'09 Is Fine

I know I’ve been away for a while as the last several weeks have been killer. Up until December I was quite a fan of 2008. I started the New Year off in Europe, I connected with my Sweetheart in February, got to play in the sun AND the snow all in the same month. My non-benchmark birthday was in March. The latter half of the year I became an aunt for the third time in August and of course as you know, I ran the NY Marathon in November. My mantra a year ago was “08 is GREAT” in an effort to create a self-fulfilling prophecy. Then on December 9, the CEO of my company announced that we were being acquired. I talked about change in the last post. Did I mention that the company I work for was acquired before, less than a year ago?! This latest announcement was made just on the cusp of that fabulous rare occasion when Christmas falls in the middle of the week making the latter half of December a wash in terms of productivity so I'm absorbing this all now.

Déjà vu is a strange thing. I found myself in a lawyer’s office, AGAIN, trying to figure out terms for a better contract. It’s a bitter pill to swallow knowing that New York is an “employment-at-will” state and you can be canned at any time and for any reason in the Big Apple. I’m unsure if getting a lawyer’s help with an employment contract is worth it. Most employment agreements are form letters or simple templates. The folks with leverage seem to be the high-income earners. In New York, high income seems to start at 250K base salary. And the simplified formula for determining income is apparently the value of what you manage. Sadly, the lens for success in our society is cracked.

This is actually a good segue for me to introduce my takeaways from Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book, Outliers. The book affected me pretty profoundly because basically its premise is that these people who we consider wildly successful actually have achieved their status by plain hard work. It takes 10,000 hours to reach the tipping point. Apparently, “Success is a function of persistence, doggedness and willingness to work hard.” The other points I found interesting were:

1. Practical Intelligence- simply, “knowledge that helps you read situations and get what you want.” This knowledge is a by-product of being from a family that is well off. (Hence why I needed to hire a lawyer for my contract.)
2. Autonomy, complexity and a connection between effort and reward equals job satisfaction. (The burnout article from last post is haunting you now, go read it if you haven't yet!!)
3. Making something meaningful helps create a connection between effort and reward. (A DONEDOTCOM philosophy!)

People who have practical intelligence know how to ‘work the system.’ I unfortunately, don’t know how to work the system especially when it comes to challenging authority. I have an innate distrust for authority that stems from childhood however I will spare you the armchair psychology for now. I mentioned in my last post the importance of a Plan B. It’s uncanny how my own advice rings even truer a month later. The New Year is a great time to revisit goals. It’s a great time to dust off the resume (even in this economy.) It’s a great time to start doing this differently. The one thing Outliers made me realize is that I’ve been spending my energy on too many things and I need to focus more. I’ll elaborate on my purging of habits and hobbies in my next post.

I was researching the stock list of my last post when I distracted myself with a Facebook game a friend sent me where you use the Shuffle action on your iPod to supply answers for a series of questions. One of the most intriguing and insightful question/answers my Shuffle revealed was for the following.

Q. What is your worst fear?
A. Moving. (by Supergrass)

I swear change is good people. Stay with me.

I’ve narrowed down my investment portfolio to 15 stocks and will share with you my research on the companies I initially found interesting. I may try my hand at online trading by my next post. Who knows.

Wigwam socks-privately held it seems
1-CW-X- Japanese owned!! Also owner of WACOAL! Go figure. This will be the one foreign stock I invest in.
2-Burt’s Bees- Clorox Company (not thrilled about that but Clorox Co is getting pretty eco-progressive with its product line.)
OPI- family owned
Starwood Hotels- HOT; while I’m on the fence, I think the hotel industry is going to have a BAD year.
3-Nike- NKE; just do it.
4-Gap Inc.- GPS; I re-discovered Piper Line, a shoe seller site affiliated to Gap Inc. I think its fair pricing of clothes by this retailer will weather the tough times well.
5-JCrew- JCG; I like their affordable bridal line but they are pricey overall, but good quality.
Loehmann’s- Dubai based company bought out the chain.
6-Bed Bath & Beyond- BBBY; smaller home improvements I think will dictate 2009.
The Container Store- Private equity firm LGP owns this retailer. I was disappointed. I think it’s the crowning jewel of the store they own.
7-UPS- UPS; I was totally impressed with their participation in the New York Marathon organization. And I love my UPS guys.
8-Google- GOOG; duh.
Blackberry- Canadian owned. I was on the fence here, too but my bberry actually broke in under a year.
9-JetBlue- JBLU; marketing geniuses, except I don’t quite get the Happy Jetting campaign. I mean I get it but…
Seventh Generation- Privately owned. It’s very mysterious.
Cancer – TBD I still need to find a public company related to fighting cancer.
Health/diet foods 365 Organic (is Whole Foods), 10-Hain (is Hain Celestial=LOVE THEM GREAT ORGANIC PRODUCT LINE), South Beach Living (is KRAFT, no way).
Mitchum deodorant- Revlon (but it was so hard to find info on Mitchum)
Zip Car- private or international company, another mystery?
Soft Sheen Carson - Loreal
Wacoal- Japan CW-X!!!
Smart Car- Mercedes owned
11-Whole Foods- WFMI; I’m on the fence but will give this a buy. Their produce is better and their private label very affordable but WF is generally SOOOOO EXPENSIVE.
Those coil light bulbs TBD
12-Target/Walmart- TGT; thrifty chic is the new black
At A Glance stationery- MeadWestvaco NO as it does tobacco paper and packaging
Colgate- NO too many chemicals in portfolio/soaps
13-Apple- AAPL; I heart Mac
Victoria’s Secret (The Limited) – NO as I’ve decided Vicky’s is just making things worse for women with its Angels. And Bendels which is part of the family has pricing too high.
14-Aveeno- J&J; on the fence but I like Aveeno
15-Invisilign –ALGN; seems like a great new company.
Maybeline- Loreal