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Beauty fades, stupid is forever

Thursday, May 23, 2013   Michael Olafusi   No Comments



We all know some people whose thinking is obviously warped. Think of all the reasonable actions/decisions to take in any situation, and you’re sure they will not take any of them. Think of all the stupid things anyone can do, write them on a sheet of paper and number the sheet “Page 3”. Because, what they will do will be more ridiculous than what you have on that sheet. Whenever you take a very stupid decision, you feel relieved when you think of them. I could go on and on…

But the truth is, we are all unreasonable (individually and collectively). And below are quotes from renowned men, commenting on this -

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.” ― Albert Einstein

“Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.” ― George Carlin

“In politics, stupidity is not a handicap.” ― Napoleon Bonaparte

“Stupidity isn't punishable by death. If it was, there would be a hell of a population drop.” ― Laurell K. Hamilton

“The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity.” ― Harlan Ellison

“He had just about enough intelligence to open his mouth when he wanted to eat, but certainly no more.” ― P.G. Wodehouse

“Stupidity is the same as evil if you judge by the results.” ― Margaret Atwood

“Evil isn’t the real threat to the world. Stupid is just as destructive as Evil, maybe more so, and it’s a hell of a lot more common. What we really need is a crusade against Stupid. That might actually make a difference.” ― Jim Butcher

“There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life.” ― Frank Zappa

“Beauty fades, dumb is forever.” ― Judy Sheindlin

“When a great genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign; that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. ― Jonathan Swift

“Nowadays what isn't worth saying is sung.
(Aujourd'hui ce qui ne vaut pas la peine d'être dit, on le chante.)” ― Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais

“If your brains were dynamite there wouldn't be enough to blow your hat off.”
― Kurt Vonnegut

“The only victories which leave no regret are those which are gained over ignorance.” ― Napoleon Bonaparte

“A stupid man's report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand.” ― Bertrand Russell

“I doubt you can understand the magnitude of the stupidity in your statement” ― Robert Jordan

“I have defined the hundred per cent American as ninety-nine per cent an idiot.” ― George Bernard Shaw

"Strange as it seems, no amount of learning can cure stupidity, and higher education positively fortifies it." - Stephen Vizinczey

"Get all the fools on your side and you can be elected to anything." - Frank Dane

"Against stupidity; God Himself is helpless." - Yiddish Proverb

Got any interesting relevant quote? Use the comment box. Thanks.

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Business success lessons from Andrew Carnegie

Wednesday, May 22, 2013   Michael Olafusi   No Comments




There are 3 people I work extremely hard to emulate – Leonardo da Vinci, Andrew Carnegie & Steve Jobs.

In this post, I’ll be talking about Andrew Carnegie.

Andrew Carnegie was a self-made man, and his life depicts a true “rags to riches” one. His wealth in today’s currency is more than the combined wealth of all the top 20 richest men in the world (Bill Gates, Carlos Slim, Warren Buffett…)

He was born into a very poor family, so poor they shared a room with a neighbouring family. He didn’t enjoy a proper education, started working at age 13 for 12 hours a day and 6 days a week. And through self-education, immense hardwork, honesty and a thoughtful lifestyle; he built a business that created wealth enough for him to fund a record number of schools and libraries.

You can read more about him on Wikipedia.

My real aim is to share with you the principles he lived by  (all his own words) –

My hopes were high, and I looked every day for some change to take place. What it was to be I knew not, but that it would come I felt certain if I kept on. One day the chance came. (In his teenage years, while working in a boiler room adjusting the boiler settings to avoid overheating a steam powered engine. A typical dead-end job, and very stressful)

As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.

No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it.

People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents.

The man who acquires the ability to take full possession of his own mind may take possession of anything else to which he is justly entitled.

You cannot push anyone up the ladder unless he is willing to climb.

Aim for the highest.

Do not look for approval except for the consciousness of doing your best.

The average person puts only 25% of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50% of their capacity, and stands on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100%.

Do your duty and a little more, and the future will take care of itself.

All honor's wounds are self-inflicted.

The men who have succeeded are men who have chosen one line and stuck to it.

Now, in my own words, all I have learned from Andrew Carnegie can be summarized as –
Hard-work, honesty, determination and self-education will always produce extra-ordinary results and a remarkable person.



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What planet are we on? Answer and win N1,000,000

Michael Olafusi   No Comments



What planet are we on? Send your answer to 33012 and win N1,000,000

 What is the color of the White House building? Send you answer to 30023 and stand a chance to win Blackberry Q10

 Chelsea beat Manchester United 1 – 0, thanks to Juan Mata’s late goal. For more sports news, send SPORTS to 30123. Free for 7 days

 Shell is recruiting fresh graduates. Send JOBS to 30123 for job alerts. Costs N30

 The world is going to end tomorrow. Send MAYAN to 30986 to get timely updates. N100 per month

 Weather forecast: It will be dark this night. Send WEATHER to 30785. You’ll never be caught in the rain without Umbrella again.

 Obama will sleep over at the White House today. Send WORLD to 39276 to get global updates.

 Nokia 3310 is now N2,500! Limited stocks!! Send DEALS to 301367 to get crazy deals

 Please share the ones’ you've received, let’s make an exhaustive list.

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Using Corporate Finance concepts to improve your day-to-day life

Monday, May 20, 2013   Michael Olafusi   No Comments



Two days ago I had a training appointment with a client, so about an hour to the appointment I called him. Guess what? He suddenly wanted the appointment shifted to the next day, without prior notice and without calling me.
Again, yesterday I had another appointment with my most valuable client. Well, due to the illusion of communication between us I met an empty rendezvous.
Had these happened last year, when I hadn’t taken my Coursera course on Corporate Finance, I would have felt really bad like I had wasted two days in a row. But thanks to my knowledge of Corporate Finance theories, especially that Promised return is hardly Expected return and you have to figure out the default risk. So, right from the start I knew every arrangement with my client is the “Promised” and I have to (over time and interactions) determine the “Expected”. So, I have been expecting a day when one of us will breach his own side of the agreement, temporarily.
Now that is one simple example of how knowledge of Corporate Finance concepts helped me in my day-to-day living.

Also, I have been trying to get secondary income sources that have zero beta relation with my day job and one another. In non-finance terms, getting secondary income sources that won’t be affected by job loss and issue with any one of the secondary sources won’t affect the others. And the fact is that I have even managed to get a secondary income source whose beta is negative in relation to my day job, if I lose my day job, the income from that source will soar.
That’s another cool example.

In Nigeria, inflation has been hovering above 11% for years now. And the risk free rate (rate I’ll get if I invest in Nigeria T-bills) is just above 10%. Meaning without doing any hustling or brain work, I can grow my savings at 10% annualized rate. In 7 years, 1 million saved this year will become 2 million (if the 10% rate stays so throughout those 7 years). And that’s more profitable than Total Nigeria PLC, Julius Berger PLC, Mobil Nigeria PLC and Cadbury have been in many years now. And they have several MBAs, expatriates and industry veterans working there. Heck, I won’t mind working their too.
This just shows that running a biz isn’t as easy and profitable as we all think. We see the big money splashed here and there by companies, and think the owners must be minting cash. The truth is, most of those monies were borrowed cash – from shareholders, retail banks, investment banks and bondholders. It doesn’t mean that they can double those monies faster than a street smart guy like me.
Hence, my knowledge of Corporate Finance has helped me make better money (investment and spending) decisions

In Nigeria, the middle class has been aggressively expanding and lots of foreign direct investments are pouring in. I believe that my generation will be Nigeria’s baby boomers – enjoying the post democracy boom. I know that this boom won’t be forever. I see lots of people who have a single income source (working for one big multinational) and they go on vacation every year; they know very little about personal finance, business cycles, retirement plans and life insurance/annuities. They act very pompous, spot the latest gadgets and change cars frequently. Sometimes, I wonder if they are not conscious of the fact that they are that rich just because they are working in that particular coy, which to me is like putting all your eggs (and your children’s eggs) in one basket. The very people how will have bank accounts in 3 or 4 banks, just to avoid being stranded when one bank’s ATM card is non-functional, will not consider building income sources that will prevent them (and their family) from being stranded if the company downsizes them or their pay.
For me, armed with ample knowledge of Corporate Finance & Macroeconomics, I am living a financially well planned life.

Oh no, not again!
I’m experiencing a writer’s block now. I might continue later, but if you have something wonderful to share, please do.

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Living the Warren Buffett lifestyle in Naija

Michael Olafusi   No Comments



I hope you've heard of Warren Buffett and that he is the first guy to kick Bill Gates off the No 1 spot on World’s Richest.

Anyway, I will be telling you how I have been emulating his lifestyle right here in Obodo Naija.
Warren Buffett made all his money from investing, initially, in the stocks market in the 1950s, then later from buying other companies. I have read a lot about him, read his annual letters to his partners dating as far back as from 1959. His secret weapon is growth, compounded. That is why he keeps saying – “Never lose money!” If you invest in Nigeria Money Market with a return of about 12% annualized rate, each million naira you invest now will become 2 million naira in 2019. So you know that every 50,000 naira you put into the investment is actually 100,000 naira in a few years’ time. And if you’re young like me, that million naira will become 32 million naira in 30 years’ time! But the issue is if you put that same million naira in the Nigerian Stock Exchange, and it goes up 30% this year, then goes down 50% next year, and goes up 60% the following year, and keeps doing that till 2019. Your million naira will keep bouncing up and down, will be less than 2 million naira in 2019. That is the logic behind Warren’s “Never lose money”. The same compound growth effect that makes 1 million naira turn to 2 million naira in 3 years at annual rate of 24%, and 500 million naira to turn to 1 billion naira in 2 years at rate of 36%. That same effect will make your 1 million naira turn to 500,000 naira in 3 years when market dips at annual rate of 24%, and your 1 billion naira will turn to 500 million naira in 2 years if market dips at annual rate of 36%. Now you can see why that former governor said he’ll never touch the NSE again after his money evaporated (just like that).

So Warren Buffett makes sure he never loses money. Because as long as you don’t lose, even a mediocre annual rate of 10% will work wonders. Even Albert Einstein claims that Compounded Growth Rate is the greatest human invention.

So how do I live this lifestyle?
Easy. I just avoid losing money too. I live on a monthly budget, a very elaborate one. I split my monthly income into two categories – Monthly expense and Investment. I have a record of all my daily expenses from as far back as September last year, so I know my average monthly living expense. I took that figure, added a monthly depreciation for expenses I make a few times a year, and voila, I came up with a very generous monthly living expense allocation. And I’m yet to overshoot the allocation till date, in other words, I have only been having Budget surplus. Then the rest, I put in my investment accounts (not really much). But as long as I don’t gamble away the investment cash, every naira now will become 10 naira in a matter of time (years).

Finally, I don’t play catch-up. I don’t buy what I don’t need. I do extensive cost-to-benefits, opportunity cost and delayed gratification analysis on all my CapEx (expenses like *car, phone, computer…). Most of my expenses are OpEx (I spend a lot on feeding, I need lots of quality meat to keep my six packs).

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How I got my six packs abs

Michael Olafusi   No Comments



I’m sure those of you that know me are laughing right now.

Anyway, this is a true story (or as we say in Naija, a true life story). I’ve always had a flat tummy, so getting a six packs abs wasn't that much of an uphill task for me.

In 2011, I searched online and started reading numerous fitness blogs. Made my own exercise regimen from the vast knowledge I gathered, one that could easily fit into my stressful weekdays and unpredictable weekends.
From what I gathered online, Push-ups are a great fitness exercise, one that will require several gym equipment to replicate the body building/toning effects it gives. Push-ups work out all the muscles in the upper body and build optimal strength in the forearms, wrists, upper arms, shoulders and chest. In fact, a popular US NFL star Herschel Walker, one of the top running backs in 1980s, exercised primarily with push-ups, no weight lighting. If you knew American football, the required fitness and strength to play the game, then you’d understand how awesome push-ups really are.
So my exercise regimen was primarily…, you guessed right, push-ups. I did them daily since May 2011 till recently when I started doing them 3ce a week. In addition, I swim as often as I can, and for some months, every week. I take a walk at noon every weekday (about 20mins to & from the Cafeteria), and every morning too. Swimming and walking are the best fitness exercises, just that they won’t give you six packs. Swimming gave me a superfine toning and a perfect posture. I occasionally do a weird variant of sit-ups.
So, that’s how I got my six packs. And just so you know, I do the diamond push-ups, one of the hardest types of push-ups. Please don’t ask me how many reps I do, you’ll be blown away.

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