Welcome And Listener Resources

Voices [0:00]

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. A different drummer.

Mostly Queen Mary [0:18]

And now, coming to you from Dead Center on your dial, welcome to Risk Parity Radio, where we explore alternatives and asset allocations for the do-it-yourself investor. Broadcasting to you now from the comfort of his easy chair, here is your host, Frank Vasquez.

Mostly Uncle Frank [0:37]

Thank you, Mary, and welcome to Risk Parity Radio. If you are new here and wonder what we are talking about, you may wish to go back and listen to some of the foundational episodes for this program. And the basic foundational episodes are episodes 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9. Yes, it is still in my memory banks. We have also created an additional resource, a collection of additional foundational episodes and other popular episodes.

Voices [1:07]

We have top men working on it right now.

Mostly Uncle Frank [1:14]

Top men. And you can find those on the episode guide page at www.riskparty radio.com. Inconceivable. All thanks to our friend Luke, our volunteer in Quebec. We'd be helpless without him.

Voices [1:36]

I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.

Mostly Uncle Frank [1:41]

Because other than him, it's just me and Marion here. I'll give you the moon, right?

Voices [1:46]

I'll take it.

Mostly Uncle Frank [1:48]

We have no sponsors, we have no guests, and we have no expansion plans.

Voices [1:53]

I don't think I'd like another job.

Mostly Uncle Frank [1:55]

Over the years, our podcast has become very audienced focused, and I must say we do have the finest podcast audience available.

Voices [2:05]

Really top drawer.

Mostly Uncle Frank [2:07]

Along with a host named after a hot dog.

Voices [2:10]

Lighten up, Francis.

Mostly Uncle Frank [2:13]

But now onward, episode 549. Today on Risk Party Radio.

Voices [2:21]

What is it?

Mostly Uncle Frank [2:30]

Which means it's time for our weekly portfolio reviews and monthly distributions for the eight sample portfolios. You can find at www.riskparty radio.com on the portfolios page. And yes, the bees did show up at the end of last week, particularly for the NASDAQ. Not so much for the cowbell, though.

Voices [2:55]

I'm telling you, fellas, you're gonna want that cowbell.

Mostly Uncle Frank [2:59]

But before we get to that, we will attend to your emails. At least one email. But before we even get to that, we have something very special today. We are going to have a Queen Mary segment. And we haven't had a Queen Mary segment for quite a while.

Voices [3:18]

Mary Mary, why you bugging?

Mostly Uncle Frank [3:26]

But Mary has a few things to tell you about her work with Casa and how you have helped with that. And so without further ado. And here she

CASA Award And Community Impact

Mostly Uncle Frank [3:59]

is.

Mostly Queen Mary [3:59]

Before we jump into today's episode, Frank and I have some wonderful news that we really wanted to share with all of you. Earlier this week, at the annual Fairfax Casa Volunteer Appreciation Night, Frank and I were deeply honored to receive the Vivian Watts Child Advocacy Award. Vivian Watts was the executive director of Fairfax Casa from 1993 to 2000 and is a longtime member of the Virginia House of Delegates. The award was established to recognize exemplary service by an individual or organization demonstrating exceptional dedication to furthering the well-being of children, particularly those who are the victims of abuse or neglect. We received this award because of the work done right here on Risk Parity Radio, for spreading awareness about CASA's vital mission, and most importantly, because of the extraordinary generosity of this community. Thanks to your incredible support, listeners of this podcast have raised over $66,000 for Fairfax CASA. That is an amazing figure, and it directly supports advocacy for children who need a consistent presence in their lives and a strong voice in the courtroom until they find safe, permanent, and loving homes. We are so profoundly grateful to each and every one of you. Thank you for your donations, for tuning in, and above all, for opening your hearts to allow the CASA stories to touch them. You have made a real lasting difference in these children's lives, and we couldn't be prouder of this community. We also want to extend our heartfelt thanks to my fellow CASA volunteers, the entire Fairfax CASA staff, and the CASA board of directors. Your tireless dedication, compassion, and daily commitment to vulnerable children are what provided the inspiration and impetus for the Risk Parity Radio campaign in the first place. Walking alongside you in this work inspires us every day.

Mostly Uncle Frank [6:01]

And so I just want to echo what Mary has said and how grateful we are to you for your participation in our charitable endeavors.

Voices [6:09]

And on the more selfish side, what have children ever done for me?

Mostly Uncle Frank [6:14]

I'd also like to thank you for helping me make my retirement a success, or at least achieve some of the goals I set out for in retirement. One of those goals is to have a closer relationship with my wife and to integrate more of our lives and what we are doing together than we had when I was working. And this podcast has really helped us do that in oh so many ways. So I just wanted to thank you for helping us make that happen. I'm a very happy man with a happy wife and a happy life.

Voices [7:02]

I'm as light as a fellow. I'm as happy as a I'm as happy as an angel. I'm as merry as a schoolboy. I'm as giddy I'm as giddy as a drunken man.

Mostly Uncle Frank [7:13]

My only regret is that this award is just a tasteful Lucite trophy with some engraving on it and some kind words. I was really hoping for like a more major award, like a like a leg lamp or something like that.

Voices [7:28]

Hey Park, what is that? Don't bother me now, sweet. Can't see I'm busy. Yeah, but what is that? It's a major award. A major award? Shucks, I wouldn't know, Dad. It looks like a lamp. But it is a lamp, you nincompoop, but it's a major award. I wanna. Damn, hell, you say you want it? Mindpower, sweet. Mindpower. The entire neighborhood was turned on. Oh, you should see what it looks like from out here. It could be seen up and down Cleveland Street, the symbol of the old man's victory. If he won that, it's a major award.

Mostly Uncle Frank [8:06]

But on the other hand, that probably would have not resulted in a happy wife or as happy a wife. So it's probably a good thing.

Voices [8:16]

The old man's eyes buckled. Oh wow. Overcome by art. I know just the place for it. Right in the middle of our front room window.

Mostly Uncle Frank [8:34]

So thanks again. But now moving to your favorite part of the program.

An Email Sparks A Deep Dive

Voices [8:40]

I'm intrigued by this. How you say emails?

Mostly Uncle Frank [8:45]

And we'll start with one and see if we have time for more than that as we go. First off. First off, an email from Todd.

Voices [8:56]

Hello, Mrs. Lutheran.

Mostly Uncle Frank [9:02]

And Todd Wright.

Mostly Queen Mary [9:04]

Hi, Uncle Frank. You mentioned once that you did a deep dive into a bunch of different motivational speakers. Could you please do a segment and that explains what you learned and found? Thanks, Todd.

Voices [9:16]

His name is Matt Foley, and he's a motivational speaker. You're not going to amount to Jack Squad.

The Origins Of Motivational Speaking

Mostly Uncle Frank [10:25]

Because as some of you have come to learn, when I get interested in something, I go and actually study the whole history of it. Because that's how I understand it the best. But most people are not interested in the whole history of something like motivational speakers, so I seldom get a chance to wax on eloquently about them. But now that you've given me that opportunity, I think I'll take advantage of it.

Voices [10:52]

One trick is to tell 'em stories that don't go anywhere. Like the time I caught the ferry over to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for my shoe. So I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they call Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time.

Mostly Uncle Frank [11:15]

In some respects, this also overlaps with the history of the fire movement. That's in episode 276. And the history of consumerism and retail personal finance, which is most recently in episode 541. So we'll be doing another one of those, if you will. But motivational speeches are definitely something you want to apply a heavy dose of Bruce Lee to. Which means to take what is useful, discard what is useless, and add something uniquely your own. Because there are some very useful things, but there's a whole lot of useless stuff in there, too. And some of it is actually very counterproductive and not helpful.

Voices [11:56]

See, this reminds me of spooky Halloween story. Dad, that's your cue. Once there was a boy who liked to throw things. He started out throwing eggs. Then he threw the big game. Then he threw back his jotta whiskey. Then he threw up. Then he got thrown out of the house. And then he moved into a van down by the river.

Mostly Uncle Frank [12:28]

But in my view and from my research, what we know is the modern form of motivational speakers actually comes from two different kinds of sources. And we need to go back to the 18th century for this. One of them is the idea of a self-made person, which comes directly from Ben Franklin. The autobiography of Ben Franklin is one of the oldest, still read books in this genre. But the idea of what he wrote there is that one can improve oneself by adopting better habits, better thoughts, and just doing things better in an intentional way. It's the idea that we have agency over our lives, and that part of the best way to live is to work on improving ourselves. Franklin was also known as an inventor, and so American ingenuity also plays a large part of this way of thinking that we may be able to solve our problems by inventing the solution if the solution is not already there and we don't need to wait until somebody else gives us the solution. It's the idea of fool around and find out or move fast and break things, as they say in Silicon Valley. And that is important because part of the American psyche is that we're generally not afraid of failure or nearly as afraid of failure as other cultures. And this is still recognized as a big difference from people who come from Europe. I've heard this a lot from people that come from Britain that going into business is better in America because people don't look down at you if you fail once. They figure, well, just keep failing until you succeed. And that's kind of the zeitgeist of it. That is actually quite different than most societies throughout history, and still in many societies across the world. But Franklin and people of that time period were all for that. The other thing, though, that came out of the 18th century in particular was what is known as the Great Awakening, which was a religious revival movement led most prominently by a preacher named Jonathan Edwards. And the idea there was that religion was not necessarily an institutional thing that you just went and participated in as part of being a member of society, but also had a personal component with it that you could commune with God or channel the universe as it develops more recently. But that kind of personal approach to spiritualism and becoming enamored with it in these kind of revivals dates from that period, specifically the 1740s. But let's move forward a century or about a century to the first half of the 1800s when De Tocqueville, the Frenchman, came to the United States and I think he was here to study prisons, but he wrote a lot of what we would call sociological descriptions of Americans and distinguished Americans from the way Europeans behaved. And one of the prime things he observed was this kind of ingenuity and self-motivation or self-reliance that Americans didn't tend to wait until some authority created something or gave it to them or authorized something, that they were off in their little communities fooling around and finding things out essentially and coming up with solutions on their own. And that was one of the fundamental aspects of the American character that differed from what he observed in Europe. Now we also have at that time the rise of the transcendentalists, which is Emerson and Thoreau and their contemporaries, who also preached self-reliance and self-discovery and becoming a nonconformist and taking chances like that. And also that the spiritual was personal. Emerson in particular came from a religious background and was a preacher, but moved away from doctrinal ideas and formality into a more completely informal kind of spiritualism. Emerson also wrote a lot of essays and gave a lot of speeches, although the speeches did not become as big a deal as they would later become and lead to actual motivational speakers until technology caught up and we had the advent of the railroad. And what that led to was the entertainment of the day, which was people would go from town to town, and Mark Twain was one of these people and tell stories and entertain people. This is how vaudeville got its start. And preaching and motivational speakers also became part of that mix. If you want to read interesting stories or anecdotes about that, do go and read the autobiography of Mark Twain. Where he talks about traveling around with groups of different kinds of people who were essentially providing different kinds of entertainment. Because as you can imagine, besides reading things, serial novels were also very popular at that time. But this was their television. This was their internet. You waited for people to come to town and wow you with things or inform you about things. So every kind of thing you can imagine on television or the internet today was provided in that kind of format. And so we get to what was recognized as the first foundational or real motivational speech in the genre that we would recognize today. And it's a speech called Acres of Diamonds. And the speaker was named Russell Conwell, who was a very prominent figure in the late 19th century, particularly in the mid-Atlantic and in New England. He was a veteran of the Civil War. He was also a Baptist preacher. But his main claim to fame is that he founded Temple University. He was also part of what is known or what became known as the New Thought or Higher Thought movement that developed out of transcendentalism and other things like that. But was really more what we would know today as a prosperity gospel kind of thing, essentially channeling the universe for fun and profit.

Voices [18:38]

Sitting out there waiting to give you their money. Are you gonna take it?

Mostly Uncle Frank [18:42]

And also what is known now as the law of attraction, which was first talked about in the early 1900s. So all of this stuff was kind of bubbling up at the time. But just getting back to Acres of Diamonds. Russell Conwell gave this Acres of Diamonds speech literally thousands of times. And you can find recordings of it on YouTube as well as just read it. But basically it talks about a farmer who was seeking his fortune and sold his land and went on an adventure to try to find diamonds somewhere. And the punchline at the at the end of it is that the land that he was actually living on, if he would have dug in that land, there were diamonds on that land. And that's where we get the idea of digging in your own backyard if you're looking for treasure, or if you're looking for personal development. And that if you did that, you worked on yourself in your own environment, you could become wealthy that way. This also fed into the desire to become wealthy and the idea that it was good to become wealthy, especially through ingenuity. And there were other books at that time, notably one by P. T. Barnum called The Art of Wealth Getting, which also talked about similar things. So after Conwell's great success, you can imagine that there were many other people that took up this practice of giving motivational speeches or producing motivational materials of all shapes and sizes. But this kind of went in two directions that were sometimes combined and sometimes kept separate. One of those things is the one that is commonly known now as manifesting, the idea that you can somehow channel the universe, or if you think the right thoughts, that will lead to success in some kind of automatic or magical manner. And that was really kind of laid down in its starkest format in a book called The Science of Getting Rich by a guy named Wallace D. Waddles. And it was written in 1910. Every book since then, The Secret and all those sorts of things, are derivative of that work. That's why if you go and read that, you'll go, oh, this sounds familiar. Another promoter of these ideas at that time was a guy named James Allen, who lived in England around 1900 and was a prolific author. He's most famous for an essay called As a Man Thinketh, which is also this idea that if you think the right thoughts, good things will happen to you. He was a very interesting character because he was a predecessor to the early retirement movement we see today. He actually worked as a clerk and then retired early in his 30s and went off to write all these books and things, which was a good thing because he died at early at something like age 43. But in addition to sort of thinking these great thoughts and things like that, he also did live a life of intentionality, if you will, the way he structured his life, allowed him to stop working early. And so as time went on through the 20th century, you found different speakers who would approach these things with different focuses. Some were more focused on this manifesting, thinking your way to success. The most famous one there is Napoleon Hill with Think and Grow Right. Rich. He's a very famous guy, but quite a fraudulent guy, if you've ever read a deep dive on his actual history, which is also very interesting and entertaining. That's part of this genre. There are people who are genuine and they're fraudsters all over the place. Someone who was very legitimate in the mid-20th century was Earl Nightingale, whose most famous speech is called The Strangest Secret, which was actually put on record albums and used to motivate salespeople. That was really his job, to motivate salespeople and to help organizations who were involved in selling things because there were lots of door-to-door salesmen and all kinds of other salesmen running around in the 20th century. That was a big thing.

Voices [22:48]

AIDA, attention, interest decision, action. Attention. Do I have your attention? Interest. Are you interested? I know you are, because you close or you hit the bricks. Decision. Have you made your decision for Christ? An action. AIDA, get out there. You got the prospects coming in. You think they came in to get out of the rain?

Mostly Uncle Frank [23:14]

But his work led to what's called the Nightingale Conant library of first record albums and then cassette tapes of all kinds of motivational speeches and methods of selling things. And the style there is more spiritual than practical, but it's also got these exciting challenges and things that get people hopped up, much like a religious revival is kind of the way he runs his big stadium type programs. But you know, they're walking on the coals and doing all that sort of stuff. Fire, fire, fire, fire, but basically what we've seen in the latter half of the 20th century and now moving into the 21st century is this growth of an entire industry of motivational speaking and motivational materials and personal coaches and all sorts of other things. A lot of it is connected with sales in particular, because that is who's going to pay somebody to come speak at a conference. And a lot of it is then connected with multi-level marketing, which is one of the more distasteful parts of it. But that is a major hook in multi-level marketing to get people in, get them excited about selling something or doing something, and then selling them programs to do that. But as we know, a lot of it just doesn't work. You can't just think your way to success.

Voices [24:58]

You're gonna end up eating a steady diet of government cheese and living in a van down by the river.

Why Discipline Beats Affirmations

Mostly Uncle Frank [25:06]

Which leads us to Jim Rohn, who's actually my favorite of these people. And most of his work occurred in the 1980s and the 1990s, but there's still whole lots of his speeches on YouTube. And he would speak at a lot of these conventions, these sales conventions, and also created cassette tapes and all the other things these guys created, going back to Earl Nightingale.

Voices [25:31]

Here's what I'm asking you to do. Walk away from the 97%. Don't use their vocabulary, don't use their excuses, don't use their method of drift and neglect, won't even walk around the block for their health, won't even eat an apple a day, won't even take the time to refine their philosophy for a better life. Walk away and join the 3%. Guess how many people can retire from the income of their own personal resources when it comes time to retire? Minister, 5%. In America, 5% of the people are independent. 95% are dependent. Take charge of your own retirement, you can multiply it at least by five. Let the government take care of it, some company take care of it, you got to divide by five. I'm asking you to take charge of your own retirement. Take charge of your own life. It happens to be one of the titles of my own cassette program. Take charge of your own life. That's what we've talked about here all morning. Take charge of your own day. Don't have days like most people have. You'll wind up broke and poor. Pennies, no treasures, trinkets, no values. Change it all. And it starts as simple as an apple a day. It starts as simple as the first book of your new library. It starts as simple as the first journal that you get and make the first entry that when people see it will say this is the beginning of a study of a serious student. They're gonna be healthy, they're gonna be powerful, they're gonna be rich, they're gonna have it all. Look, they've committed themselves to a whole new journey. I'm asking you to do that. But what's easy to do is what? Easy not to do. But walk away from the 90%. Walk away from the 97%, walk away from the 95%. Don't go where they go, don't do what they do, don't talk like they talk. Develop you a whole new language. Be part of the few. Guess when I went and got this little book, Richest Man of Babylon. Guess when I went and got it. The same day I heard about it. I went and got it. Somebody says, Well, Mr. Roman, does that make you different than most everybody else? Somebody says, What is that? We don't know. You don't know, I don't know, nobody knows. We know it's someone get the spark and say, I'm gonna change my life, I'm gonna change my health, I'm gonna change my relationship with my family, I'm gonna change everything. And if it starts with an apple, if it starts with a walk around the block, if it starts with a book, if it starts with a journal, whatever it starts with. I'm a candidate and I'm ready to go and change my life. I invite you on that journey. Once you look back on it, you will never turn back. You'll never go back to the old ways and the old language and the old neglect. Never. Cardiovascular problems in alone in America create over a thousand funerals a day. And 70% of it is neglect. I'm asking you not to hope they're gonna fix this out here next year so that you'll be healthier. I'm asking you to pick up some new discipline so that you will be healthier. Drive yourself to do it, book by book, entry by entry. It's all available for you.

Mostly Uncle Frank [28:30]

But what I found different about him is kind of summarized in one of his favorite things to say, a shibboleth of sorts, and that shibboleth is affirmation without discipline is the beginning of delusion. Affirmation without discipline is the beginning of delusion. And what he means by that is it's not enough just to be thinking great thoughts and trying to channel the universe or manifest something. That by itself doesn't work. Yes, you have to get yourself in a mind state that you believe you can succeed. So it's necessary to have a positive mental attitude towards whatever you're doing, usually selling something. But that's not sufficient. What is sufficient then on top of that is you have to develop skills or disciplines, as he liked to say, to actually be able to accomplish these goals.

Voices [29:25]

I don't even have any good skills. You know, like num Chuck skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills. Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills.

Mostly Uncle Frank [29:40]

And that you were going to fail to begin with. But you would learn through that, you would develop skills, and then you would be able to succeed by combining a positive attitude with the development of the skills. And to me, that is the fundamental difference between a motivational speaker that is actually helping people, and one that is essentially a charlatan that is kind of selling this woo-woo, think your way to success.

Voices [30:07]

Some people these days are big on affirmations. You've got to be very careful of affirmations. There's a thin line between faith and folly. The best clue I can give you on affirmations is this affirmation without discipline is the beginning of delusion. And there's nothing worse than delusion. The guy keeps walking west looking for the sunrise. I mean, delusion is bad. However, affirmation with discipline can bring the most spectacular results.

Mostly Uncle Frank [30:44]

So I'm very fond of a lot of things that Jim Rohn said, and that's why we use it on this podcast. He's also the person that came up with the concept of you become like the five people that you spend the most time with. And that's kind of both a secret to life and a warning that you need to pick your compatriots carefully, depending on what you're trying to do.

Voices [31:06]

Let me tell you about the power of association. You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. Wanna know your future? Look at your friends. Want to change your future? Change your friends. I'm not saying abandon your old friends. I'm saying expand your circle. Include people who inspire you, challenge you, push you to grow. Because here's what I found: you can't soar with the eagles if you're hanging around with the turkeys.

Mostly Uncle Frank [31:44]

I found that's also true just with the information you consume. And that's what leads to a lot of unhelpful groupthink these days, particularly with social media and people going into these little tribes and things like that. But that's also the way consumerism works, if you go back and listen to episode 541. That the whole idea of consumerism is let's get people thinking these thoughts and they need to buy these things. And if you are consuming things like that, if you're spending a lot of time looking at stuff on Amazon or wherever, or going to the mall or the car dealers or things like that, that will seep in and cause you to be more of a consumer, more of what somebody else wants you to be than you may want to be yourself.

Voices [32:31]

Now, some of you may be thinking, Jim, I'm my own person. I think for myself. And I would say to that, of course you do. We all have the power of independent thought. But I'm telling you, important influence is subtle. And it's powerful. It sneaks up on you when you least expect it. Influence is like a quiet stream that gradually erodes the banks of your life, shaping it, molding it, directing its flow. And the key question is where is that stream leading you? Is it leading you to greatness? Or is it leading you down a path of mediocrity?

Mostly Uncle Frank [33:19]

So that's why you need to not only police the people you hang around, but also actually police the kind of information you're consuming on a regular basis. One of the more interesting findings I've heard in the past 10 years is psychologists have now actually studied whether this manifesting works at all and what effect it actually has on you. In many cases, it actually has a detrimental effect on somebody accomplishing something. And the reason for that is if you are sitting around imagining you have accomplished something, that you are a success, like that mirror in the Harry Potter movie where he'd look in the mirror and he'd see himself winning the Quidditch Cup or whatever he desired in life. Oftentimes that backfires because it causes the person actually to be less motivated. They've already got kind of the dopamine hit from imagining the success. And so they don't actually go and pursue it. They don't develop the skills, they don't take the action. And so the teaching from that is not only is that idea not very helpful, it can actually be harmful if you're trying to be successful. That you do need to go and develop the skills, the disciplines if you're planning on succeeding, basically at anything of any complexity. Whether that's selling things or inventing things or becoming a lawyer or a doctor or an engineer or even baking cakes.

Voices [34:42]

Okay, everybody, that cake should be ready now. Why don't you sing a song while I take it out of the oven? Cool. Fire, fire, fire, fire.

Mostly Uncle Frank [35:18]

So in many ways, at least in the 20th century, this does kind of track the same kind of history we talked about of marketing that we talked about in episode 541. They are related, and both the motivational speaker area and the development of marketing essentially figured out psychology before the psychologists had explanations for why it worked or didn't work, as the case may be. And that's kind of the way things still happen in the United States. That idea that De Tocqueville had, or the description he had, that a lot of things are discovered by people just fooling around and finding out, and the explanation for it comes later.

Voices [36:00]

You are correct, sir. Yes.

Mostly Uncle Frank [36:03]

But you always have a lot of chaff with the wheat or noise with the signal when you're talking about something like motivational speakers, and so you really do need to apply a heavy dose of Bruce Lee's principles to separate out the good stuff from the useless stuff or the harmful stuff. And so it's best not to be drinking the Kool-Aid as it were and going all in on motivational speakers, but you should also recognize that there is something of value there, and it is worth listening to things like Jim Rohn speeches or reading the autobiography of Ben Franklin, particularly if you're setting off on some enterprise where you know there are going to be ups and downs and challenges along the way.

Voices [36:47]

Where's the spirit? Where's the guts? Huh? This could be the greatest night of our lives. But you're gonna let it be the worst. Oh, we're afraid to go with you, Pluto. We might get in trouble. Pluto's right. Psychotic, but absolutely right. Now we could fight him with conventional weapons. That could take years, cost millions of lives. Now in this case, I think we have to go all out. I think this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture to be done on somebody's part. We're just the guys to do it. Let's do it.

Mostly Uncle Frank [38:01]

And it is particularly applicable in any business environment that involves sales, which most of them do. Because as a culture, the United States is still based around sales and storytelling. It's the consumerist culture.

Voices [38:16]

Because only one thing counts in this life. Get them to sign on the line which is dotted.

Mostly Uncle Frank [38:22]

And so having some experience doing that or learning how to do some of that and recognizing what is good and bad about various people's techniques is a good skill to have. It's a good knowledge base to have because it's going to apply to a lot of different things. Whether you're actually selling something or asking for a raise or any kind of dealing with other people where you're trying to persuade them to do something that they may or may not actually want to do.

Voices [38:48]

We're all very different people. We're not Watusi. We're not Spartans. We're Americans with a capital A, huh? You know what that means? Do you? That means that our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world. We are the wretched refuse. We're the underdog. We're mutts. Here's proof. His nose is cold. But there's no animal that's more faithful, that's more loyal, more lovable than the mutt. We're mutants. There's something wrong with us. Something very, very wrong with us. Something seriously wrong with us. Now we don't have to worry about whether or not we've practiced. We don't have to worry about whether Captain Stillman wants to have us hung. All we have to do is to be the great American fighting soldier that is inside each one of us. Now do what I do and say what I say and make me proud. Fall in?

Mostly Uncle Frank [40:12]

And so I've used a lot of that also in advocacy in lawyering.

Voices [40:17]

I'm holding you in contempt of court.

Mostly Uncle Frank [40:19]

Because it's definitely part of the art of persuasion. Anyway, that's probably enough of a historical rewind for one episode. And since I have gone on so long with this email, we will end the emails for today. But hopefully you got something out of that. And thank you for your email.

Voices [40:48]

And now for something completely different.

Market Snapshot And Key Trends

Mostly Uncle Frank [40:51]

And the something completely different thing we get to do now is our weekly portfolio reviews of the eight SEM portfolios you can find at www.riskpreader.com on the portfolios page. We also have our monthly distributions for November.

Voices [41:07]

I'm putting you to sleep.

Mostly Uncle Frank [41:09]

And the truth is, after all of the drama last week, for the month, not much happened with these portfolios. But we'll go through it. First, looking at the markets. The SP 500, represented by the fund VOO, is now up 11.76% for the year so far. The NASDAQ 100 represented by the fund QQQ is up 12.73% for the year so far. And really took a beating last month.

Voices [41:39]

The beatings will continue until morale improves.

Mostly Uncle Frank [41:43]

Small cap value, represented by the fund VIOV, is doing a lot better. It's up 18.25% for the year so far.

Voices [41:53]

Guess what? I got a fever. And the only prescription is small cowbells.

Mostly Uncle Frank [42:00]

And other value-tilted things are also doing quite well. The fund KBWP, which is property and casualty insurance companies, I know some of you hold, is up about 10% last month. And was even up on Friday. So it's providing some good diversification there.

Voices [42:18]

That's what I'm talking about.

Mostly Uncle Frank [42:21]

Gold is now the big loser for the year so far. Representative fund GDLM is down 10.0% for the year.

Voices [42:29]

I've officially amounted to check you squat.

Mostly Uncle Frank [42:35]

I think we can handle it since it was up 65% last year. But it will be interesting that we finally will get to buy some more gold. And at the next rebalancing, it looks like it'll be a buy. Long-term treasury bonds represented by the fund VGLT are now down 2.51% for the year so far and were up last month. REITs represented by the fund REET are up 8.13% for the year. Commodities continue to lead everything on the strength of oil.

Voices [43:09]

Oil! They call it liquid gold.

Mostly Uncle Frank [43:13]

Representative fund PDBC is up 51.09% for the year so far. And managed futures are managing to still do quite well. Representative fund at DBMF is up 17.21% for the year so far.

Core Portfolio Results And Withdrawals

Mostly Uncle Frank [43:33]

Moving to these portfolios, first one's this reference portfolio, the all seasons. For reference and comparison with the others, it is only 30% in stocks and a total stock market fund, 55% in intermediate and long-term treasury bonds, and 15% in golden commodities. It's up 1.86% for the month of October on the strength of bonds. It's up 5.018%. Percent year to date and up 29.45% since inception July 2020. For the month of November, we will be withdrawing $34. It'll come out of accumulated cash. It's at a 4% annualized rate. It'll be $389 year to date and $2,453 since inception July 2020. Moving these more bread and butter kind of portfolios. First one's Golden Butterfly. This one is in this variation. 41% in stocks, divided into a total stock market fund and a small cap value fund. 20% in long-term treasury bonds, represented by VGLT, 20% in gold, GLDM, and 19% in short-term treasury bonds. It is up 0.41% for the month of October. It's up 3.74% year to date, and up 65.52% since inception July 2020. For the month of November, we will be withdrawing $50 out of it. It's going to come out of that short-term bond fund, SHY. That'll be $571 year to date and $3,439 since inception July 2020. Next one's Golden Ratio. This one's 42% in stocks, divided into a large cap growth fund that's been getting beaten up, and a small cap value fund that hasn't. It's got 26% in long-term treasury bonds, 16% in gold, 10% in managed futures, and 6% in cash in a money market fund, from which we take all the distributions. It is down 0.33% for the month of October. It's up 4.3% year to date and up 61.04% since inception July 2020. We'll be withdrawing $49 out of it. It's going to come out of that cash money market. That'll be $554 year to date and $3,357 since inception July 2020. Next one's the Risk Parity Ultimate, our kitchen sink of a portfolio. Not going to go through all 12 of these funds, but the long short fund BTAL did quite well last month, even though we've got a tiny allocation to it. It was up 0.43% for the month of October overall. It's up 4.41% year to date and up 45.9% since inception in July 2020. For the month of November, we are drawing $52 out of it. It's at a 6% annualized rate. It's going to come out of DBMF, the Managed Futures Fund. That's $590 year to date and $3,826 since inception in July 2020. Now moving to these experimental portfolios that all involve leveraged funds.

Leveraged Portfolios And Return Stacking

Mostly Uncle Frank [47:03]

25% in UPRO, that's a levered stock fund. 25% in PFFV, a preferred shares fund, and 22.5% in gold, GLDM. It's up 1.01% for the month of October. It's up 0.23% year to date and up 23.71% since inception in July 2020. For the month of October, we will be withdrawing $41 out of it. It's at a 6% annualized rate. It's going to come out of TMF, that levered bond fund. That'll be $476 year to date and $3,623 since inception July 2020. Next one's the Aggressive 5050. This is the most levered and least diversified of these portfolios and the worst performer by far. It's one-third in Levered Stock Fund UPRO, one-third in leverage bond fund TMF, the remaining third in ballast in a preferred shares fund and an intermediate treasury bond fund. It's up 3.61% for the month of October. It's up 2.75% year to date, and up 1% since inception in July 2020. For the month of November, we are taking $33 out of it. It's at a 6% annualized rate. It'll be coming out of TMF, that levered bond fund. That'll be $380 year to date and $3,362 since inception July 2020. Moving to the next one, the Levered Golden Ratio. This one is a year younger than the first six. It is 35% in a composite fund called NTSX. That's the SP 500 and a Treasury Bond Fund levered up 1.5 to 1. It's got 15% in AVDV, there's an International Small Cap Value Fund. 20% in gold, GLDM, 10% in KMLM, it's a managed futures fund. 10% in TMF, it's a levered bond fund. And the remaining 10% divided into UDOW and UTSL, which are levered funds that follow the Dow and the Utilities Index. It's up 0.18% for the month of October. It's up 3.96% year to date, and up 24.62% since inception July 2020. For the month of November, we will be withdrawing $55 out of it. It's at a 7% annualized rate. It's coming out of that composite fund NTSX. It'll be $595 year to date and $2,575 since Inception July 2021. And moving to the last one, the Optor Portfolio. One portfolio to rule them all. It is ruling them all. This is a return-stacked portfolio. It's got 16% in UPRO, that's a levered SP 500 fund. 24% in AVGV, it's a worldwide value tilted fund. 24% in GOVZ, a Treasury Strips fund, and the remaining 36% divided into gold and managed futures. It's up 0.65% for the month of October. It's up 9.54% year-to-date and up 41.34% since inception in July 2024. For the month of November, we're going to be withdrawing $62 out of it. Instead of 6% annualized rates coming out of GOVZ, the Treasury Strips Fund. It'll be $687 year-to-date and $1,582 since Inception July 2024. And that completes our weekly portfolio reviews and our monthly distributions. And hopefully this week I'll remember to actually update all that on the website. Since it appears I did not last week.com.com. Or you can go to the website www.riskparty radio.com. Put your message into the contact form and I'll get it that way. If you have a chance to do it, please go to your favorite podcast provider and like, subscribe, give me some stars, a follow, a review. That would be great. Okay. Thank you once again for tuning in. This is Frank Vasquez with Risk Party Radio. Signing off.

Four Questions To Ponder

Voices [51:19]

And now I'd like to leave you with these four questions called questions to ponder. These questions were valuable for me. And I want to make them valuable for you. Here's the first one. Why? We all ask why we should work this hard. Why take that many classes? Why go to school that many years? You know, why take the notes? Why read the books? Why work that hard? Why put yourself through the push-ups and the disciplines? Why? Good question, why? Best answer to why, I think, is the second question. Why not? Why not see how many books you can read, how many classes you can take, how many skills you can develop? Why not see how valuable you can become to the marketplace and to your friends and to your family? Why not see what you can make of yourself? Why not see how far you can go, how much you can see, how much you can earn, how much you can share. Why not? That's the heritage all of us have in America, especially, is to see what we can make out of our lives now that we've been given this extraordinary opportunity. Now, my third question I'd love to ask you in person. But since I can't do it in person, I want to ask it of all of you. But I want you to take it personally. And my third question is why not you? Why not you with good self-esteem? Why not you starting to change and setting goals? Why not you starting to make progress toward financial independence? If I can do it, you can do it. I wish I had a lot more testimonials here today, besides mine. A whole steady stream that would come by and tell you their story. Someone who started with nothing, finally run a big enterprise. A mother who was on welfare, now she owns her own business. In addition to my story, I wish I had a lot more. And if all of them told their story, guess how they would probably wind up their story? They'd probably say, just like me, why not you? If we can read, you can read. If we can change, you can change. If we can figure it out, you can figure it out. If we can turn it around, you can turn it around. There isn't anything you can't accomplish. That's what those testimonials would say. And so I want to say it to you personally. Why not you? You've got the brains, you've got the stamina, you've got the vitality, you've got the interest, you've got your life ahead of you, you've got the future, you can do it. If anybody can do it, you can do it. If one of us can do it, hey, we all can do it. And now here's my last question. Why not now? This is a good time. As the 20th century starts to wind down a few more years as we get ready for century 21. What a good time to set your goals, work on yourself, work on your skills. What a good time to get it together. What a good time to start this process. Personal development, growing, changing, developing, having a good plan for your money and for your life and for your future. Why not now? And I hope I have a chance to see you one of these days and share with you the experience, the reaction, response you might have had from my message today. And until I get a chance to see you on this side of the world or the other side of the world, in some school or some seminar, or maybe I'll come and speak for a company that you work for someday. I hope I get a chance to meet you. Until then, I wish you the best. I want all that I've gotten to be yours and much, much more. God bless. Goodbye.

Mostly Queen Mary [54:49]

The Risk Parody Radio Show is hosted by Frank Vasquez. The content provided is for entertainment and informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. Please consult with your own advisors before taking any actions based on any information you have heard here, making sure to take into account your own personal circumstances.