MCWB Club
Image by Cool Text: Logo and Button Generator – Create Your Own Logo
MCWS (Middle Class Wealth Solutions) set up the Middle Class Wealth Builder (MCWB) Club with a sole focus on having middle class folks interdependently work together at tackling middle class wealth building challenges. You can join here.
The concept of interdependence is what has helped the wealthy few to control the helpless majority (the poor and middle class) in spite of their minority (in numbers, not influence or power) status.
They have their clubs as well (check out some here) where they gather to exchange information, map out strategies, share tips on money making opportunities or make plans to influence government (tax and spending) policies – all these activities have one common thread, enhancing and protecting the privileges of the wealthy few. Sadly, most of these privileges exist (and continue to expand) at the expense of everyone else – the first thing middle class folks (MCF) have to realize is that if they (MCF) will not actively work together to further their self interests, the wealthy few are constantly working together to undermine those (MCF) interests.
The MCWB Club is a platform, facilitated by MCWS, for middle class folks (MCFs) from all over the world to collaborate and pool resources (financial and non-financial) for the sole purpose of advancing middle class interests. What do we mean?
- MCFs should not be limited to only bank savings, mutual funds and DIY (do-it-yourself) investing in publicly traded instruments (stocks, bonds and so on). Sometimes, an investment in a private company could be more desirable and the cash flow more predictable – the MCWB Club would provide a platform for MCFs to invest together in private companies.
- When leveraged buyout private equity funds owned by the wealthy few buy up private companies (or even public companies which are sometimes converted to private after takeover), the resulting restructuring more often than not results in the loss of many middle class jobs. If MCFs were to buy the same company, those jobs could be saved with a more than adequate (compared to erratic mutual fund returns or below inflation bank deposits) return to the (MCFs) owners. In other words, if MCFs don’t want to remain helpless and at the mercy of the wealthy few with respect to company acquisitions, (including mergers and takeovers), they (MCFs) need to come together and become the acquirers – being in the driver’s seat, they can implement middle class friendly policies that more fairly distribute wealth between the providers of capital and labour.
- MCFs are expected to buy many finished products (goods and services) at the back end, almost never at the front end. For example, moneyed folks put together a real estate development (single family or multifamily); there are risks involved, but the profits (when properly structured) justify the risk. Instead of MCFs only being the buyers of the finished houses or units, why can’t MCFs be the ones fronting the money for the project as well (and reaping the profits and/or losses)? MCFs should have a choice, as to whether they want to deploy some of their funds in these (supposedly) higher risk projects – in any case, the risks involved in mutual funds are not necessarily lower, but the returns (mutual funds) do not compensate for those risks.
The MCWB Club is not a mutual fund or unit trust – we are not investment managers. What we do is to research and package various viable projects for our members’ review and participation. Part of the packaging process involves the recruitment of a top notch management team for execution (club members will have the full profiles of the management team in terms of prior work experience and track record – in certain circumstances, especially where some of planned managers are still currently employed elsewhere, their names may not be made available until after the deal is closed/finalized to protect their existing jobs) – no projects will be brought to members without a credible management team backed up with a track record. Our projects will be focused on – protecting your principal, paying you an above average periodic (monthly, quarterly, annually) return that is predictable, returning your principal back to you as soon as possible in the most tax-advantaged manner available while retaining your proportional interest in the project (if it is a going concern as opposed to say, a real estate development where your money comes back to you with profits as soon as the finished houses/units are sold) – the retained proportional interest will allow you continue to participate in ongoing cash flow from the project (hopefully for life and beyond for your heirs/estate). ALL OUR PROJECTS WILL HAVE CASH FLOW AS TOP PRIORITY – you can hardly go wrong by following the cash, capital gains is trickier and could sometimes just be a dream or mirage.
OVERSIGHT (i.e. by directors, trustees or whoever is required) FOR ALL PROJECTS WILL BE PROVIDED MAINLY BY CLUB MEMBERS – contrast this with the status quo in the business world (a recent report in the US suggested that 1,730 board members of the largest 1,000 corporations [in the US] sat on the boards of 4 or more other corporations including half of Coca-Cola’s 14-person board – we have not been able to verify these numbers but know that we see the same names circulating among different companies and NONE OF THEM IS FROM THE MIDDLE CLASS, the picture is the same all over the world [a privileged few control the levers and not to look out for middle class folks]).
One basic constraint for the middle class is limited resources – your USD100 (or 1,000 or even 10,000 for that matter) leaves you with very limited choices. But when USD100 is pooled together by 100,000 MCFs (thanks to the Internet as well as advances in global payment solutions – Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Paypal), a new world of opportunities is opened up. Expert legal advice that would cost USD100,000 would now cost each of the 100,000 MCFs only USD1 per head but is as powerful as the same advice being offered one of the wealthy few.
In case you are wondering how this is different from bank savings, mutual funds and other instruments set up by the wealthy few to help (impoverish) the middle class, remember that all those instruments are structured to benefit everyone else more than the one (MCF) whose capital is at risk. The proof of how toxic these instruments are to wealth building is that well informed (sophisticated) folks from the wealthy few use them very sparingly, if ever.
There are a couple of articles (here, and here, and there, to mention a few) on the perils of mutual funds – this is not to say all funds are bad (there are a few good ones) but even the good ones suffer from fundamental disadvantages of their structure – we will explore this further in our blog.