I’ve always held that short term investments aren’t really ‘investments’ in that they’re usually more speculative in nature. Flipping and building new homes are two solid examples.

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Transcript:   I don’t do long-term investments anymore. Don’t need to. I still buy notes, because why not? There’s little or no management. There’s a lot of income, and my notes are inside a tax-free wrapper so what do I care? However, every now and then I’m offered a short-term opportunity. Now that’s a very pleasant buffered way of saying a speculative transaction where you could lose your rear end in a hurry. The stuff I’m doing right now is in Southwest Austin. It’s with a builder. I’ve known this builder now for about six years. They’re building homes that are geared towards upper middle class. What does that mean? That means the median price in Austin for a house is, give or take, 290, and the homes he’s building are running five to eight or nine. There’s a huge demand for those kind of homes in Southwest Austin, and very little supply. They’re less interest rate-sensitive. What does that mean? That means when interest rates go up, and they will, these people aren’t affected nearly to the degree regular folk are. They just tell their wives “It’s going to be another thousand a month. Relax,” or “We’ll just put another hundred down. It’s okay,” and they buy the house. The profits on these are really nice. The returns for investors are probably going to be in the range of 20 to 40 on an annul basis. Now that sounds really good, doesn’t it? I’m here to tell you these are speculative investments. The good news is they pay off pretty high. They pay off 20 to 40% because they’re speculative in nature. Let me give you an idea. I’m going to exaggerate like crazy. Compare it to going to Vegas, heading straight to the roulette table with $100,000, and picking black or red. Now that’s more speculative than this but I’m going to tell you, treat it the same. Act as if if this money goes down the drain you’re okay with it. Now, I don’t talk about my own portfolio ever. I’m very old school private that way. That’s the way I am with everybody including my family, except for my inner core family. I will tell you this, I’ve invested well over a quarter million in the last several months in this. I’ve brought a couple of good friends in it. We got this company started. Between the three of us, just to get this company started we put in over $600,000. We took the initial risk of turning out fine. Can it not turn out fine in the blink of an eye? You bet. You think Murphy likes buy and hold investors? He loves short-term people with speculative deals because he doesn’t have to spend that much time. He just kicks over your apple cart and walks away laughing. You can lose your money, period. On the other hand, you can put 1 or 200,000 in with me and in six or eight months, say, get your hundred back that you put in and get another 120, 30, 40, or 50 in six or eight months. Now could it go a year? Trust me, it can, and we can’t control it. You’re dealing with government officials, suppliers, subcontractors. There’s all kinds of stuff that you just want to pull your hair out or get a gun. It’s what Murphy is all about but I think this is a really rare opportunity. The last time I did short-term investments I don’t even remember who was president. That’s how long ago it was. I really like this stuff. It’s still speculative. You can still lose money, but I’m doing it and I’m putting people I like into it. If you’re interested, nobody knows it.