Thursday, 31 December 2015
Wednesday, 30 December 2015
HouseBuilders
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Tuesday, 29 December 2015
Guest Post
2016 Annual Poker Goals Blog
28 Dec 2015
Before we move on to the goals we've set for 2016, let's take a look back at how we did with our 2015 goals:
1. Cash for $2 million- This one came down to the wire as I closed the year with 4 straight cashes from my 11th place finish in the main event to my 3rd place finish for $640k to finish off the year and put me at $2,482,479
2. 55 tournament max- In 2013 I played 66 events, in 2014 I played 56 events and set the goal to play even less in 2015. I skipped WSOPE late in 2015 which allowed me to stay under my goal and I came in at 49 for the year.
3. 12 cashes- If I actually played 55 events rather than 49 I think I would have hit this goal, coming just shy with 11. The WSOP during the summer only produced 4 cashes and that's definitely below what I expect to do each summer considering the high volume I put in during the WSOP.
4. 5 Final Tables- Just missed this one too, finishing with 4 final tables.
5. 3 WSOP Bracelets- I have been setting this lofty goal each year and while it's obviously a major stretch, I know it is a goal I am capable of accomplishing. I ended the year missing out on a bracelet with my closest finish coming in the $10k Stud 8 event where I came a disappointing 3rd.
6. Move up on the WSOP All-Time Cash list from 5th to 3rd-Didn't quite get enough cashes to pass Men Nguyen for 3rd place finishing with 83. Men has a total of 84 and I'm very confident that I will pass him this year and then set my sights on #2 on the list Erik Seidel who has 95. Phil Hellmuth is going to be out of reach for probably a decade or so since he is way ahead with 115. I do believe that I will catch my buddy Phil by the time they bury me in the ground.
7. Maintain 3rd on the WSOP all-time money list- I was able to do this, but Jonathan Duhamel put in a big effort to get within a million. To move up an additional spot I'll need about $1.6 million to surpass Daniel Colman who trumped me in the One drop in 2014.
8. End 2015 in the Top 10 of the Global Poker Index- I didn't put in enough volume especially in the second half of the year to contend for a top 10 spot, finishing a respectable #39 in a very competitive field. My goals of playing less events certainly were at odds with accomplishing this goal as there is no question that playing more volume equals a higher ranking in the GPI
9. Top 10 CP or BLUFF- The Story is the same year. A lack of volume and just 4 final tables isn't going to get you in the top 10 of either of these lists.
10. Two Non Poker Vacations- You would think it would be easy to accomplish this goal, right? Well, I planned on attending Burning Man but backed out at the very last minute. I am not a drug user, and while I understand you could enjoy the experience without doing any hallucinogenic drugs, the more I heard about it, the more I realized I didn't want to go. I love my life. I'm extremely happy and I felt a massive relief when I finally backed out of going. I get that lots of people absolutely love the experience, but I also know me, and I just don't think it's for me. Other than that, I'd hoped to make a trip to Romania and didn't do that either.
So with that, I accomplished 3 of the 10 goals I set for the year, narrowly missing out on a couple that would have gotten me to 5. As you can see, I set lofty goals, and I do so for a reason. I am NOT ATTACHED to the result! This is really important to wrap your head around so that you don't get into trouble when goal setting. I throw things out in the universe that I'd like to see happen. Whether I do or not has NO EFFECT on my psyche. If I accomplished just 1 of the 10, I don't see failure, I celebrate the result I accomplished as well as the journey towards all of them.
2016 Goals
Financial Goal
I am going to set myself a slightly lower financial goal this year. I also am going to set myself a goal of money I can spend on enjoying myself. It really depends how the year turns out... I might be in a situation where I'm really going for more money in an interesting job... or I might just travel more and meet more interesting people. Of course my financial goal depends to a large extent on how my shares do. I am confident about my portfolio going forward and will continue to reap the dividends and have decent plans for future shares to buy. Part of being a share investor of course is to get more money to buy more shares- so I probably will spend time in 2016 LOOKING at shares less and more time getting money to buy more.
Mutual Fulfillment With High Value People
Yep this one is up again. I have a great group of people around me helping me and giving advice. And the number one priority will be to continue those relationships. However the door is still open for other HIGH QUALITY PEOPLE to come into my life. This site has over 50,000 views now... and quite regularly I have elite winners connecting with me on LinkedIn because of it. There has to be more IN PERSON fulfillment though. Stevie PUA and other friends have recommended I travel more and I may well do this. Thoughts going through my mind lately have been "You don't want to be the richest man in the graveyard." I still will aim to WASTE very little money but meeting new people and going to interesting new places can be seen as an investment in yourself. Overall I want this goal to link in with the aim of having MORE FUN in 2016.
Exercise Well and Have a Healthy Diet
Up again. Just come back from a walk now and I want to do this every day. I know all the exercises I need to do and will do them. I can do this every day in all situations.
Research and Aim to Buy a Buy to Let Property
I have now taken the decision to buy my own buy to let property. I know I have a lot of work to do but aim to do this.
RIGHT... so yeah three goals ARE THE SAME AS LAST YEAR.
Adding onto that I'd like to create more high quality written content again. Pleased with this in 2015- but ideally I will also get PAID for doing this. There are well over 1,000 people every month reading this site and in 2015 I have often aimed to provide FREE VALUE EVERY DAY. Please support me in doing this by making a donation or helping me with my goals in some other way. The more donations the more articles there will be. If I'm going to write without being paid or paid well enough it has to be something I TOTALLY WANT TO DO. Don't be Mother Teresa with writing.
Yeah there have been some good pics done in 2015 but ideally I want EVEN MORE in 2016. And quite possibly new video content too. I would quite like to do 'speeches to camera' so let's see if we can get that up.
The world can be a ruthless place and I've had to deal with adversity in 2015. Violet Rowan blatantly lied to me and Craig Joyce assaulted me. Well doing those kinds of things to Mark Howitt is not a good idea and I will be taking action. However at the same time I want to be as positive as possible and enjoy myself as much as possible. I know I have a lot of potential and enjoy being a world famous writer. I wish you the best of luck in your own 2016 goals!
Monday, 28 December 2015
Experience
How many books have you read?
It's about 3000 for me including ebooks.
All the areas in my life that I value I've spent HUNDREDS OF HOURS studying and playing.
So... I mean my life could still be a success or a failure. But all that experience is with me.
Friday, 25 December 2015
2015 Goal Review
I spent a lot of the year advising the family over a £124,000 house purchase. I believe they paid too much for it- told them so about 100 times. My father can’t really negotiate with people sadly. I can and made several visits to the vendors’ house. He still did not leave the house in a good enough condition though.
So after the family bought the house they tried to put me in it. I didn’t want to and organized a buy to let. I was put in a difficult position because the house was empty for one month and we were losing money every day. So I was basically forced into letting Violet Rowan and her family stay there- and so far she has lied to me by not giving me the £25 a month she said she would. Ever £525 is a poor yield on a £124,000 house. So as things stand I will be looking for another tenant when the year’s contract is up. The Rowan family have also violated the tenancy agreement by having a dog in the property- not a good first impression to make. I’m glad that I have many property connections on LinkedIn who are fully aware of this so they will not repeat my mistakes.
Still I believe the house will at least be an OK investment in the long run, and my father did get his timing right by selling some Sainsbury’s shares partly to finance it.
I would like to say thank you to Stevie PUA at www.steviepua.com I’ve known Stevie for over twelve years now and I’ve never met anyone with a higher verbal or social intelligence than he has. Even if you’re not into seduction give his website a look because it’s full of great writing.
Also a massive thanks to Darren- he’s too cool for social media and doesn’t have a website so I can’t link him in here. What an amazing guy though, I think it’s surreal he even talks to me.
Big thanks to Chris Bailey of www.financialorbit.com When I first spoke to Chris this year after we’d both written on ShareProphets I hoped that I might get a couple of minutes of his time. What followed was an avalanche of advice- all good. Very surreal that someone who’s managed TWO BILLION POUNDS of money will actually take that time to give me financial advice. If I was in his position I probably wouldn’t! For sure check out his website if you’re into shares- he is like the model of what a pro share investor should be. Hopefully he will keep giving me advice in the future- I think every time I buy a share I will ask him if it’s a good idea first.
Thanks to Rupert Hargreaves www.apauperinthemidstofwealth.com Rupert is one of the best young share writers in the UK I’ve read. Sure you might have read him on Fool but he actually writes in lots of other places too. We don’t always agree but he’s worth a read for sure. I am going to give Rupert some free advice as he has been kind enough to give me good advice this year. Sometimes on Fool there are a few grammatical mistakes in the articles- not many but a couple. This is the kind of advice I was given when trying to get my first novel out. I sent it to a ‘chess writer’ and he was like... well there should have been a comma on page 13.
I said thanks.
Anyway keep an eye on young Rupert. I think he could go onto big things. We are not chatting atm but hopefully will in future!
I would like to say thanks to Tom Winnifirth at www.shareprophets.com. Tom is not always right but he was right about the valuation of a lot of High Yield shares in 2014 and into 2015 too. I was just of the mentality... well it’s a good yield and good PE... let’s buy to an extent. All that matters in shares is how much money you make- might be a good yield but if the price drops like a stone you’d be better in cash. Tom is actually my kind of writer- he says what he thinks and doesn’t really give a fuck what most other people think. I would like to write for him on ShareProphets again but hopefully while doing a full time job as well.
It was a waste of time writing for ADVFN this year- I think maybe I was like emotionally effected by being dumped by SP and so just wanted to write more. Now I only write if I really want to write something... or if I’m being fairly paid. Both is ideal combo. Articles all saved and will be republished.
***
This was only going to be a sentence in my original write up. Then I talked to the person and they said they didn’t want to be mentioned by name, so I’m not going to.
I am going to write more about it though.
I’m careful about the people who are my friends now. I’m lucky that I’ve got some elite winners as friends- and part of me being a friend to them is helping them with their goals. There’s only so much time I have, and I want to use it wisely for mutual fulfilment with people.
Anyway there’s a person I’ve known for four and a half years now who I met again this year. I never thought I’d see them again. Some other close friends have advised me not to spend any more time with this person- and I listen to their advice on these kinds of subjects a lot. I did speak to them again though- I was quite ‘hardcore’ with the words I used when speaking to them the first time but I always try and keep quality people in my life if I can.
Overall I would say the energy between us is better than before but I’d like to give this person some free advice. There’s been one time this year when I was a few minutes late for meeting a girl when I said I would- I phrased it like “I’ll be there around 11”... and turned up at 11.10. The girl was very annoyed with me! I mean actually I wasn’t even lying but she still gave me quite a hard time about it. I said sorry because I know the feeling’s not nice when you’ve agreed to meet someone and they’re not on time- the vibe actually was quite difficult for the night with that girl, but it got better.
Anyway this person who I spoke to again agreed to meetup with me twice- and didn’t.
Notice how I am not even referring to the gender here.
I’m old enough now to realize that people can act this way sometimes. I’m not stupid- I realize that everyone is doing what they think is best for themselves and that if someone wants to do something else sometimes they will, well, lie. That’s one word you could use, or change their minds.
I’m still chatting to this person but I feel I have to be very ‘detached from an outcome’ in the interaction. It’s a useful learning experience.
I would like to say thanks to all the girls who have been nice and friendly to me this year- quite a few have been. Here are some pics:
Saw her again later when she wasn’t in her work clothes and a vid was made about that- don’t have it to hand though.
Anyway at the moment I’d like to say I’m single and open for offers ;)
8.8 out of 10
Health and fitness... that’s been quite good this year. Still no alcohol drunk despite many people around my age in the UK being partly addicted to it. No drugs, cigs etc. More exercise has been done. 8 out of 10, needs to be even more next year, a walk every day.
Thursday, 24 December 2015
Comments on ShareProphets Tips!
"thing is that percentage figure doesn't take into account dividends
in terms of those two shares i think i have done ok this year
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bought glaxo at right time last time
bought more hsbc this year at 550
Mark Howitt
so when u take divis into account it's ok- i believe they'll go up in future"
On a more official note I would like to say A BIG THANK YOU to around 100,000 people who've read my writing on this site. I will write a bit more about this on my blog. Quite a few people have been asking me if I'll write for ShareProphets again... well that's up to Tom really. I would like to in future but know that I have a lot to learn- including 'listening to my elders and betters'. I remain a long term buy and hold share investor with a six figure share portfolio and every day is a learning and goal day.
Wednesday, 23 December 2015
Daily Goals
Thursday, 17 December 2015
Glaxo and HSBC
I never forget that about 100,000 people read my writing on @ShareProphets and hopefully there will be more share content to come!
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Mark Howitt @MarkHowitt 40s40 seconds ago
and @HSBC and @GSK will rise further in future I believe, including dividends.
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Mark Howitt @MarkHowitt 1m1 minute ago
My @ShareProphets are coming back strongly today... understand that I am a long term buy and hold investor...
Sunday, 13 December 2015
One Highfield Lane
1 Highfield Lane of HD5 0BA Huddersfield is up for sale. This is a blog telling you more about the owner of that house. 1 Highfield Lane constructed 3 Highfield Lane. This construction included an illegal wall and over one year of noise pollution. A skip was left on Highfield Lane, blowing rubbish into other properties. After the construction of 3 Highfield Lane, the owner of 1 Highfield Lane parked in another resident's driveway. So don't expect the owner of 1 Highfield Lane to have friendly relations with the rest of the Lane.
Friday, 11 December 2015
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