BRENDA 的異想世界

文章來源： http://au.blogs.yahoo.com/richricher/56/finding-your-magic-investing-formula


再也沒有其它時間比現在更適合做投資。所以幹嘛自己受限於平常所謂的策略？

There's never been a better time to make money investing than right now. So why limit yourself to the usual strategies?

人們通常會問我，”你如何發掘好的投資機會？”我的標準回答是，”你必需訓練自己的腦袋去看見機會，好的投資機會就在你身邊”

People often ask me, "How do you find great investments?" My standard reply is, "You have to train your brain to see them. Great investments are all around you."

我知道那不會是個令人滿意的答覆。大多數的人會想要更具體更精確的答案。但是我的回答已經是盡可能的準確了。如果過去十年，我們大家都看得到抓得準所有好的投資機會，那麼，我們所有人現在都早就已經是億萬富翁了。
I know that's not a very satisfying answer. Most people want something more specific and concrete. But my reply is as accurate as possible. If we could've seen all the great investments just in the past decade, we'd all be multibillionaires.

Missing Out on Millions 錯失上百萬

再也沒有像過去十年這麼有機會成為有錢人了。不過，在未來十年會更有機會。
There have never been more opportunities to become rich than in the last 10 years. And there'll be even more opportunities in the next 10.

讓我解釋。有很多投資人，我在大約十年前並沒有見到eBay的威力。如果我有，那麼我今天會是一個億萬富翁了。我也沒有見到YouTube或是Google, MySpace的威力。身為一個歐里桑，我的腦袋沒有被訓練成可以見到在網際網路的投資機會。所以我錯失良機。
Let me explain. Like many investors, I didn't see the power of eBay almost a decade ago. If I had, I'd be a billionaire today. Nor did I see the power of YouTube, or Google, or MySpace. Being an old guy, my brain isn't trained to see investing opportunities in cyberspace. So I missed them.

三十年前，當我的職場事業在全錄公司展開時，我接觸到一個新型的電腦。我當時並沒有投入電腦行業，所以我並不知道我接觸到的是最早版本的麥肯錫(蘋果電腦的作業軟體)。所以我也錯失了上億元的機會。我到底已經錯失了多少億元？或許上百萬。
Thirty years ago, when my business career was just starting at Xerox, I was introduced to a new type of computer. I wasn't tuned into computers at the time, so little did I know that I was looking at the early version of what was to become the Macintosh. So I also missed that billion-dollar opportunity, too. How many billion-dollar opportunities have I missed? Maybe millions.

如果我已錯失了這麼多百萬以及上億的美元投資機會，那麼為什麼我還會替雅虎財務寫文章？這是一個很有道理的問題，而且答案是必需要能幫助你們發掘好的投資機會。
If I've missed so many million- and billion-dollar opportunities, why am I writing for Yahoo! Finance? That's a valid question, and the answer has to do with helping you find great investments.

Perseverance Pays Off 堅持會有代價

我看我的第一次房地產投資課是在1974年在夏威夷的火努魯魯。花費美金385元，大概要兩到三天的時間。課要結束以前，講師說了一句我永遠都不會忘記的話：”現在，你們知道好的房產投資跟壞的房產投資有什麼不同了，現在開始，你們都知道要找什麼樣的房產了”
I look my first real estate investment course in 1974 in Honolulu . The cost was $385, and I believe it was two or three days long. Toward the end of the class, the instructor said something I've never forgotten: "Now you know the difference between good real estate investments and bad real estate investments. Now you all know what to look for."

那講師停了一下，然後再加一句，”問題是，多數的人會告訴你，這樣好的投資並不存在，你的朋友會這樣跟你說，房屋仲介也會這樣跟你說”。真話是不用多說的。因為在接下來的幾個月，我走遍了很多家房仲公司尋找投資。就像之前說的，房屋仲介告訴我，我要找的房子根本就不存在。我的朋友們和在全錄的同事們都告訴我同樣的話，還說我不是在作夢就是吸毒了。
He paused and then added, "The problem is, most people will tell you such investments don't exist. Your friends will tell you so, and so will real estate agents." Truer words were never spoken. For the next few months, I went from real estate office to real estate office, looking for investments. As promised, the real estate agents told me what I was looking for didn't exist. My friends and co-workers at Xerox told me the same thing, and said I was either dreaming or smoking funny cigarettes.

後來終於，在夏威夷威基基市區裡一間小小破爛的仲介辦公室，我見了一位看起來很不起眼的仲介，他說，”我有你要的房子”，就在下一個周末我搭上飛機飛到夏威夷八大島嶼中的說海島(Aui)，在那裡我們看到整棟公寓正準備進入拍賣程序。
Finally, in a small, obscure real estate office in downtown Waikiki , I met a scruffy little broker who said, "I have what you want." The next weekend I was on a plane to aui, where we'd found an entire condominium development that was in foreclosure.

我用一萬八千元美金買下了我第一筆房產投資，用信用卡付了兩千元的頭期款。這間一房一衛的公寓讓我有現金流入，甚至已經扣掉了所有的費用跟抵押擔保花費。我就開始了我的投資事業。更重要的是，我正訓練我自己去看到多數人看不見的機會。那堂美金385元的房地產課程，在這些年來讓我賺了上百萬美元。
I purchased my first piece of investment real estate for $18,000, putting the $2,000 down payment on my credit card. The one-bedroom/one-bath condo paid me a positive cash flow, even after all the expenses and mortgage payments. My investment career had begun. More important, I was training my brain to see what most people don't see. That $385 real estate course has made me millions of dollars over the years.

Keep an Open mind 保持虛心

上個月，差不多是報稅季節，我替雅虎財務寫了一篇文章叫：”思富降稅賦”。文章大約提到眾所周知的一個投資策略─”快錢”，以及要如何利用它來投資、賺更多的錢，然後合法的節稅。我當時認為該文章可能會引發辯論，果然是這樣。
Last month, around tax time, I wrote a Yahoo! Finance column called "Think Rich to Lower Your Taxes." It wasabout an investment strategy known as the "velocity of money," and how use it to invest, make a lot of money, and thenegally use the tax laws to minimize my own taxes. I suspected the column would spark some controversy, and it did.

因為接下來好幾週，我得要回答讀者問題。某些少數的見解，讓我想起1974年那些房屋仲介跟我在全錄的那些朋友跟我所說的話。
For a couple of weeks, I kept track of the reader responses to it. Some of the less-complimentary comments reminded me of what those real estate agents and my friends at Xerox said to me back in 1974.

你看，我們的頭腦，不是我們最大的資產就是我們最大的負債。就像我說的，當投資機會是在科技領域時，我的腦袋就成了一個負債；我就是不懂。當投資機會是在房地產、黃金、原油以及銀礦的領域時，我就佔了上風，但也不是最棒的。這是因為我已經訓練我的大腦來看透這些領域的投資機會。
You see, our brains are either our greatest assets or our greatest liabilities. As I said, when it comes to investment opportunities in technology, my brain is a liability; I just don't get it. When it comes to investment opportunities in real estate, gold, oil, and silver I'm above average, but not great. And that's because I've trained my brain to see opportunities in those areas.

所以，除了批評那些對我的建言封閉自我的讀者(