Last week, there I was at the SST TOWER with my printed notes in hand, all hunched up in the chair with two cameras pointed straight at me. I was there to record my first classes for SST.

What I did in those classes was teach you to HAVE and not just to EARN.

To build wealth you do need to earn, but if you're not thinking about having while you're earning, you won't accumulate wealth the way you should.

Bruce Kovner, a great commodities trader, had a habit of thinking outside the box in pursuit of having more. At one point, he gathered a group of investors with the aim of raising capital to buy an old oil tanker. The risk of the deal was the possibility of having to sell the ship in the future as scrap — an easy number to calculate, and one that didn't represent a significant loss against the $6 million purchase price. The result: that old tanker sailed the seas loaded with oil for years, delivering an average return of 30% per year to investors, and in the end it was sold as scrap — but scrap worth $23 million.

Both Kovner and his investors weren't thinking about how much they'd earn per month. They were focused on HAVING that business produce results.

An interesting side note: one of Kovner's investors was Edward Thorp, the trader who spent years rubbing his performance record in Wall Street's face.

OK João, but have what exactly?

Assets that generate income. Like Kovner's tanker deal, or like João's SST business, or like a hot dog stand with that cousin of yours who's going through a rough patch right now, or a publicly listed company on the stock exchange.

There are indeed secrets to wealth and I know what transformed my future and my family's, but that secret is not in some operational trading model to perform in day trading.

Naturally, the disservice done to students and credulous investment professionals who have swallowed the Efficient Market Theory has been an extraordinary service to us and other followers of Graham. — Warren Buffett

João Homem