Once you start getting interested in finances, it is inevitable that you will eventually start researching individual stocks.
All the financial pundits and mathematical experts will tell you not to invest in individual stocks. I get it. It’s the age old active versus passive investing argument.
If you buy one stock and it goes under, you have lost all your money in that stock.
However, if you buy a passively managed index fund, then if one company fails, it is replaced by another and your money is still out there working for you.
Although most of my stock portfolio is invested in index funds like the VFINX, I too own single stocks.
It’s the thrill of the chase that gets be going after these companies. I love researching companies. Some of these businesses have more drama behind the scenes and among the management than Gossip Girl!
So sit back and relax while I bring you some stock gossip. You can stop flipping through that latest Cosmo or Barron’s article for just one second, put down that New York Times crossword puzzle, pause that rerun of Billions, book mark your spot in The Wall Street Journal, while Greenbacks Magnet presents to you Stock Splits and Misfits.
Cause you know, everyone just loves juicy gossip. XOXO đź’‹
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DECIDE TO GO ROGUE
Just between you and me, I am especially fond of these two stock holdings. I will let you in on which two stocks I enjoy individually owning: Apple and Berkshire Hathaway. The year was 2013. I wanted to have a little fun and invest some money. Therefore, I decided to buy shares of Apple and Berkshire.
For those who may not know, Berkshire Hathaway is the most expensive stock in the world priced at 321,600 as of 01:56 EDT PM 07/02/2019. For some added perspective on this stock, in 2011 it was priced for the low, low cost of $115,750; therefore, this one stock has almost tripled in price. That is incredible!
Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) is the holding company of famed investor, Warren Buffett. Notable companies under the Berkshire umbrella include Geico Auto Insurance, Helzberg Diamonds and The Pampered Chef. Buffett, long a critic of short-term trading, has kept the A shares at a high valuation in order to decrease the volatility that comes from short-term trading.
Unless you have over $300,000 lying around in your personal bank vault, then you will have to stick with buying the B shares of this stock.
In January 2010, Berkshire’s B shares (NYSE:BRK.B) underwent a 50 to 1 stock split, bringing its price down from around $3,476 to about $69.50 per share. That is a huge discount! To get a piece of the Buffet pie, I will gladly pay this price. Unfortunately, I bought when prices were higher; I paid about $75-$100 bucks a share. However, I still came out ahead as now the stock is going for $213 a share. Not bad. That’s a pretty good haul for just pressing the buy button.
A stock split or stock divide increases the number of shares in a company. A stock split is an issue of new shares in a company to existing shareholders in proportion to their current holdings. The price is adjusted such that the before and after market capitalization of the company remains the same and dilution does not occur.
IS A STOCK SPLIT GOOD OR BAD
According to Nerdwallet, when you had to split something as a kid, that generally didn’t feel like a perk. But when you’re an investor, splitting can be a good thing. Stock splits are a way a company’s board of directors can increase the number of shares outstanding while lowering the share price.
WHY WOULD A COMPANY SPLIT ITS STOCK
A stock split is used primarily by companies that have seen their share prices increase substantially and although the number of outstanding shares increases and price per share decreases, the market capitalization (and the value of the company) does not change. Simply put, just like the value of the $100 bill does not change if it is exchanged for two $50s.
However, not all stocks are created equal. That is why I do my homework first before buying ANY STOCK. There are some misfits out there that you do not want to buy. Basically, you get what you pay for. It kind of reminds me of The Misfits from the Jem and the Holograms cartoons.
If you read my Meet Miriam page, then you know it’s one of my favorite cartoons.
And because July fourth is around the corner, here is a shout out from The Misfits themselves!!!
SPLITTING THE APPLE
And last but most certainly not least, I give you Apple! I purchased stock in Apple (APPL) in 2013, when it was going for around $60 a share. Fast forward to 2019, and the stock is over $200 a share! I got in just in time.
It just so happens that the year after I purchased 5 shares for my birthday, in 2014, Apple split the stock. It all went down on 06/09/2014 as Apple did a 7 for 1 split.
My 5 shares turned into 35 shares overnight!
All this happened simply because I did some homework and took action. Calculated risks can pay off. Remember that fortune favors the bold. In the illustrious words of Jem, “outrageous!”
Since candidates are coming out of the woodwork for the 2020
presidential election, let’s talk about the elephant in the room: Healthcare.
Regardless, of your political beliefs, most will agree that
a fully funded functioning health care system is a must. You need hospitals
that have basic medical supplies and more advanced equipment for surgical
procedures.
Those things don’t come cheap.
However, other advanced nations have been able to make this
happen.
The elusive Universal Health Care (UHC) that we Americans
have been unable to have due to numerous factors. Primarily, for one reason:
money.
Taxes are a huge component of making UHC a reality. That is
how other nations are paying for it with varying degrees of success.
However, we cannot doubt Universal Healthcare’s popularity.
For example, it was recently reported that a Canadian family
visiting America did not stop at any hospitals after they confirmed that their
patriarch had died of a heart attack while on vacation.
Instead they drove for an ENTIRE DAY, with a corpse in the
back seat to avoid paying the exorbitant healthcare costs here on American soil
and the cost of shipping the body to Canada.
This is a TRUE story. I can’t make this stuff up.
Remember that article in the New York Times about The Velvet Rope Economy? The Doctor Is In. Co-Pay? $40,000.
Chris B. Murray for the New York Times The Velvet Economy article
That is the type of story that would scare anyone from going to the doctor in America.
So let’s talk about healthcare.
WHAT IS UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE?
Universal healthcare means there is a health care system
that provides coverage to at least 90% of citizens, typically paid for by the
citizens of the country via taxes.
Here in the US, thanks to the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the ACA (aka Obamacare), signed by former President Obama, the US has universal health care starting in 2014 using an insurance mandate system. But will it last?
Prior to 2014, the US no universal healthcare anything other than Medicare, but that is for the elderly.
However, most of the other developed nations do not make
having a mandate necessary.
This is why the great healthcare debate rages on in the
current White House. The Us is offering subsidies for healthcare and the
current administration is not feeling it. But in other countries, no subsidy is
necessary or rarely required, if healthcare is being funded by tax payer’s
dollars. And we mean paying a lot of taxes.
We will get into that later.
WHAT COUNTRIES HAVE UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE?
Have you ever wondered what counties offer the coveted
universal healthcare, but you never took the time to look it up?
Well, now you can find it right here.
That’s right. I did the work for you.
There are thirty-three developed nations. Thirty-two of the
thirty-three developed nations have universal health care, with the United States
being the lone exception. That is until the Affordable Care Act came along.
Americans can regularly be heard talking about UHC. Why do
other developed nations have it and we don’t? What is good for the goose should
be good for the gander mentality.
Well, you are about to find out.
The following list, compiled from World Health Organization
(WHO) sources where possible, shows the start date and type of system used to
implement universal health care in each developed country. Note that universal
health care does not imply government-only health care, as many countries
implementing a universal health care plan continue to have both public and
private insurance and medical providers.
Country Start Date System Type
Click here for more source material on each country’s health care system.
Norway 1912 Single Payer
New Zealand 1938 Two Tier
Japan 1938 Single Payer
Germany 1941 Insurance Mandate
Belgium 1945 Insurance Mandate
United Kingdom 1948 Single Payer
Kuwait 1950 Single Payer
Sweden 1955 Single Payer
Bahrain 1957 Single Payer
Brunei 1958 Single Payer
Canada 1966 Single Payer
Netherlands 1966 Two-Tier
Austria 1967 Insurance Mandate
United Arab Emirates 1971 Single Payer
Finland 1972 Single Payer
Slovenia 1972 Single Payer
Denmark 1973 Two-Tier
Luxembourg 1973 Insurance Mandate
France 1974 Two-Tier
Australia 1975 Two Tier
Ireland 1977 Two-Tier
Italy 1978 Single Payer
Portugal 1979 Single Payer
Cyprus 1980 Single Payer
Greece 1983 Insurance Mandate
Spain 1986 Single Payer
South Korea 1988 Insurance Mandate
Iceland 1990 Single Payer
Hong Kong 1993 Two-Tier
Singapore 1993 Two-Tier
Switzerland 1994 Insurance Mandate
Israel 1995 Two-Tier
United States 2014? Insurance Mandate
Please be advised that the dates given are estimates. Universal care rolled out gradually in many countries. For instance, in Germany government insurance programs began in 1883, but did not reach universality until 1941.
WHAT TYPES OF HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS ARE THERE?
You may have never heard of some of the above types of
healthcare systems. That is why the definitions are being provided here.
Single Payer: The
government provides insurance for all residents (or citizens) and pays all
health care expenses except for co-pays and coinsurance. Providers may be
public, private, or a combination of both.
Two-Tier: The
government provides or mandates catastrophic or minimum insurance coverage for
all residents (or citizens), while allowing the purchase of additional
voluntary insurance or fee-for service care when desired. In Singapore all
residents receive a catastrophic policy from the government coupled with a
health savings account that they use to pay for routine care. In other
countries like Ireland and Israel, the government provides a core policy which
the majority of the population supplement with private insurance.
Insurance Mandate: The government mandates that all citizens purchase insurance, whether from private, public, or non-profit insurers. In some cases the insurer list is quite restrictive, while in others a healthy private market for insurance is simply regulated and standardized by the government. In this kind of system insurers are barred from rejecting sick individuals, and individuals are required to purchase insurance, in order to prevent typical health care market failures from arising.
What is free universal healthcare?
Universal health care is a system that provides quality medical services to all citizens. The federal government offers it to everyone regardless of their ability to pay.
Which country has free medical care?
According to Forbes, The two advanced economies with the most economically free health care systems—Switzerland and Singapore—have achieved universal health insurance while spending a fraction of what the U.S. spends. Switzerland’s public spending on health care is about half of America’s, and Singapore’s is about a fifth of ours.
HOW ARE COUNTRIES ABLE TO AFFORD IT?
Now let’s talk about them taxes.
Let’s start with Canada. The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) believes Canada spent approximately $228 billion on health care in 2016. That’s 11.1 per cent of Canada’s entire GDP and $6,299 for every Canadian resident. That per capita rate would put Canada near the high end of what other advanced economies pay.
Is health care free in Canada?
To review, per The Atlantic, Canadian healthcare basically works like Medicare, but for everyone. Medical care is free, and it covers almost everything other than prescription drugs, glasses, home care or long-term care and dental care. (Most people have supplementary insurance such as private insurance from their employers or the government to cover those things).
Does Canada have good healthcare?
Coverage and access. In both Canada and the United States, access can be a problem. Studies suggest that 40% of U.S. citizens do not have adequate health insurance, if any at all. … Yet, even if some cannot find a family doctor, every Canadian citizen is covered by the national health care system.
How is healthcare funded in Canada?
Basically, healthcare is being funded at both the provincial and federal levels. Financing the system is provided via taxation both from personal and corporate taxes. Additional funds from other financial sources like sales tax and lottery proceeds are also used by some provinces.
Do Canadians really pay more in taxes than Americans?
According to Investopedia, U.S. federal income tax brackets range from 10% to 35% for individuals. On the Canadian side, the range is 15% to 29%. Overall, it’s a bit more expensive to live in Canada than the US, and much cheaper than living in Europe. Taxes are higher, but generally people are paid more to compensate.
However, data from the OECD show that Canadians are lower-taxed than Americans. According to the Huffington Post, in the U.S., the same family would pay 14.2 per cent in taxes, a tax rate some 12 times higher than in Canada.
A brief note on France.
In practice, less than 50% of inhabitants in France pay any income tax at all; only around 14% pay at the rate of 30%, and less than 1% pay at the rate of 45%. According to the French tax authority, taxes range from 14% up to 45% for the wealthiest citizens. Like here in the US, there are citizens that pay no income taxes based on wages or other tax credits or exemptions.
WHY ALL THE UPROAR OVER UNIVERSAL COVERAGE?
First, we know right off the bat that no two countries are
alike. Those that are third world are still trying to get clean water and
internet access; therefore, universal healthcare is a privilege as water is a basic
human need and a right. You know which one those countries are focused on.
However, the United States is by far the RICHEST country in the world.
Even with the deficit being 18 percent greater than last year, as the US is spending $4.4 trillion and has a revenue of only $3.4 trillion, which is a $1 trillion-dollar annual shortfall. We are still the RICHEST.
That is still the case even with the US debt being $22 trillion, and America owing the Chinese $1 trillion of that huge number. We are still the RICHEST.
However, roughly 15% of the US population are uninsured or
lacking in health insurance coverage in some form.
Therefore, from people looking from the outside in, they are
scratching their heads as to why we cannot offer universal healthcare to its
citizens.
“No. I can survive well enough on my own— if given the proper reading material.” ― Sarah J. Maas, Throne of Glass
Where do I begin?
Let’s start here. The cost of college.
College is expensive. According to the College Board, the average cost of a 4-year in-state public university hovers around $9,970, at private colleges $34,740, and $25,620 for out-of-state residents attending public universities.
Many folks don’t just have $10,000-$30,000 sitting around in their bank accounts.
According to numerous reports, many Americans do not even have $400 for an emergency. How the heck are they going to come up with 10 times that amount or more for college?
I, myself, had to become an extremely massive saver in order to stop living paycheck-to-paycheck.
This required me to become very frugal and find ways to earn more, cut spending, or both from my household budget.
Most of my problem was the revolving credit card debt I had. So, I had to come up with a plan to get it paid off. Every time I paid off one debt, I started saving that money.
What I really noticed about college besides just the price was that many of the things we’re learning came from equally expensive textbooks. Couldn’t I have saved tons of money by just skipping college and reading the textbook instead? Literally, all I would have needed is the syllabus of the course.
I went on Amazon to see books about the cost of college being worth it. It is right? Well, maybe.
The point I am trying to make with this article is to examine the following:
Challenge the conventional wisdom that college will solve all your problems
Going to college will make you rich
Prestige is to be pursued at all and any cost
THE COST OF COLLEGE
It has been well-documented that college is coasting more and more every year.
The amount of student loan debt in the United States alone stands a $1.5 trillion.
I cannot even wrap my head around that number. Basically, it means that many people are either going to be paying back their loans for a long time or will not ever be able to repay them. That is a sad fact indeed.
We are mortgaging our young people’s future.
Many are unable to buy homes, start families, get married, and put down roots.
The cost of college is especially hard to manage for those that are of low-income. The issues of poverty do not stop with a college acceptance letter.
We are starting to create a reality in where the poor inherit their parents’ poverty while the rich hoard opportunities for their kids.
That glass floor is real. When poor kids are getting 1200 to 1600 SAT scores and pulling hard A’s but still unable to graduate, while trust fund babies are barely pulling soft C’s is just ridiculous. That means, a rich kid can get a college degree simply because their parents have wealth, income, and resources.
I have heard stories of low-income college students dropping out for owing less than $1,000 to get their degree. Frankly, this saddens and alarms me.
And I am not buying avocado toast at $10, according to one politician, who will remain nameless.
The cost of a Bachelor’s (BA/BS) degree is just too darn expensive. The worst part is that an education is not an equalizer. Just because you went to Harvard doesn’t mean you are going to get the corner office. That fancy C-Suite is the carrot being dangled in front of all those Ivy League hopefuls.
Many do not make it there.
Don’t believe me.
Check this out.
When I looked up books on colleges, admissions, and the Ivy League online, I found the following titles:
Excellent Sheep
Nudge
No Sucker Left Behind
Where you go is not who’ll you be
The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton
The Price of Privilege
Paying for the party
Pedigree Elite: How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs
The Blessing of the B Minus
Academically Adrift
Winners Take All
Generation Debt: How Our Future Was Sold Out for Student Loans, Bad Jobs, No Benefits, and Tax Cuts for Rich Geezers–And How to Fight Back
Equity and Excellence in American Higher Education
How to Raise an Adult
iGen: Today’s super connected kids are growing up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy – And completely unprepared for Adulthood
I have read a few of the books listed above. Many are eye-opening recounts of their experiences with elitism, the Ivy League, college admissions, debt, student loans, finances, etc. Paying high prices, as much as $100 an hour for instruction, for college, taking on tons of debt and then receiving low starting salaries.
Stagnant wages and student loans are a dangerous cocktail.
The one book that still haunts me is No Sucker Left Behind. In this book, he describes college as a rip-off as he feels that colleges are involved in price-gauging schemes. Colleges, in his opinion, have become profit-obsessed businesses with an approach that is more reserved for used car salesman.
There are some Ivy Leaguer’s that become Corporate America rock stars. However, the majority go on to careers in the same type of jobs that those that do not go to top tier colleges.
COLLEGE EARNINGS
You think the Ivy League is the only way to go. Well, think again.
You hear all the time that a college degree means higher earnings, like $1 million more in income over a working lifetime. What you do not hear are the tales of people paying $100,000 for that sheepskin and then getting a $35,000 starting salary right out of college.
He looked up profiles of people that went to Elite Schools.
Mostly more of the same from elites: people chasing money.
Surprise, surprise many end up in investment banking and consulting. If places like Harvard are the playgrounds of the rich, then places like investment banks are close behind. The Elite School graduate sandlots.
I have come to believe that you should pursue what is in your heart and your God given talent. Whatever that may be. God does not give anyone anything he doesn’t want them to use. Sacrificing doing any less than your best is to sacrifice the gift. Figure out what you are good at and then pursue that! The money tends to follow.
Some studies have followed, like the one above, people who attended Ivy League schools and others accepted to those schools but who chose lower ranked schools instead. The result: There wasn’t a difference in lifetime earnings. In other words, Ivy League caliber people don’t need an Ivy League education to have high earnings.
WHY FOUR YEARS OF COLLEGE?
Remember that $100 an hour for instruction that I previously stated? Due to that, the real cost of college is costing some students $100,000 a year, according to the book No Sucker Left Behind. So, that is what part of the reasoning behind four years is. Collecting the tuition and fees.
The BA/BS degree takes no less than 120 credits to complete.
Why is this?
Should we not question this? I get it. You do not want a doctor that is immature performing surgery on you. However, I value work ethic and experience over age.
Why not have a degree take 48 credits to complete?
How we would do this is to cut out all the unnecessary courses one needs to graduate. Forget the gen eds and endless electives. Stick to what we need to graduate.
A college degree should be done as quickly as possible so that people can get out there and work. Most families do not have 4 years to let junior go off and explore. They need him out there working and bringing home the bacon today!
I read an online forum called college confidential where it asked why is college in America so long. Great question. Here are some of the responses. This is how it went down.
Why is it that it takes so long to get a professional degree in the US?
In order to study Optometry or Medicine or Dentistry etc you need to do 4 years in college first, not even 1 or 2 years but 4 years whereas in the UK the 16-18 education is enough to prepare you for it.
People may want to start/support a family and at the same time pursue their passion but the length of study is off putting.
Answers were the following:
Gen eds.
The US is looking for mature people to be their doctors and lawyers, not a 21 year old whose frontal lobe is not yet fully developed.
If you have many AP/IB credits, you can get your degree in 3 years, too.
I would not want my doctor/dentist to have had only 1 year of formal education.
It’s a business. The more classes one is required to take, the more money the school makes.
What I suggest is that colleges get straight to teaching you all you need to know in your field. This would cut down on the time and expense of school.
And as for those who say people need to mature. Sure, I’m all for that, but how many people know 30 year-olds that are still wet behind the ears? Lots.
If you want people to mature, put them to work. Nothing makes people grow up faster than responsibility and accountability.
If maturity is really an issue, then have people start in at the bottom.
Nothing beats entitlement out of you like taking orders, scrubbing toilets, and fetching coffee.
Make people work their way up. After college, they could apprentice and work while learning their jobs. Get paid to train and work instead of paying for more training. It is just that simple.
I think college should allow student s to do an intensive 8 months and 48 credits
You would take 4 three-credit classes every 8 weeks. This would mean doing 4 eight-week semesters instead of 8 three-month ones. You would earn 12 credits every 2 months.
A college schedule could be like this:
Year One. English, Economics, major, major.
Year Two. Economics, Science, major, major.
Year Three. History, Math, major, major.
Year Four. Economics, major, major, major.
You see what I did there. I focused on the major and getting people out of college. That should be the point of college, right?
Why the focus on finance? Other than the fact Greenbacks Magnet is a financial blog, it just makes sense to teach people about money as they have to manage it for their whole lives. Â
After 8 months, you earn 48 credits and graduate. That took less than one year. It also saves you heaps of money. If four years costs you $40,000, then 8 months should run you $6,667. That is huge savings!
I was gobsmacked to hear of doctors owing $300,000 to $1 million in student loan debt. Do you know what type of interest you pay on that kind of debt? It’s immoral.
Interest of 5% on $1,000,000 is $50k a year. That means after income taxes you have to pay $50,000 just to pay the interest on this debt. To service this type of debt, you would have to pay more than $50,000 a year just to touch the principal. Â
I remember reading one lawyer say that he expected to have that student loan bill tacked to his coffin.
Just utterly insane!
 PRESTIGE AND CLASS
I read a book called Class Matters by the New York Times and Bill Keller. The book discusses how people chase money and prestige. Class determines everything about you: where you live, who you marry, what you do to earn a living, where you shop, and who your friends are.
The zip code you grow up in can ultimately make or break you.
In the book, it discusses how Americans have long thought of themselves as unburdened by class distinctions. There is no hereditary aristocracy or landed gentry, and even the poorest among us feel that they can become rich through education, hard work, or sheer gumption. And yet social class remains a powerful force in American life.
Class―defined as a combination of income, education, wealth, and occupation―influences destiny in a society that likes to think of itself as a land of opportunity.
What was jaw-dropping was this part of the book: And we see how class disparities manifest themselves at the doctor’s office and at the marriage altar.
For anyone concerned about the future of the American dream, Class Matters is truly essential reading. I agree with that assessment given to the book.
THE CREDENTIALÂ RACE
Grades are important. Sort of. Those getting straight A’s have to conform. Visionaries are not conformists. A New York Times (NYT) article quoted Dr. Karen Arnold as saying, “Valedictorians aren’t likely to be the future’s visionaries.”
The NYT article also noted the following:
This might explain why Steve Jobs finished high school with a 2.65 G.P.A., J.K. Rowling graduated from the University of Exeter with roughly a C average, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. got only one A in his four years at Morehouse.
THE REAL GRADUATION RATE
Did you know that the average graduation rate is 6 years?
Roughly 57% of students graduate in 6 years. Only 20% of American students graduate in 4 years.
Most students are not even graduating in the already exceedingly long period of 4 years’ time.
According to Complete College America, for a non-flagship public university, only 19% of students graduate on time and even at flagship research public universities, the on-time graduation rate is only 36%. Only 50 of the more than 580 public four-year institutions have graduation rates above 50%.
According to 2013 data from the University of Texas at Austin, students who graduate on time will spend 40% less than those who graduate in six years.
That means more time out of the work force and more debt.
According to Forbes, staying out of debt and saving are the best ways to build wealth.
WHY SHOULD COLLEGE BE 8 MONTHS?
Why can’t you do your 10-year plan in 6 months? – Peter Thiel, angel investor of Facebook
I whittle it down to this one reason: No student loans or a lesser amount of them.
Building wealth requires you staying away from and out of debt.
They say student loans are good debt.
I say that all debt is debt. You must repay it. Not having to pay back $20,000 or more of debt with interest is life changing.
If you want to be wealthy, stay away from debt. Save every penny. Learn to turn every dollar into two.
Ms. Brenda Jackson has written numerous romance novels over the past two decades. One of her most notable book series is for a family named the Westmoreland’s. I was able to speak with Ms. Jackson for a peek behind the writing curtain and found out how she went from novice middle school writer to full-time novelist for Harlequin, the world’s largest romance book publisher.
I was outside reading one her books entitled; The Secret Affair, a Westmoreland novel, and a complete stranger saw me and said, “that’s a good book.” I know. That was probably my 30th time reading it at that point! It also happens to be my favorite Brenda Jackson novel. Just in case you couldn’t tell.
I got a chance to interview the best-selling author with a Q&A session. You can read my interview with Ms. Jackson here and find out more about the woman behind the romance.
And here we go…
Thank you Ms. Jackson for taking the time for me to interview you. Let’s get right into it!
What made you become a writer? How did you get started writing romance?
My mother asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up. During those days many women went into the teaching profession because during the 1960’s and 1970’s, becoming a teacher was the job most available to women. I said that I want to be a professional woman, go to the office, and wear a nice suit.
However, until then, I liked to write stories. In school, around the 8th grade, after meeting my future husband Mr. Jackson, I started writing innocent little love stories.
What were your stories about?
I would write about school stories and outings. Like an American beach story. My church sponsored beach trips and I would write stores like the beach movies I saw. Similar to the Gidget and Moondoggie stories from the Gidget movies.
I would hand-write stories on notebook paper and write it out about four or five times and then pass it out to groups of kids at school.
How did you start writing for Harlequin?
It actually took some time. Harlequin was not my first publisher. This happened years later after writing books for another book publisher.
When did you start writing professionally?
I did not start out a writer. I went to work for State Farm and stayed there for over 30 years while working my way up into management before retiring.
While I was working and moving up the ranks, I ended up going to my high school reunion. It was there that people kept asking me what I did for a living and when I told them the most common response was that they all said they thought I would be a writer.
So, I decided I would start writing again. I sent out requests to get published, but major publishers and Harlequin rejected me. Those publishers said, unless there was a market for the types of novels I was writing that they were not interested.
I received 40 to 50 rejections.
However, I did not give up and was given a contract with Kensington books.
How did it feel to get accepted? What happened after you got your book deal?
It felt good. First, I started out writing as a hobby and now I am being paid for it. It was wonderful.
I started writing manuscripts with African-American characters. Those books were initially rejected and denied by other publishers, but Kensington was the one publisher that took a chance and felt there was a market for this genre.
I started writing and publishing my books and then they took off.
How did you get started with Harlequin?
After writing 20 or so books, I had a following and with that success Harlequin then reached out to me.
Harlequin wanted me write for them and so after my agent called and then speaking with them I decided to accept. At this point, I was writing for more than one publisher.
However, it took many years of writing and hard work before I started writing for Harlequin. I had positioned for that and one day I received an offer to write for them.
Harlequin later asked me to be exclusive. I told them that they would have to pay me for exclusivity. They made me a deal of a lifetime. My contract was good. Even more than Kensington.
The deal was so good that I left my six-figure salary job with State Farm.
I had made more money writing books than I ever dreamed of making.
How long have you been a writer?
I started writing over 20 years ago. I was still working for State Farm and began writing in the 1980’s and 1990’s. I would go away on conferences and write in my hotel room when I was not attending any workshops making sure to that I wrote on my time and not theirs.
While at State Farm, they supported my career and my dreams as a writer. They also helped promote my career. State Farm sent me to college and I majored in business at Jacksonville University in Florida. They would sponsor me to go on book tours. And I would do books signings.
I would represent my company wherever I went. I also later got football sponsors from HBCU’s such as the Bayou East West Classics.
In the beginning, I would go around to libraries and ask them if they would carry my books.
While in college, I mapped out what I wanted to do. I also became a Delta after joining their sorority and have kept a relationship with my fellow Deltas to this day.
Where do you write?
I essentially had two incomes while still working at State Farm and writing and made sure to purchase a home and paid off the mortgage. So, my home in Florida is paid for and I have no mortgage.
And this where I write. From home. I built an in-home office where I go and work. I still had a morning routine where I would get up, get dressed, and go downstairs to work.
What was your first published work?
The Madaris Family. One of their novels was my very first work. It was called Tonight and Forever.
What are your favorite characters? What types of romance novels do you like to write?
I have so many favorites. Just too many.
I like to write reunion books and about first love. How love starts, grows, and blossoms and becomes full circle. It feels so good.
Did your husband inspire any of the stories you have written? Are any characters based on him?
He always has and always will. He influences my writing. I write my characters as I see him, which is as the Alpha male. In my novels, you are the king. I get that feeling and like romance. I feel that that could be in any man and so I write them that way.
I married my high school sweetheart, Gerald, and I still have the going-steady ring he gave me at 15.
I read that you are a New York Times (NYT) Best Selling Author. Congratulations! What book(s) have made it onto this prestigious list? Are there more than one?
I have had most of my books on the USA Today Best Sellers List but some titles like the Westmoreland’s and Madaris have made the NYT list series genre.
Some books do not qualify for the market so I started my own publishing company, Madaris Publishing Company. Those books as well as my other titles are sold on my online store.
How many books have you written?
I have written 120 books. I am now on my 124th book.
Wow! How many books do you write each year?
I used to write six to eight books a year when I started writing exclusively for Harlequin. I now write two to three a year. Typically, I submit a book for Harlequin every nine months or basically one a year.
Some of my books are now being turned into films. One of my publishers, BET, made one into a movie.
Do you have a favorite book you have written? Any favorite characters?
Ties that Bind is my favorite. It’s longer than my other books. It’s about four couples that met in 1968 on campus at Howard University. It’s during the time of MLK, civil rights, Black Panthers, and Vietnam. It was also featured in the Washington Post.
Zion is one of my favorite characters. He is a jewelry maker and a bad boy.
Are you currently reading any good books?
Not presently. I spend so much time writing that I do not always get a chance to read other books.
However, I am doing research for a book of mine that is being turned into a movie. The Grangers is a three book series and the climax is in the third book. I get script approval, so I am studying how to promote A Brother’s Honor. The film will be on the Passionflix network. We want to make sure the script still has the Happily Ever After (HEA) in there.
Any inspirational words or advice for aspiring authors?
Know your genre and do your research. Focus on tone. Write from the heart.
Where can people find you?
You can find me on Twitter, Facebook, via email, and my website.
Thank you Ms. Jackson for your time as it was an absolute pleasure to speak with you!
If you would like to know more about Brenda Jackson, as well as purchase any of her books, you can go to her website www.brendajackson.net
“Think of giving not as a duty but as a privilege.” John D. Rockefeller
“I believe that it is my duty to make money and use it for the benefit of my neighbors. This is what my conscience tells me.” John D. Rockefeller
“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.” Charles Dickens
Every now and then I read stories that just lifts my heart. Recently there have been articles of heroes saving lives and people donating to charitable causes close to their heart. It reminded me of a story I heard about many years ago, but is still very inspiring today.
This article was reported on the front page of the New York Times in 1995:
She may be gone, but her act of charity is remembered. This tweet is from 2017. Ms. McCarty passed away in 1999. Therefore, the good you do is still remembered long after you are gone.
Oseola McCarty, a Washerwoman Who Gave All She Had to Help Others, Dies at 91 https://t.co/M8tYhMnUaw
Her name was Oseola McCarty. And here is her story.
MEET OSEOLA MCCARTY
Oseola McCarty was born on March 7, 1908 in Mississippi. As a young child, she had to quit school in order to tend to a sick family member. Quitting school in the sixth grade, she went straight to work as a laundress like her grandmother before her. She would go on to do this for about 75 years. Leaving school was one of her biggest regrets. She wanted to go back, but all the kids in her class had moved on ahead and so she didn’t go back because she wanted to be with her class. She decided to just keep working.
HOW SHE SAVED $150,000
She was never idle. She was working since she was a young child until she retired in 1994. She worked for many years and just put almost every dollar she made into the bank. She learned to save from her mother and kept the habit for life.
The following is what she did over 70 years:
She took one short vacation to Niagara Falls
She did not travel
She did not fly on planes
She did not stay in hotels
She never owned a car (she walked everywhere)
All her immediate family passed away and she never married or had children
She had lived alone since 1967
She lived in a family home her uncle gave her in 1947 for the rest of her life
Money she received from the passing of her mother and aunt went into savings
She spent almost nothing and lived very frugally
Repaired instead of replaced items for brand new ones
Covered her old bible in Scotch tape to keep Corinthians from falling out
Cut wholes in her shoes if they did not fit
Bought her first air-conditioner in 1992 and only uses it when company comes over
Owns one tiny black and white television (that only gets one channel) but she rarely watches
She did not retire until she was around 85 years old
Keeps her utility bills low
Never subscribed to a newspaper because it cost too much (an extravagance)
She would pay her bills and deposit the rest of her money (even coins) into savings
Over time this grew into $280,000
How she donated her life savings
One day she decided she would gift her money to a local university. Not as a bequest, but immediately as she wanted to be alive to see a recipient graduate from college as he one wish. In July 1995, she would go on to start a scholarship fund to help finance college tuition for students, preferably of African-American descent, who would be unable to attend college due to financial hardship. at the University of Mississippi. When asked why she chose that school, she simply said, because it was close.
A banker at one of her financial institutions assisted her. In 1995, he wanted to help an 87-year-old Ms. McCarty, but was unsure how to assist a woman with a fifth-grade education through estate planning. He came up with the novel idea of giving her 10 dimes, each representing 10 percent of her assets. He gave her five slips of paper to write down the names of the beneficiaries and divide up the coins. She deposited one dime to her church, one for each of her cousins and the last six for a scholarship fund, after setting aside enough money to live on.
She signed an irrevocable living trust and the bank managed her funds while she received a regular check for her living expenses.
WHY SHE DONATED
She decided to give because she knew the importance of education. She had struggled all her life doing manual labor (scrubbing laundry by hand on a scrub board). She did not want that for the younger generation coming up so she gifted them money to help them not have to do what she did and get a degree she was never able to get herself.
Oseola McCarty (1908-1999), an 88 yr old woman set up a $100k scholarship fund on an income of $10 an hr washing clothes.
The news hit the media and overnight she went from obscurity to a celebrity. She wanted no monuments or other recognition’s of her selflessness, but they came to her.
Once word spread of what she had done, it spread far and fast. Accolades and recognition for her act of charity in anticipation of her death was almost immediate. Goodness and kindness tend to spread. There was a chain reaction to her charitable action that had people wanting to reciprocate what she had done by also donating. This is what happened over four years:
She was honored by the United Nations
She received more than 300 awards
Contributions poured in from other donations adding almost $330,000 to her gift
Ted Turner donated a billion dollars to charity after hearing her act of philanthropy
She received the Presidential Citizen’s Medal, the nation’s second-highest civilian award
She received an honorary doctorate from Harvard University
She carried the Olympic torch through part of Mississippi in 1996
In December 1996, hers was the hand on the switch that dropped the ball in Times Square in New York’s New Year’s Eve celebration (also the first time she stayed up past midnight, rode an airplane, and stayed in a hotel)
McCarty received the Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards
She was awarded an honorary degree from USM, the first such degree awarded by the university in 1998
McCarty was also recognized with an Essence Award and Patti LaBelle sang tribute to her during the ceremony at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Ms. McCarty gave out pearls of wisdom, if people wanted to listen, but mostly it was common decency and sense she had said. She also said you should know the difference between a need and a want. Just because something is free does not mean you need it. It is okay to turn down something that is free, if you really do not need it. ”There’s a lot of talk about self-esteem these days,” she once said. ”It seems pretty basic to me. If you want to feel proud of yourself, you’ve got to do things you can be proud of. Feelings follow actions.”
It was reported that her home will be turned into a museum.
When asked what she wanted to do with her money right before she donated it, Ms. McCarty replied: “I want to help some child go to college.”
And just in case you were wondering, the recipient of the very first Oseola McCarty award not only met Ms. McCarty in person to say thank you, but she also went to the University of Mississippi and graduated. Â Ms. Oseola McCarty also lived long enough to get her wish: to live to see a recipient graduate.
After doing some research on millionaires and billionaires, I have noticed some recurring attributes among them, which include: reading, pursuing a passion, and setting goals.
READ
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
― Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!
Many of the affluent read daily or often. They seem to set aside at least 30 minutes a day for reading. This greatly improves their knowledge of their products, brands, and businesses. When you know what drives the market, then it makes it easier to compete with everyone else. I even read that Marilyn Monroe was also said to be a voracious reader.
I know in my life reading has helped me a great deal. I was able to do better in school, make better informed personal and professional decisions, and increase my investment knowledge.
One of the most successful investors of all time, Warren Buffet, says he reads every day. Â Buffet typically spends 80% of his day reading. Here are some quotes from interviews he has done over the years in regards to how to become successful.
THE KEY TO SUCCESS
The CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, when asked once about the key to success, pointed to a stack of books and said, “Read 500 pages like this every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will do it.”
Warren Buffet starts his days with an assortment of national and local news. The billionaire investor tells CNBC he reads the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, the New York Times, USA Today, the Omaha World-Herald, and the American Banker in the mornings.
Even though Buffet reads tremendously, it would mean nothing if he did not retain what he has read. Buffets says that knowledge builds up over time. Here are some tips to remember what you read – take notes, skim the text, read out load – are just a few things you can do to retain what you read.
PURSUE YOUR PASSION OR GIFT
“To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift.” – Steve Prefontaine
I have always had an affinity for writing. I write pretty much every day. My goals are that my writing helps to plant the seed that inspire people, motivate them, and make them feel good about themselves. Writing about finances is the cherry on top of the sundae for me. And I give it everything I’ve got. No less. When I’m sick. I write. When I’m tired. I write. When I was down to my last $2. Still wrote. I would write down my thoughts, hopes, dreams, and goals. I have crossed off at least 5 items on my 10 year to do list. If it can work for me and countless others, then I know it can for you.
Dreams can come true. You just have to believe and lay down the groundwork. There is no builder of a home that would not first lay down the foundation and then build up. The same goes for life. You do not start in at the top. Otherwise, if you do, you are more likely to have created a house of cards, that can easily come tumbling down. Â Like the three little pigs, you want bricks and not sticks or straw. You want something that is concrete. Construct your life blueprint on building or creating something that is solid.
If you can, find a mentor. Mentors help guide and keep people on the right path to succeed. I suggest finding someone who has already done what you want to do successfully and then asking them for advice. You can also read their books or attend their workshops. Either way study their success and see if you can imitate it.
SET GOALS
“Set your goals high, and don’t stop till you get there.” – Bo Jackson
When you set goals and pursue your passion it is a winning combination for success. Instead of watching the clock, you just keep on working. There are too many hours on the clock when you do something you detest, but no enough hours in the day when you do something you love.
Forget the naysayers. They are not you and you are not them. Â Focus your energy on doing what you enjoy putting your effort into. The energy you use to pursue your passion or anything that you do well is never wasted. Â When you can focus and limit or ignore distractions, you are well on your way toward success.
