For those checking me out as a result of a Twitter post or publishing site, I know it’s confusing. I post a LOT about #BernieSanders but also $AMZN, and not enough about #writing, #dharma or my publishing biz. I’ll touch on all of that here. I don’t feel it’s ridiculous to support Bernie, and still be an active investor. I am fortunate that my socially-aware investment choices have paid off. I don’t invest in companies I don’t believe in. I would love to chat with Bernie and see if he truly believes that ALL billionaires are bad. I don’t. The ones I invest in donate MILLIONS to charitable causes that I also support. Let me say a bit more about how and why I began investing in the first place.
I was an online pioneer back in the 1980s running a hobbyist computer “bulletin board” system (called a BBS.) Not only was I an early adopter of computers and online services, I was a Geek Girl — more common now, rare growing up in Iowa and learning data processing in the 1970s. Yep, punch cards, big mainframes, and giant floppy disks. Even though I owned one of the first personal computers (before IBM made them), it didn’t occur to me to invest in MSFT back then. I did buy AAPL the day Steve Jobs returned in 1997. Good choice. And, I bought a little known online service called Amazon.com in 1998 (before the 3 – 1 stock split.) 🙂 A VERY good move! I was investing in the “guys” and their ideas, but had hoped people would have been investing in MY company. I was involved in the earliest days of commercial internet with my own company ZiaLink as an alternative to America Online. We would have gone public as ZLNK if it had all worked out. Sadly, NSCP (Netscape) was the original hot IPO, not ZLNK, and as they say, the rest is history. (I call it HER story.) There’s a bit more on the About tab, and some day I’ll post more details from those days. Quite a story. Anyway, that’s how and why I picked some real winners early on. ORCL, QCOM, the QQQs, in addition to AMZN and AAPL. I had some failures too, CUBE and HAYS (remember Hayes modems?) But got in on FB (Facebook) the first week at $33. TWTR, not so much (but I remain optimistic.)
I think it’s GREAT to invest in America’s future. I used PayPal (early days) and believe in Elon Musk. I was lucky to own eBay and got 100 shares of PYPL when eBay spun it off (as a result of their 2002 joint venture.) I bought a little BitCoin and always keep my eye on new technology. Does Bernie approve of my philosophy? Who knows, but I like him. I trust Bernie over the screwball salesman (Drumpf) who really would be terrible for Wall Street and America. Bernie is pro-diversity and humanity, something I admire. Hillary will probably win — a compromise me and many other investors can live with.
How do I reconcile all that with my Zen moniker? As I explain in my little philosophy book Seeing Clearly Buddhists are not perfect, no human is. Grappling with the Dharma (and reality) is our practice. Zen is a way of seeing things, more clearly. 😉
ZiaLink Ink 