It seems that we often make life more difficult than it really is. People say that our current economic situation is the crisis of a lifetime. Its funny to think of it that way when you still see the city nightlife bustling and people wasting their money on luxury goods. Pessimism is like a disease, contagious and harmful. Its much easier to focus on the negative aspects in your life than to realize the glimpses of hope and possibility. Human nature seems drawn to the darker side of life. If news is any portrayal of the real world, then surely we are living in tumultuous times. Fortunately, that is not the case. There is much good in the world though at times we may not see it at the moment.

This past week, I engaged in several deep talks with close friends, simply chatting about life and all the things in-between. I find it very reassuring to hear other people’s challenges and struggles. It is not the misery of others which I find comfort in but rather being able to draw lessons from each person’s ordeal. Hearing the life crises of some of my friends make my own personal issues sound so trivial. I’ve noticed that I ride on emotional highs and lows from week to week, though the main aspects of my life are unchanged. Sometimes it’s the small things that make the big difference in your emotions. The lesson I’ve learned this week is to ride out the lows in your life. I personally like to relate life to finance. We invest our time in something hoping to receive returns of some sort. If what we get back is less than what we put in, we are disappointed because we might as well have tried something else or done nothing at all. In life, time and effort is our investment and we put it into people and ideals. In the stock market and life, there is nothing worse than loss of confidence. Loss of confidence can drive markets into a freefall plunge and fear can cause a person to act irrationally in their personal lives. A common strategy shared amongst financial advisors is that when the market plunges and reaches new bottoms, don’t sell out. If you lose faith in the market and sell your assets, you lose the chance of catching the upward swing and regaining all your lost value plus some. Historically, the stock market has always moved upward in the long haul. Just like in life, we should never give up hope just because we have reached new lows. If we lose faith in life, we may lose the ability to see the many opportunities that present themselves in the future.

A constant which will always be present in life is uncertainty. There will be the good times and there will be bad and there will be worse. We can only hang on for the ride and hope for the best. Looking back at my life, I remember good times and fond memories. I don’t believe it will be any different when I look back during my last days. Life is hard but life is also good and as long as we believe that, things are not really as bad as they seem. 

Socal 7-17-2008 to 7-20-2008

What oh what has Ka$h money Kam been up to? Allow me to show you a sneak peak of the incredible adventures of James Kam. Lets start off with my most recent getaway trip to.......SOCAL but more specifically Westwood in LA. To give a quick summary of the trip, I periodically go to Socal to visit Victor whom was my maddog drinking buddy in davis. Victor now claims to be in dental school at UCLA but he's actually running a brothel out of his condo. My partner in crime on this trip was Christina or better known as CDOU. We flew out thursday night to this magical and mysterious land called Westwood in search of super duper hyphy and to have an adventure that would engrave itself in history as one of the greatest drinking escapades known to mankind.

We flew in around 9pm and went to victors palace of love around 10pm and got straight to business. There was no foreplay involved. We all knew what we wanted and we were ready to get down to it. We started off at a sushi restuarant that was about to close in 30 min so we mass ordered dinner and sake and beer.

Victor's fellow dental school colleague Chris joined us in our quest for adventure we allowed it only because we thought we could use help carrying either me or christina back to the condo at the end of the night. Here is a picture of him checking victor out while victor is giving a peace sign and checking me out.

A day in the life of James Kam

It has been said that a person can be defined by what they do. Working is what i often find myself doing and The world of institutional investments demands long hours, precise calculations and lots of coffee. its kinda like an episode from The Office except there is no Dwight or Michael to entertain us.

So today's topic will be about the "benchmark." The general concept of investments is  that you give up something  in hopes of something greater back in the future. So for every invesment you make, you compare the returns of what you choose to a benchmark, which is the expected rate of return. There are different kinds of benchmarks depending on the type of investment you make and the conditions happening around you. The rule of thumb is, the more you put in, the more you generally have to gain. on the flip side, you could also risk losing a lot if you choose to be too agressive and things turn out for the worse. Say you are looking to date this new person, the time and effort you give is your investment and the benchmark is what you expect to get in return for your decision to pick this person. In the business world, it is very difficult to find an investment that consistently beats the benchmark it is compared to. It takes a great amount of time and effort to locate something that will consistently give you back more than what you expect.

What i have seen is that the common strategy is to have a good number of safer designations to allocate yourself in and a few aggressive choices in the small hopes that you will find an all star choice to heavily commit yourself to. The safer, less riskier investments are so in the event that your preferred returns fail to meet expectations, you can still have something to fall back on. Imagine you gave up your friends for your bf/gf and then you guys break up and now you have no one to lean on, midlife crisis time. People tend to not like risk too much though they will take it in hopes of finding that perfect investment. Wall Street rule of thumb states that younger individuals should be more aggressive. I personally think friends are a great example of how a good investment can turn out. There have been times when I want to turn to my college roomates and say, "thank you for being a good friend. Our friendship has paid great dividends throughout the time that i have decided to allocate my time resource with you."

More often than not, most investments will not beat their benchmark. Does this mean that it is hopeless to explore and search for something greater than what appears to the eye? deinfately not. Keep expectations high and your hopes higher. All you need is that one pick to work out and give you a consistent exceeded rate of return for as long as you decide to stay with it.

 For those of you who do not know what i do, what i have just described sums up a good portion of what I deal with everyday. Analyze the choices you have, differentiate what you think and perhaps more important what you feel is a good expectation for you and decide. Its more than just work, its a way of life. What is your benchmark?

REJOICE MY FAITHFUL XANGA READERS, I HAVE RETURNED! due to popular demand, i have brought back my xanga to its former glory.

 even though it has only been a year since graduation, i feel as if i have live a lifetime since. after college, i got a job at state street and work has been keeping me busy and challanged. working in the investments industry can often mean long hours, stressful days and numerous daily deadlines but I have found the challanges of work to add meaning and purpose to life. work days more than 10 hours usually require a few extra cups of coffee but fortunately, a study claims drinking coffee helps long term memory retention.  it will be a long and hard climb up the corporate ladder but at the moment, i am glad for the opportunity to intelectually challange myself and finally be able to afford more than coors light to get drunk on.

For some people, the goal in life is strike it filthy rich. for others, it may be to have power or influence. and then there are some guys just want to get laid and they will be happy. and then there are those like me, who are wandering lost souls, unsure of life's purpose. I use to think that i would find purpose and fulfillment through work. though i do believe a successful career will give great satisfaction and fullfilment, i do not believe anymore that it will provide me with that sense of purpose in life that will drive me forward to new heights. For now, i will go with the flow of life and hope that time will help me realize what it is that I am searching for.

I had an interesting conversatoin with a friend the other day about hopeless romantics. it seems that as we grow up, reality smacks us in the head and tells us that life doesnt always end up like those disney movies. Life can be hard but life can also be very good. I feel that at times, we are so overwhelmed by our current trials and tribulations that we adjust our goals so as to not disappoint ourselves. I have many uncertainties and doubts about many things but I have no doubt that life will be everything that I have hoped it to be. I have always believed that as a kid and i believe it now. hang in there my friends, do not settle. Just look at ross and monica in friends, things worked out for them in the long run and things will work out for us as well.

even though its been a year since my last xanga posting, i am finding my mind drawing blanks. it is 2 in the morning and sleep is noq required. until my next xanga entry, happy new years everyone and dont pass out on the sidewalk.

Through the looking glass.......a self evaluation

Throughout the years, there is no goal I have strived harder for than self development. By seeing the flaws and strengths in others, I have seen the impact that great or pessimistic personas can have. I believe that more important than what we do is the why behind the action. If we can be honest with ourselves and have a genuine motive in our actions, we will have stronger conviction in our cause. I have always wondered the motives behind my own life and what will hopefully propel myself into a more refined state of adulthood. Here is what has brought me here so far.

Whether i would like to admit to it or not, I am extremely stubborn. There is this object on my desk, it hands in plain view to remind myself of a past incident that I will hold as motivation. No one likes to admit to being normal or subpar. This is the case when I once had a conversation with a friend about our futures and what may await us. In midst of our conversation, tensions grew and inner feelings emerged and my friend told me to not expect an above average future because I live an average present and past and all I have ever been is average. I will never forget that night. The stubborness however is not that I dont beileve my friend. In all realism, my friend was right. T that time in my life which was not too long ago might I add, I had little true motiation and was too overconfident in my abilities or rather lack of abilities. My stubborness comes into play as i refuse to believe the obvious and true. I will always look back to that day as the day that woke me up from my unproductive slumber called college and inspired me to prepare myself for the working world.

If not anything else, I have faith in life. If i am to look at myself as what i was given and what i am normally capable of, then there is little future to look forward to. However, i believe that it is my faith if not anything else that will set myself apart from others. I believe in our abilities to push ourselves beyond what we are capable of.  I believe that with enough faith and resolve, we can make a change in our lives despite what others say. I believe in this one time existance we have called life and in the possibilities it gives us. My faith is strong and I truly beileve. I understand there are certain feats that we can never accomplish. I understand that certani circumstances that we may have limit our potential. However, with all the obstacles and problems that I have faced in life, I have always faced them in an optimistic light. There is a lesson to be learned at every corner of life. If we were to live out our lives with only what we really have, life would be no more than a story book to be read. I perfer to believe there is that extra extraneous factor in life.

Sometimes i question whether my motivations in life are genuine or whether they are maskings of my own insecurity and doubt. To this very day, I still do not know fully understand my capabilities or the intentions behind them, but sometimes you do not need all the answers, just a little faith.