currently pursuing, like acting, and music, and books...

That's where I find value.  I'll be open to changes in lifestyle if they come in the way of a significant other or kids or whatever...

But right now, I deal with what's before me, and right now... There isn't even the hint of a significant other on the horizon, or kids.  Or anything like that.  So, I'll live the way that my values steer me.

Just going to find things that make me happy, and figure out how to get more of those things in my life.