The People I am talking with do not seem to draw back from hard questions.
I have been on a couple of Zoom calls for the branch I belong to, and there is a tranperancy that I find refreshing.
I am currently paying $8.88 a month for myself and another subscription for Chris at $8.88, and as I have mentioned before, at the end of two years this total is returned to us, or we can roll it in to a Key Subscription.
So what is a Key Subscription?
I am finding that there are several levels to what I can get involved with.
- $8.88 Subscription.
- $25.00 miniumum a month Key Subscription.
- $5,000.00 minimum Equity Stake.
Private Equity
What I am getting involved in is private equity.
This is not a publicly listed company, a bank or financial services business. Anyone can do this, and in fact, your house, with or without a mortgage is an act of private equity. Private equity means private individuals, including unlisted companies, are working together to some particular goal. By being private they do not come under requirements of the law that public companies, banks and financial services do. They are, after all, private. There is the idea that private equity businesses are ruthless, do not care for what they invest in, only want a profit, even at the expense of the underlying business suffering, are not safe, are not secured (like a bank deposit is), and should be avoided. Something we can see banks and companies and as having done as well. Many people have invested with financial services businesses to also see their investment decrease or even disappear totally.
The issue is not private equity versus banks. It is, do you understand the risks you are currently taking? Have you educated yourself on how money works in your culture?
Life is a risk, and our current culture is very much about risk mitigation, such that if you get exposed to risk, someone is being evil.
Now, this is hyperbole but I need to say it as throughout history people have had to learn how to navigate risk, had to identify risk and make choices about what risks they will engage in and not engage in. This is a skill we are losing or never learning.
Today, however, with such a strong emphasis on risk mitigation, we are being told that all risk is fundamentally wrong, is based upon some systemic injustice, and needs to be avoided. Then the way we are present on how to avoid risk is to give all these potential risk possibilities into the hands of the government, they will then care for us. We forfeit our freedom for false security. Our independence for being managed. And our ability to grow, be mature, make decisions for a life of mediocrity. This does rob us, it robs our children and our communities, we stay ignorant and can not pass on our mistakes as we never make any.
A wise man once said, “I have learnt so much from my mistakes, I am thinking of making some more.”
I am getting involved in a business that is not “secured” by a government guarantee or some set of laws, I am getting engaged in learning how money work and in risk analysis and management. I am educating myself on one hand, and as private equity has shown, returns on investment can range from 10% to 20%, getting a better return on my investment.
Another wise man once said, “Never invest money you can not afford to lose.”
Another thought: who is better at mitigating risk? An uncaring government, or a community of people walking together, transparent in their actions, working for everyone’s common good. This is what I am finding these people to be.
Our greatest strength is not the banks we deal with, is not the savvy decision-makers, is not the resources we all bring to the table, it is us, it is the network of people seeking to build a community that is financially motivated but not only financially motives. And so we get to the next part of this article.
Key Subscription
The $8.88 Subscription gets you in the door, to partake in the group, be on the Zoom calls, ask questions and get coaching.
The coaching I have had has been very useful to understand who these people are, how it works and even why it works. We have been able to define some of our life goals and find a way to actually work towards them. I think we already know that working for money does not really leave you with money, so how do you make money work for you? This is a thing I have known for a long time, but family and life and the lack of opportunity means I have never been able to action what I already know.
I am now investing $25 a month into a Key subscription, the company I am working with uses my cash as cash liquidity with the banks so it can borrow money for the project it is working on. It may seem like I have gone full circle, I am dealing with a bank again. However, me, with my $10,000 on-call bank account earning 0.3% is very different than the company with a million dollars of cash sitting with a bank for the purpose of securing a multi-million short term load and a very low-interest rate. It is all about risk. And banks see far more risk in me wanting a mortgage on my house that makes no money (more of a liability than an investment) than a business with a loan on an activity that is actually making money.
I can invest more than $25 a month, that is just the starting level. During the first year of investing $25 a month, I do not receive any interest on this money, however I can access it any time I want. In the second year, I earn 7%. Not bad.