Continued Effort & Opportunities

This past month felt like a 30 min filler episode but if you’re reading this here are the things that are top of mind:?

So, first thing; PSA for everyone that’s a United States citizen, our Social Security Numbers have been exposed on the dark web due to hackers hacking a major federal database. ?If you don’t think you were included, I suggest checking to make sure… over 200M+ citizens were affected. I’d suggest contacting Experian, Equifax, Transunion and placing a credit freeze on your credit profiles until you are ready and going to open a new account, get a loan, buy a house etc. This prevents any new accounts from being opened by “unknown actors” in your name without extra verification.

The Federal Reserve is lowering interest rates. Get out there and make some real estate deals happen if you are looking for deals. Don’t worry about the current interest rates, search for a good/decent cash flowing deals that cover all your operating expenses then re-finance as soon as you’re able.

A suggestion for those looking to get into real estate is to start with “multi-family” nothing too daunting. Just start with a duplex, tri-plex, or quad-plex that needs a little work right under market value, either house hack with an FHA Loan or creatively finance a deal with owner/seller financing and put tenants in place to ensure you can cover your mortgage alongside other expenses. Single-family just doesn’t cut it for cashflow anymore, buying a single-family home is a liability more than an asset in present day.

For others looking for a different type of cashflow opportunity, I’d suggest acquiring an established service-based business (minimum of 5-8+ years) bringing in at least a net operating income with $300k-$400K+ with an SBA Loan and/or w/ creative financing.

Movements happening in Travel & Hospitality Sector: Did you know that Alaska Airlines & Hawaiian Airlines were merging? The deal recently cleared a regulatory hurdle and is waiting for the Department of Transportation approval. Why did it come to this? Well, Southwest has been encroaching on Hawaiian Airlines flight territories. Particularly undercutting them on costs for flights to and from Hawaii and the mainland. It’s clear to me that Southwest has the resources and the cash on hand to continue to absorb the losses necessary to take Hawaiian out the picture long-term. Hawaiian Airlines likely foresaw the long dragged-out battle of attrition and decided it was a good business move to merge with Alaska Airlines in order to remain competitive in their region.

I managed to get a few things done this past month so here’s a quick list:

1. Paid my lawyer to get my startup legal paperwork and internal documents updated
2. Got a mentor to help amplify my personal development & business growth
3. Hired virtual assistants to help with my side projects and ad-hoc research.
4. I even took a quick trip to Durham, NC which I believe is full of opportunities for growth, but we’ll get to that in a later edition.

Stocks I’ve been watching recently:

ASTS – Space Mobile went from $2.76 when I invested back in May to over $32 a share today. I’ve seen an increase of over 900% in the last 6 months, ASTS seems to be the only public rival to Elon’s Starlink w/ strategic partners/investors like Verizon, Vodafone, AT&T and institutional backers BlackRock and Vanguard are great indicators of a strong support base.

RKLB – Rocket Lab went from hovering around $4.00 in to hovering in between $6-$7 dollars a share. Over the last 6 months we’ve seen around a 50% increase. According to Motley Fool Rocket Lab Owns 2/3 of the U.S. Launch Market but still trails behind Space X and is fighting for second place supremacy with United Launch Alliance (Boeing Co. & Lockheed Martin Joint Venture.) Institutional Ownership is around 54.96% so I don’t see any reason to abandon any space ambitions quite yet.

REKR – Rekor Systems popped up on my radar due to my father asking me to research the best AI stocks under $25 for him to invest in long-term. This Moderately-Aggressive option was founded in 2017 and is based in Columbia, MD. I find this company to be just as scary as it is fascinating thinking about all the potential business cases. According to Yahoo Finance Rekor Systems, is a leading AI company working to transform roadway intelligence systems. Revenue has jumped 58% hitting $9.8Million versus $6.2M in 2023 and reoccurring revenue increased 18% to 5 Million from $4.2 million in the same period last year.

Stay safe out there and prioritize your health! I'll see you in the next edition.

-Lairé