🇺🇸America’s Infrastructure May Be Poor But Its Human Capital Is Exquisite

By no surprise, the U.S. is known to be the prime destination to pursue the American Dream. Hence the name.

With its innovative hub of Silicon Valley, diverse communities, elite institutions, an abundance of opportunities, access to capital, cheap land, NFL, creators and influencers, and welcoming spirit, Americans’ human capital deserves more credit than it receives.

America’s systems to cities are known to be expensive, unfair, unethical, and convoluted. There’s no doubt that the (affluent, ultra-elite) who built these systems, intended on wanting them to work best for themselves.

Only in the U.S. are billionaires able to get away with paying fewer taxes than the bottom 99% due to their fortunes of hiring, delegating, and positioning advisors, lawyers, managers to bypass systems that seem too expensive and unfair for their lofty fortunes. 

It is indeed that complexity is the new tax on the poor. The IRS loses roughly $200 billion a year due to tax avoidance.

With the $2 trillion dollar Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal finally passed by lawmakers in Congress in November, it is finally time to see America’s old-age infrastructure of eroding bridges, tunnels, potholes, and roadways repaired ASAP. Alongside this, power grids, a crackdown on cyber-attacks and strategies on extreme weather, an expanded network of EV charging stations, cleaner water with less lead, and efforts in mitigating greenhouse gasses and fossil fuels for a zero-emission future will be established.

Hear this, almost 89% of American adults have a driver’s license. This is a little less than the total number of smartphones used in the country at 300 million and compared to fast food restaurants which stand at roughly ~204,555 in the U.S, these metrics can pretty much sum up America.

Although the grass always looks greener on the other side and there are changes that need to be made everywhere, anytime, all the time, even in the most advanced and developed market in the world, America has always been seen to have one truly irreplaceable remarkable asset: its citizens and human capital.

Aboard

If you are fortunate to travel overseas to America, you are most likely considered pretty well-off financially from the start. Not always, but more often than not, it’s the case. America isn’t cheap. At this point, you are probably looking to catapult to true financial success by owning a business, teaching at a prestigious university, managing multiple rental properties or a kiosk in NYC, building your brand, working at a strong brand, and possibly acquire more freedom, financial freedom.

If you migrate by foot over borders, you have lower expectations and are just looking for anything better. America has incredible options because of its relentless and dedicated human capital fueling it from abroad.

As a child of immigrants whose grandparents fled Poland during the Soviet invasion, I frequently converse with several immigrants and descendants of immigrants in the heart of NYC, the world’s melting pot. I do this to better understand their eagerness to come to this wild nation.

All of them have told me in some shape or form they came here to the U.S. to be noticed, leverage their connections, and have an easier time later on living on their own terms. They want to see the richness of life not just be comfortable. It’s rare to hear that from those who’ve stayed in the same place all their life. The immigrants I spoke to did not come from rags and make it to riches. They mentioned they were earning a top ~30% U.S. income in Europe and came here to see MORE of their potential.

Certainly, there are a plethora of (basic, obvious, straightforward) reasons outside of earning a top 10% income or above to flee to the U.S. yet business is top of mind for a great handful.

If you are a foreign buyer looking to buy land here on the coasts or in the Sunbelt states, you know U.S. land is one of the cheapest in the world. They want to capitalize on the most valuable asset of all of real estate, the land not the building.

As a lifelong New Yorker, it strikes me to see how many foreign buyers and immigrant families migrate here per year. The majority of luxury real estate is unaffordable for Americans and empty with vacant residencies owned by foreigners who park their money here away from soverign government intervention and oversight. No matter what the world hears regarding the political turmoil, covid rates, wealth, gender, racial, pay inequality gap, and not to forget exorbitant prices and taxes, the largest ongoing liability of our lives, nothing seems to compare to the U.S. It is all based on the people. There is massive hope and a unique perspective built into our systems that is incredible to observe.

Curious, if you are a citizen and reside in the U.S., what are your goals here? Do you believe they can only be achieved here and the inspiring immigrants make up for all the chaos? After witnessing the government and citizens’ handling of the virus and billionaires’ treatment of the tax laws, are you still eager to build a fulfilling life for yourself and capitalize on what you got?

Although median U.S. home prices have risen by 18%, people are surprisingly still flocking to big cities such as L.A. and NYC to take advantage of what no other place offers: incredible human potential and capital.

#STAY

Monetizing and building your brand, reputation, community, and network in the U.S. is certainly not an easy breezy task. If you want to build something of your own, there’s no excuse to work for as long as it takes. Sadly, most people don’t have that time becuase they don’t make the time. Immigrants have the opposite mentality. They know what hard work entails and they choose to enjoy it. After all, they made the treacherous and difficult decision to move here after all.

Most of us live digital lives and want to be scouted ASAP but every market seems to be saturated, addicting, and cause massive comparison issues leading future creators to be uninspired, burnout, and quit.

Majority of creators quit within a few weeks after posting content. Over 80% of podcasters never get through the 2nd episode!

How do you expect to win if you always quit?

My immigrant neighbor who owns 3 franchises once said to me, “if you never quit, you will never lose.” He is in constant competition against himself, no one else. Perspective is key. This is the secret sauce to brilliant human capital.

I believe through unwavering dedication and commitment, anything, seriously, is possible. No special talent or IQ, GPA necessary. These are life skills, not book smarts. Commitment will eventually bring something.

With over 30% which equates to ~ 60 million U.S. workers self-employed following the gig economy path, it’s not uncommon to be able to provide yourself a living without stepping outside of your house and earn ‘too good to be true’ kind of earnings since each viewer, subscriber, and commentator is at least 10x more valuable here in the U.S.

This is due to a few things:
-Buying power
-Connections + voice
-Opportunity
-‘Viralness’
-Cheap capital + excess liquidity
-Luck (chance) + good timing
-Spontaneity + curiosity

The U.S. has this engrained opportunity built into it. If you don’t bother to chase it, you won’t find yourself anywhere new, but if you do, it can propel you greater than the tailwinds the S&P 500 had this year with a ~28% return plus dividends. But you must work for it. It won’t come easy. In fact, it may be harder to chase if too reliant on being here already.

Americans are known to be hard workers — in a good and bad way. They have the least amount of days off, NO subsidized health care/insurance, disability insurance, free education, guaranteed childcare tax, or unemployment stimulus for those who don’t want to jump into employment and the job market right away. Immigrants don’t come here for the free perks. They come here to work even more and be rewarded in time.

With a stubborn labor shortage, higher wages, and healthy savings due to a rapid recovery, more than ever employees have more freedom over their choices and that has translated into being given flexibility over their schedule. They focus on working smarter not harder and on output not where or how it’s done as much anymore. Immigrants have helped reaffirm this message and way of life. It is not only vital for health and longevity but happiness and overall wellbeing. Something Americans need a boost in.

America is still slow on adopting this 4-hour Tim Ferriss lifestyle but sooner or later we will realize if not already that burnout, mental illness, chronic pain, fatigue, suicidal thoughts, depression, diabetes, can all be prevented by prioritizing the investment in oneself. Since work takes up more than half of our lives and controls how comfortable the rest of it is, Americans should prioritize their precious time first which starts with preparing for the worst, hoping for the best. This propels our potential and capital to make sure we stay afloat.

The Great Realignment And Detour

Despite a correction of ~35% from Feb to March 2020, the markets abruptly sprang back and continued their charge since 2009. I’ve always been bullish on U.S. equities. Public equities have historically been the most consistent asset class in beating inflation.

Although the markets look less bright on the horizon this year with an estimated 3–4 Fed rate hikes of ~.25% with their hawkish measures hurting the borrowing power of tech, on the other hand, financials, fixed-income, alternatives such as art to crypto real estate multi-family properties, energy (highest performing sector in 2021 ~48%), healthcare, and digital assets related to Web 3.0 will benefit the most from higher interest rates and yields. Although Americans aren’t savvy with capital preservation in having at least 5–15% of their net worth in liquid infants and hard cash that is equivalent to 6–12 months of living expenses in case of an emergency, they should always be prepared since we never know when disaster strikes.

Capital preservation will become more attractive as higher yields and bond prices slump. During times of crisis such as during a medical emergency or paying for high-ticket items such as college, retirement, or starting a business are situations when holding extra more cash than usual is prudent. An immigrant probably knows best or else you must draw down principal or sell your investments when you cannot afford to which hurts more than anything.

Liquid savings such as U.S. savings bonds, treasuries with various durations, money-market funds, and CDs along with hard cash is ideal. As immigrants can attest to, we learn the most during the toughest moments, and with sky-high inflation and negative real interest rates, although fixed-income and treasuries are the least attractive currently, you may want to look closer as the year unfolds with rising yields and inflation cooling. Sadly the national savings rate has dipped down to ~5% to pre-pandemic levels.

Americans are not only TOO resilient in their spending habits, but they tend to be careless with their savings, investing, and due diligence within their financial habits. Luckily, they are living in a period when the job market is working for them and they are able to negotiate higher pay, bonuses, longer PTO, and or a hybrid remote option that best fits their needs.

This flexibility translates to increased potential for human capital in the states and is the continuing reason why people flock here. There’s an abundance of innovative and expansive opportunities in every market you just have to be willing to go after them just like an immigrant. Through this, Americans’ time, money, eyeballs, and data (a.k.a the new oil) become expensive.

Although America’s land may be one of the cheapest in all of the world, their human capital isn’t. It is recommended to have at least a top 10% income with a family of 2, or a top 20% living with a partner to survive in the metropolitan coastal cities of NYC, San Franciso, Los Angeles, or Miami.

24/7 cities are coming back. Although real estate in these cities is roughly 7–9 months behind the rest of the country such as the south and midwest that had a rush of city dwellers moving there at the peak of the pandemic and hasn’t slowed down, NYC sold more homes in 3Q2021 than in the last 30 or so years! Rents are rising, WeWorks are filling up slowly but surely, and staffing shortages are leading to hiring sprees.

If you’re trying to find work here, expect to be paid better than before and work harder than you’ve worked to compete. Readers, have you found America to be a competitive place? With 47+ million immigrants in the U.S. this represents roughly 13% of the population here. Immigrants set high standards for the rest of the country and the Great Realignment within our careers has to lead the propensity to earn passive income sources, work for thyself, build a cash cushion, own real estate, borrow responsibility, and invest, invest, invest!

Immigrants are savvy and privy in how they’ve built their fortunes. They are open, honest, and get to the basics. Surprisingly, those that have founded and managed juggernauts in Silicon Valley to Wall Street have taught Americans the most profound lessons about grit and resilience since immigrants are booming in the startup space as venture debt and capital is freely available thanks to the Fed’s punchbowl. Roughly 11% or 56 Fortune 500 CEOS are immigrants. They migrated from 28 different countries. Let’s not forget all the special small businesses that aren’t public as well. Sometimes public companies tend to be overrated, especially with their lofty estimates, forecasts, and valuations that have a hard time proving themselves.

In 2019, immigrants created 3.2 million jobs in the U.S. and entrepreneurship is not only a more common and preferable way of life for them, it is the main reason they flourish here. Their personality is strong enough to fit into an industry notorious for its failure rates. This is signaling to Americans about the need to be more resilient and dedicated which includes failing, experimenting, and having patience beyond just attaining a top education degree or owning a prestigious title. This stamina has translated into a record year in 2021 for SPACs and IPOs. Immigrants have propelled Americans’ human capital by 110% since they put in 110% to get and stay here.

Although immigrants only make up 13% of the U.S. population, they account for 18% of small business owners. The only way to truly be free anywhere, especially in America is to work for yourself in a tax-advantageous way through owning something intellectual or appreciable such as a patent, managing a rental or YouTubing full-time. Americans have learned more from immigrants than any classroom can teach them. They aren’t reliant on anyone except themselves and don’t get too complacent anywhere. They’ve helped boost and keep America in the top seat for exquisite human capital. Let’s keep growing and creating. Everyone is worth something and has potential. Embody an immigrant’s spirit to let life be rich.