THE ACA FOUNDATION

Pride

6/30/2020

Each of us have different weaknesses
If you aim for something big, there is a better chance
Distant yourself from false matter
The most dangerous risk to a person's life is pride
Proudness is despicable
Someone that feels higher than others is despicable
You would never guess he is the most important person in the whole world
Everyone who is arrogant eventually collapses
Life is a test
You can not be proud without being a jealous person

Discount Cash Flow Modeling to Find the Intrinsic Value

5/9/2019

●Intrinsic Valuation- The value of a company determined by fundamental analysis
●DCF- The sum of all the cash flows it will generate, discounted to the present value at a rate that reflects the riskiness of the cash flows
●Discount Rate- The required rate of return for the investors and is a function of the riskiness of the cash flows
●How to get Free Cash Flow-

○Revenue

○(COGS)

○(Operating Expenses)

○(Interest and Tax)

○Net Income

○Cash Flow From Operations: Net Income - Change in Working Capital
○FCF: Cash Flow From Operations - CapEx
●Forecasting Cash Flow Statement
○Working capital is usually a fixed percentage of revenue
○CapEx/revenue: take the average of that and that is how you will forecast the rest of Cap Ex
○Depr. and Amort/revenue: percentage and use it to forecast D&A into the future
●WACC- Cost of raising new capital
○WAAC = discount rate
■Discount rate = risk

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Marketing

3/28/2019

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One of the keys to life is knowing what to buy and how to sell. We are always selling: selling ourselves, our words, our personal experiences, our knowledge, our products and services... Marketing might seem like an easy concept to do, but it incorporates behavioral science, cognitive science, microeconomics (preference, how to control supply and maximize demand, choice, necessity, scarcity and uniqueness/originality), writing, creativity, graphic design, and much more. You can still try and go out, prospect, cold call, go door-to-door and pitch your idea, but without a little background in marketing, it will not guarantee you success. First you need to find out what your market wants, needs and likes. You need to appeal to their lifestyle, their perceptions, their preferences, their spending triggers, etc. Then you need to create a brand: become well-known (build up your reputation) by using popularity, aroma, appeal, social media, influencers, creating buzz, color, uniqueness, creativity, etc. Lastly, you need to find the best outlet of exposure to reach your targeted market. Print, mainstream media, online, social media, billboards, outdoor advertising, etc. Marketing success is based on: how much coverage is created, number of viewers, attendance of events, the number of clients that you make happy, increase in market share/increase in sales for clients…

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Solace and Life Talks

12/24/2018

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And even if the entire world tells you “you are righteous”, you should consider yourself like a wicked person
The worldly fortune or misfortune of a righteous person is actually a reflection of his or her inner perfection
The impulse to good is their internal judge of what to do or not to do
Even the Angel of Death could not overpower him
Negative temperament: resentment in the heart for without arrogance there would be no resentment in the heart, seeking power and honor to show off to others, and hatred for somebody because he is greater than you
I can control my emotions because what I feel is always an outcome of what I think
Better in one hour of repentance and good deeds in this world than all the life of the world-that-is-coming
In order to benefit yourself and the universe, you must have a higher intention in mind beyond mere self-gratification
I can tackle the negative indirectly by focusing on the positive
It doesn’t mean you’ve given up on the pleasures of life; you’ve replaced them with even greater pleasures
The Animal Soul exists only so that you will be challenged to overcome it and be victorious over it
By refusing to listen to the Animal Soul, your soul matures immensely
The individual has achieved an impressive degree of self-mastery to the extent that his Animal Soul no longer harbors any desire for self-gratification
Someone that sins once a year and someone that sins once a minute have something in common: their evil has not been eliminated and can overcome them. They are currently at war with their darker side
Your brain naturally rules over your heart. You might not be able to control your urges, but with your will-power you can prevent the urges from ever affecting your behavior
You cannot stop inappropriate thoughts from entering your mind, but as soon as you become aware of them, you can choose to divert your mind to different thoughts
If somebody wronged you, that misfortune was meant to happen to you
For even when your heart lusts and desires a certain physical pleasure, you strengthen yourself and completely divert your attention from it
Your actions, speech and thoughts are under your complete control. Right now, you can achieve total self-mastery if you so desire. The key to this is focusing on the “now”. Don’t obsess over how bad you were in the past
To win the war against the “impulse to evil” you need to avoid sadness and maintain a positive, upbeat mood
If there was no pain, there would be no pleasure
And you shall not follow after your heart and after your eyes, after which you stray
Be humble in spirit before everyone
Don’t judge another person until you have been in his circumstances
Always judge others favorably because you don’t know their circumstances and the power of their impulse to evil
From the forest itself comes the handle for the axe which chips down the forest
A person should always make his impulse to good angry at his impulse to evil
Love your fellow as yourself
You only transcend yourself completely when you rise above the tendency to process everything cognitively, and can remain in a state of wonder and mental openness
Even if you don’t find it easy to focus your thoughts, with a determined effort you will succeed
Emotions are always mirrored. If you love someone, they will instinctively love you back

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Notes From Charlie Munger and Models You Should Know

11/27/2018

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You can't really know anything if you just remember isolated facts and bang 'em back
You've got to have models across a fair array of disciplines
- Fermat/Pascal System
- Decision Tree Theory
- Elementary Psychology
- The engineering idea of breakpoints
- Notion of critical mass
- Cost-Benefit Analysis
- Gaussian and Normal Distribution
- Advantages of Scale
- Pavlovian Association
- Efficient Market Theory
- Pari-Mutuel System
- Sector Rotation
- Psychological Denial Mode
The 5 W's: you have to tell who was going to do what, where, when and why
The mind of man at one and the same time is both the glory and the shame of the universe
The great lesson in microeconomics is to discriminate between when technology is going to help you and when it's going to kill you
If you play games where other people have the aptitudes and you don't, you're going to lose
You have to figure out where you've got an edge
Getting incentives right is a very, very important lesson

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Notes on "How The Economic Machine Works" by Ray Dalio

10/17/2018

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The economy:
- Productivity growth
- Short-term debt cycle
  - Expansion
    - Spending increases and prices start rising (inflation)
  - Central bank rises interest rates
  - Borrowing becomes more expensive
  - Spending slows
  - Incomes drop
  - Deflation
  - Recession
  - Lower interest rates
- Long-term debt cycle
  - Asset values sore
  - People feel wealthy
  - Rising incomes
  - Debt burdens increase and starts growing faster than income
  - Spending slows
  - Debt burdens become too big
  - Deleveraging
    - Cut spending
    - Asset prices drop
    - Stock market drops
  - Solution
    - Cut spending
    - Reduce debt
      - Debt restructuring
    - Redistribute wealth
      - Tax the wealthy
    - Print money
      - Inflationary
      - Buys financial assets and government bonds
      - Drives up asset prices
      - Avoid printing too much money
  - Balance inflationary and deflationary
Transactions:
- Every time you buy something
Total amount of spending drives the economy
Market: all the buyers and all the sellers
Total spending / total quantity = the economy
The biggest buyer is the government
Central government: collects taxes and spends money
Central bank: controls the amount of money and credit in the economy
- Printing new money
- Adjusting interest rates
Credit: the biggest and most volatile part of the economy
- Credit = Debt
- Credit helps increase spending
- Another person's spending is another person's income
Because we borrow, we have cycles
- Borrowing from your future self
Income needs to grow faster than debt growth
Don't have income rise faster than productivity
Productivity is what matters most in the long-run

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9 Ways to Pursue a Better Investment Experience

9/13/2018

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Embrace Market Pricing:
- The market is an effective information-processing machine
- Real-time information help set prices
Don't try to outguess the market:
- Only 14% of US equity mutual funds and 13$ of fixed income funds have survived and outperformed their benchmarks over the past 15 years
Resist chasing past performance:
- Past performance offers little insight into a fund's future returns
Let markets work for you:
- Financial markets have rewarded long-term investors
Practice smart diversification:
- Holding securities across many market segments can help manage overall risk
Avoid market timing:
- By holding a globally diversified portfolio, investors are well positioned to seek returns wherever they occur
Manage your emotions:
- Reacting to current market conditions may lead to making poor investment decisions
Look beyond the headlines:
- Daily market news and commentary can challenge your investment discipline
Focus on what you can control:
- Create an investment plan to fit your needs and risk tolerance
- Structure a portfolio along the dimensions of expected return
- Diversify globally
- Manage expenses, turnover and taxes
- Stay disciplined through market dips and swings

Compass Financial Advisors

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The Uncertainty Paradox

9/13/2018

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"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is an absurd one." -Voltaire
The market hates uncertainty
Uncertainty:
- An unchangeable condition of existence
Investors are often willing to make the trade off of bearing some increased uncertainty for potentially higher returns
When markets go up and down, many investors struggle to separate their emotions from their investments
Long-term investor:
- “People often ask the question, ‘How long do I have to wait for an investment strategy to pay off? How long do I have to wait so I’m confident that stocks will have a higher return than money market funds, or have a positive return?’ And my answer is it’s at least one year longer than you’re willing to give. There is no magic number. Risk is always there.”

Compass Financial Advisors

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The Power of Markets

9/13/2018

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No single individual possesses enough ability to know-how to create a pencil on their own. Rather, the mundane pencil and the ability to purchase it for a sum is the result of an extraordinary process driven by the knowledge of market participants and the power of market prices
Workers with specific knowledge about costs, constraints and efforts use market prices to leverage knowledge of others to decide how to direct resources and make a living
The market is smarter than we are and no matter how smart we get, the market will always be smarter than we are

Compass Financial Advisors

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4 Frequently Asked Questions About Money

9/4/2018

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What’s a credit score?
1. A numeric rating creditors use to assess borrower risk in making lending decisions.
2. FICO score: a rating defined by how much debt you have, whether you pay your bills on time, how many credit cards you have and other factors.
3. Your credit score affects most financial decisions like buying a car or house
What is a 401(k)?
1. A company-backed retirement account that takes a percentage of your paycheck and puts it aside for your retirement
2. The money goes into your 401(k) and is taken from your paycheck before taxes reducing your taxable income
3. Companies vary with their 401(k) packages, but many of them offer “matching” meaning that they will match your contribution up to a certain percent
What is an IRA?
1. Individual Retirement Account: a place to put money away for retirement that will be then invested for you
2. IRAs have contribution limits of $5,500 a year or $6,500 if you’re 50 or older
3. Two types of IRAs:
  1. Traditional IRAs:
    1. The money you put in is tax deferred (you pay the taxes on it when you withdraw the money)
  2. Roth IRAs:
    1. Contributions are not tax deductible, but any money you withdraw is always tax free
What is investing?
1. Using your money in a way that your money can make more money
  1. Invest when you are in a good place with your personal savings, have paid off your debts and understand what you’re investing in

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Mastering Your Mind

7/9/2018

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   •   Your whole experience of existence is really whats going on in your mind
   •   All of our emotions are created by our thoughts
   •   Most of your interpretations are not particularly true
   •   People distract themselves because they cannot live with their minds
   •   The healing is only going to come once you change the perspective of the pain
   •   Suffering is your mind not dealing with the feeling in a positive way
   •   “I feel really lonely and that’s okay”
   •   “It’s for the best”
   •   Growth comes from pain and challenge
   •   Find the meaning in the pain
   •   Your whole life is your attitude towards life
   •   “I’ll change my thoughts to change my emotions”
   •   To get rid of the pain, take away the thinking
   •   Thoughts
   •   Is it true or not? Is it serving any purpose? Is it going to help me?
   •   Acknowledge it and then replace it with positivity
   •   Write down negative thoughts that come to you and number them. You will be more aware when they come
   •   “That’s not who I am anymore, I don’t do that”
   •   Choose your thoughts and replace it with something good
   •   I’m holding onto a rope that’s not attached to anything. Let go, feel the pain, accept that this connection is no longer in service.
   •   Say whatever is wrong, accept that it’s wrong, and then say “and it’s okay”
   •   “I feel really lonely and that’s okay”
   •   “What’s your perspective and attitude towards life?”
   •   EMUNA: I know everything in my life is there to test me and make me better and stronger

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Money Management

7/2/2018

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Here is a list of money management tips and tricks to insure that your money and wealth grows:

It's your money, it's your responsibility.
Live within your means.
Money is a tool that lets you accomplish specific things.
Have a plan.
Delegate, but be involved,
Don't be sucked into supporting friends and family.
Avoid debt.
Keep your investments simple.
Understand what money is and what it isn't.

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8 Ways to Think Like Warren Buffett

6/25/2018

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Think of stocks as businesses
Increase the size of your investment
Reduce portfolio turnover
Develop alternative benchmarks
Learn to think in probabilities
Recognize the psychological aspects of investing
Ignore market forecasts
Wait for the fat pitch

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Italy's Political Crisis Summarized

5/30/2018

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Euro cut to an 11-month low
3rd largest economy in Europe
Italian bond yields, a sensitive gauge at political risk, soared as much as 80 basis points
- When bond yields rise, finance costs are going to go up
Dramatic selloff in Italian bonds
Fears of an Italian debt crisis
Two Populist parties failed to form a government that can pass constitutional muster
- Populism: support for the concerns of ordinary people
Italy's overall economy is 10% smaller than it was a decade ago
Unemployment is at 11% because of Italy's inability to devalue its own currency or use significant deficit spending to boost demand
Rumors of Italy wanting to leave the European Union
Italy's debts are 131% of GDP
Poor economic performance
Too big to bail out and also too big to collapse

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Things That Keep People From Being A Millionaire

5/27/2018

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They don't trust that the assets their "wealth" is in will hold its value
The lack of trust in "paper" wealth
They get caught up in building wealth on paper and ignore the need to counterbalance with cash flow
The urge to be liquid
The overuse or improper use of debt
The high cost of living causes them to need to liquidate regularly to cash in tomorrow's future earnings potential so they can live high today
They don't see people as an opportunity to invest in. They don't understand that the greatest return on investment is usually when money and time are invested in people
Don't have a written-down wealth-building plan they trust
They spend more than they make OR they spend all they make
They don't study money or the rules of investing

Sourced by KW Kids Can, Inc. and Rellek Publishing Partners, Ltd.

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<<Previous

Blog

Pride

Discount Cash Flow Modeling to Find the Intrinsic Value

Marketing

Solace and Life Talks

Notes From Charlie Munger and Models You Should Know

Notes on "How The Economic Machine Works" by Ray Dalio

9 Ways to Pursue a Better Investment Experience

The Uncertainty Paradox

The Power of Markets

4 Frequently Asked Questions About Money

Mastering Your Mind

Money Management

8 Ways to Think Like Warren Buffett

Italy's Political Crisis Summarized

Things That Keep People From Being A Millionaire

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