Why It’s Never Too Late to Build Wealth (And How We’ll Do It Together)
I am 48 years old, and I have no investment portfolio.
For some, that admission might sound like a defeat. But for me, it is the starting line of the most exciting chapter of my life.
I have wanted to invest since I was 26. As an African American man coming from a hardworking family, I saw a lot of grit, but not a lot of leverage. My parents believed in the “Old Economy”: work hard, save your money for a rainy day, get a pension, and retire. They didn’t talk about starting businesses or buying assets.
I remember returning to Norfolk, VA, after being stationed in Colorado Springs with the military. I asked my dad to pull the stock pages out of the newspaper for me. I went to the library. I did the research. I told myself, “I know Walmart. I love Walmart. It isn’t going anywhere.”
I was ready to buy. An online broker told me I needed $500 just to open an account. Life happened—I moved out, I needed an apartment, and that $500 went toward rent instead of my future. Some would say that the gatekeepers blocked my access to the market. I don’t totally disagree but I see it differently. That was then and this is now!
That has been my story for the last 22 years. Survival, fighting mental illness, and navigating marital difficulties took precedence. I was paying attention to the markets, watching the news, and seeing the world change, but I was on the sidelines.
But no more.
The Real Cost of Waiting (A $25,000 Lesson)
To understand why I am so passionate about starting now, we have to look at the math of what I missed.
Back in 2003, Walmart stock was trading around $50 to $60 per share. If I had broken through that barrier and invested just $5,000 into Walmart over the course of 3 to 5 years—and simply held onto it—the picture today would be very different.
Thanks to stock splits (where the company gives you more shares for the ones you own) and the steady rise of the company, that $5,000 investment would be worth roughly $30,000 today.
That is a gain of $25,000, just for letting the money sit there. Don’t just take my word for it. Play with the numbers yourself using the SEC’s Compound Interest Calculator to see what your money could do
Walmart is one of the most stable companies in history. I didn’t need to pick a risky startup. I didn’t need to predict the future. I just needed to participate. Imagine if I had been able to invest even more? This is the power of the market: it works for you while you sleep.
The New Rules of Wealth
Today, the barriers that stopped me at 26 are gone. You don’t need $500; you need $2. You can start with Cash App, Stash, Acorns, or Robinhood. Investing is literally in the palm of our hands.
My goal for 757 BizClick is to bridge the gap between the Old Economy (labor, pensions, physical infrastructure) and the New Economy (AI, digital assets, logistics, and leverage).
Our philosophy here is simple, inspired by a sentiment often attributed to business titans like John D. Rockefeller: It is better to earn 1% of 100 people’s efforts than 100% of your own.
In the past, that meant hiring people. Today, in the age of Artificial Intelligence, robotics, and e-commerce, that means owning assets. When you buy a stock, you are investing in someone else’s business. You are letting their systems, their employees, and their innovations work for you.
“But Won’t I Lose It All?”
This is the number one question I hear, and it was the fear that kept people like my parents away from the market. We have all heard the horror stories of market crashes.
But we need to look at the odds.
If you invest all your money in one risky, unproven company, yes, you could lose it all. But if you invest in the broader stock market, or in established blue-chip companies like Walmart, what are the odds of losing all your money?
Historically? Extremely low….
For the stock market to go to zero, every major company in America would have to go bankrupt simultaneously. If Walmart, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft all went to $0 at the same time, the US Dollar would likely be worthless, too.
Furthermore a diversified portfolio and the global nature of many of the top companies is another backstop against such fears.
The market will have bad years. It will dip. It will correct. But historically, it has always recovered and grown. The only way to guarantee you lose purchasing power is to keep your money under a mattress where inflation eats it away.
But that is why we are here. To ask questions and to get answers! My elementary teacher told us the only bad question is the question that is not asked. You wouldn’t ‘t say Mrs. Williams was wrong would you?
What We Will Explore Together
I am not a guru looking down from a high tower. I am a partner climbing the mountain with you. While I haven’t been building a portfolio for 22 years, I have been studying the landscape.
This page will be our laboratory. We are going to ask the hard questions and find the answers together. We are going to move past just “saving” and move toward “owning.”
Here is the roadmap of what we will uncover on this site:
- The Power of History: We will research exactly how the market has performed since the crash of 1929, the dot-com bust, and the pandemic. We need to know where we’ve been to know where we are going.
- Infrastructure & Logistics: It’s not just about flashy tech stocks. It’s about how things move. Just as railroads defined the Industrial Revolution, we will look at who is building the roads, the ports, the chip factories, and the data centers that power AI.
- The New Gold: We will look at traditional protections like Gold and Precious Metals, but we will also tackle the uncomfortable conversations about Bitcoin. With major banks and ETFs adopting it, we cannot afford to ignore digital assets as a part of a modern portfolio.
- The Sector Shifts: Which companies are “Old Economy” dinosaurs, and which are the leaders of tomorrow? We will analyze the mix that makes our economy work.
Scared Money Don’t Make Money
Most investment experts tell you a 401k is essential for a secure retirement. But how many of us actually understand what is inside that 401k? How many of us are intentionally buying a piece of the companies that are making trillions of dollars?
Financial literacy is lower in many communities than it should be. That lack of knowledge brings danger—the danger of losing money to scams, or the danger of paralysis.
My mission is to position myself, my family, and my readers to be financially secure in the next 10 years. I want to leave a legacy of literacy for my children so they don’t have to wait until they are 48 to start.
We are going to learn from the experts. We are going to analyze the news. We are going to diversify into energy, healthcare, defense, and real estate.
There is a risk in investing, yes. But there is a greater risk in not investing.
I invite you to join the conversation. Let’s balance our lives. Let’s bridge the economy. Let’s get to work.
