Finding Commonalities in the Most Uncommon Places
Two of the most influential people in my life are Warren Buffet and Jay-Z. On the surface, it looks like these guys have nothing in common. Warren Buffet is 90 years old, lives and grew up in Omaha, NE and is much more qualified to have a discussion about how much he loves drinking coke than how he came up on selling coke on the streets. As the world already knows, this is exactly how Jay-Z got his start in the Marcy Projects of the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, NY.
Both of these moguls, though extremely different in some respects, are exactly alike in others. They have both found amazing success due to their discipline and mindset, regardless of their backgrounds and the industries in which they operate.
Lesson: When things appear to be very different on the surface, take a look deeper and you’re likely to find many similarities.
“Everything is Everything” – Lauryn Hill
Stocks and Hip-Hop?
The stock and hip-hop markets can both be very fickle. Many participants in both are all about the flavor of the day or hot new trend.
Investors routinely deploy large sums of money in companies that appear to be riding the latest fad only to see valuations become unreasonable and result in a crash. This is what we saw with the dot-com bubble bursting in the early 2000’s. Look hard enough and you’ll see this exact pattern continue to repeat itself over and over in the market. Similarly, record companies are known to spot a new style or hot rapper and push them for an album or two before the market loses interest.
Enter the Models of Consistency
At the other end of the spectrum, there is Warren Buffet and Jay-Z. Both have been around since they started their careers and are the epitome of consistency, discipline and holding true to their authentic selves.
Warren
Warren is famous for finding and purchasing undervalued companies and holding them, pretty much forever. “Our favorite holding period is forever,” he says. A bad day in the market means nothing because over the long-term, the market has consistently risen and this is something Warren preaches in all of his interviews. Here are some other great thoughts and quotes from the mastermind.
His approach teaches us to pay no mind to the daily ebbs and flows of the market. A long-term, patient approach is far more likely to result in success (assuming a sound investment in the first place). Best of all, it will allow you to sleep at night not worrying about what crazy overreaction is likely to come in the near term.
The majority of investors take a drastically different approach, looking to make a quick buck and capitalize on the short-term fluctuation of securities. This is almost always a guessing game that results in higher fees and frequent capital losses.
Jay
Jay’s first album, Reasonable Doubt, came out in 1996. Since then, he put out an album a year through 2003’s The Black Album when he “retired”. Being the hard working and focused individual that he is, it wasn’t surprising that this didn’t last too long. After “un-retiring”, he then went on to release five more albums, with his latest 4:44 coming out in 2017. Here’s one of my favorites from the album:
On top of his musical career, Jay has been successful by investing in a number of different industries, including alcohol, fashion, art, sports and streaming music services just to name a few. Here’s how his wealth breaks down (graphic courtesy of Forbes):
This type of consistent hard work and amazing success is not something you see everyday.
Take us Home Boys
Warren Buffett and Jay-Z are the models of consistency. These two have extremely disciplined work ethic and have consistently been able to stay true to themselves over two very long and successful careers.
Lesson: Be consistent in what you go after, how hard you work to get it and how you present yourself to others. With a disciplined approach and the right mindset, you will undoubtedly achieve success.
Here are a few words to live by from these legends: