Onwuzuligbo III

The Kasinator of the FR, KFR 😊

[Andrej Karpathy @karpathy]

Agency > Intelligence

I had this intuitively wrong for decades, I think due to a pervasive cultural veneration of intelligence, various entertainment/media, obsession with IQ etc. Agency is significantly more powerful and significantly more scarce. Are you hiring for agency? Are we educating for agency? Are you acting as if you had 10X agency?

Grok explanation is ~close:

“Agency, as a personality trait, refers to an individual's capacity to take initiative, make decisions, and exert control over their actions and environment. It’s about being proactive rather than reactive—someone with high agency doesn’t just let life happen to them; they shape it. Think of it as a blend of self-efficacy, determination, and a sense of ownership over one’s path.

People with strong agency tend to set goals and pursue them with confidence, even in the face of obstacles. They’re the type to say, “I’ll figure it out,” and then actually do it. On the flip side, someone low in agency might feel more like a passenger in their own life, waiting for external forces—like luck, other people, or circumstances—to dictate what happens next.

It’s not quite the same as assertiveness or ambition, though it can overlap. Agency is quieter, more internal—it’s the belief that you *can* act, paired with the will to follow through. Psychologists often tie it to concepts like locus of control: high-agency folks lean toward an internal locus, feeling they steer their fate, while low-agency folks might lean external, seeing life as something that happens *to* them.”

[Onwuzuligbo III @The_Kasinator]

@Hon_Danjo Has everything but no parks, it's not life we are living in 9ja

[Harjit Singh Gill @hostharjitgill]

Hard-working Canadians are working 6 days a week, taking second jobs, struggling to keep their homes, facing long hospital wait times, and paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to send their children abroad for education because spaces in Canada are limited.
Now we're told taxpayers should help developers who don't want to sell at a loss.
If families, homeowners and small businesses must live with market risk, why should developers be treated differently?
What is the plan for Canadians? #cdnpoli #HousingCrisis

[Mayowa A. Balogun @Sweeegu]

Doesn’t matter what Rochas Okorocha claimed. Peter Obi was on the board of now publicly traded companies in his 30s.

We can verify that. We can verify that the reason he got on the bank’s board is at least partly because of his relationship with the bank as a prominent trader.

We know he had a now popular trading company (revealed by the pandora papers) that was registered in 1988 (with an RC number that can be checked).

When he did the interview that’s now gone viral where he talked about his Amex membership and his business overdrafts on arise in response to the Pandora Papers, he brought documents in which he showed the hosts to verify well the claims he made.

What a lot of you guys have done is to introduce ambiguity that’s neither here nor there.

He has made very specific claims and has made them with consistency, if you want to debunk them, lay out your case with similar specificity and at least say what you believe directly with your chest. No need for ambiguity

[Eche Emole 🅰️🌶 @Echecrates]

I'm still cracking up about the Peter Obi video.
Do you know how fed up he had to be? Peter Obi doesn't even like to boast.

He said, "What can I do to show u lil niggas that the money was long before politics?"

First 1000 founding members of AMEX, only two niggas allowed. Peter Obi and Michael Jackson 😂😂

[CooperBaggs 💰🍞 @edgaralandough]

ChatGPT has a hidden mode called Infinite Personal Tutor. It teaches you any skill from zero in 4 hours.
Here are 6 prompts:

[Sir J (J9) @SirJarus]

How did their Nigerians fans come up with all these banter names for Messi and Ronaldo?

- Chibuzor
- Wasiu
- Ogunmepon

Even as an active football enthusiast, I don't know the origin of any of these names.

The interesting thing is, almost all countries have such local banter names for them.

I saw someone from UK Twitter call one of them Homelando today.

[Sam Stoffel @sam_stoffel]

I come back to this speech every once in a while:

“in the 1,526 singles matches I played in my career, I won almost 80% of those matches

… what percentage of points do you think I won in those matches?

only 54%.”

[Onwuzuligbo III @The_Kasinator]

@AskMichaelTaiwo Why are less people paying taxes?

[Finance with Zaram @ChizaramNelo]

Solution given by @RogerWPrice :
1. Max your TFSA and have it invested in good growth stocks.
2. Don't contribute to RRSP unless income is 150K Plus.
3. When income is 150K+ make a large contribution to your RRSP using the gains from your TFSA. Ensure you withdraw the TSFA $$ before Dec 31st.
4. You'll have a large tax return use the return money to put back into your TSFA.
Doing this will return 30-50% of your taxes.
Rinse and repeat until both TFSA and RRSP are maxed.

What do you guys think?

[Osaretin Victor Asemota @asemota]

I used to laugh at my wife for always using https://t.co/R81jSR88zg and not using all my other travel shortcuts to get better Avis car rental and hotel rates through British Airways, but not anymore. They gave the best rates this time. Size matters. They are BIGGER than the hotels, airlines, and rental companies now.

[Joe Lampton @joelampton_]

One of the rarest and most lethal skills a person can master is REFUSING TO DIE

As you grow in age you’ll see how everyone dies around you

The “gangster” you knew in high school dies and becomes a barber

The trust fund kid dies, unable to 10x his dads networth, lapped by random people he never knew existed back in the day

The tall pretty boy that girls were naturally drawn to dies and becomes mortal, cucked by some bitch

The guy who was cool, a threat when he was 20 dies and becomes some worm at 30 - couldn’t sustain the same energy for decades

Most people “die” as they age and face real problems. The key is to remain retarded forever and to refuse to die - no matter what happens.

Winning long term depends on your ability to stubbornly retain childlike traits like foolish optimism, playfulness, relentless risk-taking and refusal to become jaded or “realistic” in a defeatist sense.

Namaste.

[Sir J (J9) @SirJarus]

One of my biggest financial miscalculations in my construction business happened in 2024/25.

Our first project on the mainland.

We wanted to buy a land. I gave the task of sourcing for the land to my 002.

We finally got one in Ketu.

One plot (almost 700 sqm). In a developed area. Tarred street. Sandwiched by already built houses. Land was overgrown with tall grasses but part of it visible from the road.

I visited it once myself on my way from the airport. I quickly stopped at Ketu to check the land.

I was ok with it.

Prior to that, all the 6 projects we had done were in Ajah (Island). All one-storey buildings. 4-5 units of terraces.

I had always believed lsland lands were "softer" and mainland lands "harder". All the places I had been to on the mainland had the type of soil I see outside Lagos - hard. Unlike Island that had sands.

So while making mental decision to buy that land, I had assumed the land was going to be my idea of typical mainland land - hard.

Different land (soil) type/density requires different foundation types.

All the 6 projects we did in Ajah before then, we did raft foundation. Raft foundation is mid-way between strip foundation (for naturally strong lands ) and pile foundation (for soft lands). Pile is the most expensive, followed by raft, then strip. In short, the "softer" the soil, the more expensive foundation is (which is logical).

I had assumed the Ketu land we wanted to buy would be stronger than the Ajah lands, so the worst case foundation-type scenario would be raft, the same foundation type we use for similar project size in Ajah.

To be 100% sure, I called one of our technical consultants to confirm raft foundation would work on that land. He confirmed knowing the land and the area well and gave a "yes".

All these happened within a week.

Based on this, we went ahead and paid for the land.

I also a mental calculation of what the project would cost based on my experience doing 6 of similar projects on the Island.

Then, work was about to start. We did land clearing and realized the land was swampy!

Totally different from my idea of mainland land in a built-up area.

We did soil test and the result showed us we needed to do pile foundation of 18 meter depth with 100 pile points. In layman terms, we needed to bury well-formed steel roll into 100 points on the land, with each roll buried 18 meter deep, as foundation for the structure. To build just one-storey building. That is what you typically need to "hold" like four-storey building in an area with stronger land.

That single realization cost us almost N100m more in foundation cost of that small project (5-unit terrace). Way more materials (steel, concrete, etc and special engineering contractor for piling work who comes with equipment)

Image 1 below is Internet explanation of piling process and image 2 shows some foundation types I mentioned.

[hunter @hxxntrr]

Elon Musk hasn't sold a Tesla share in years and lives off $1 billion in personal loans

His Tesla stock keeps appreciating
The loans charge him 2-3% interest
The IRS never sees a single dollar of capital gains tax

This is exactly how the wealthiest people in America accumulate wealth without paying taxes and it's available to anyone with $100K+ in assets

The strategy is called "borrow against appreciated assets" or sometimes "buy borrow die." It's the single most powerful tax-minimization strategy used by ultra-wealthy individuals in America

Mechanics:

When you SELL an asset that has appreciated, you owe capital gains tax. Federal long-term capital gains rates: 0%, 15%, or 20% depending on income. Plus state capital gains in most states (CA: 13.3%; NY: 8.82%). Plus net investment income tax of 3.8% for higher earners (IRC Section 1411)

For someone like Elon Musk selling $1B in Tesla stock, the total tax bill would be approximately:

Federal capital gains at 20%: $200M
Net investment income tax at 3.8%: $38M
Texas state tax: $0 (Texas has no state income tax, this is why Elon moved there)

Total tax bill on selling $1B: $238M

When you BORROW against appreciated assets, you owe ZERO tax. Loan proceeds are not income under IRC Section 61. They never appear on your tax return. They never trigger a tax event

For Elon to access $1B in cash for spending purposes, the math is:

Sell $1B in Tesla stock: $762M in net proceeds after tax
OR
Borrow $1B against $1B in Tesla collateral at 2-3% interest: $1B in net proceeds tax-free

Selling costs him $238M in taxes
Borrowing costs him $20-30M/year in interest (or roughly $200-300M over a decade if held that long)

But the borrowing strategy has additional benefits:

Tesla stock continues to appreciate. Over 10 years, $1B in Tesla stock has historically appreciated to multiples of that. Selling locks in the gain at today's value. Borrowing keeps the upside

The interest paid on the loan is potentially tax-deductible if structured as an investment loan (IRC Section 163(d)). Effective after-tax cost can be reduced to 1-2%

The loan never has to be repaid during his lifetime. He can refinance it indefinitely. When he dies, his heirs inherit the stock at a "stepped-up basis" (IRC Section 1014). The accumulated capital gains die with him. The heirs sell the stock at the stepped-up basis, pay off the loan, and keep the entire upside tax-free

The wealth transfers from Elon to his heirs entirely tax-free if structured correctly. Estate tax is a separate question but is largely avoidable through proper trust structures

The ultra-wealthy version of this strategy:

Borrow against appreciated stock
Use the loan proceeds for consumption (homes, cars, art, business operations)
Never sell the underlying stock
Refinance the loan at maturity to extract more cash if the underlying has appreciated
Pass everything to heirs at death with stepped-up basis
Heirs sell with $0 in accumulated capital gains tax owed

This strategy is sometimes called "buy, borrow, die" by tax planners. It's the foundation of how billionaire wealth perpetuates across generations without significant taxation

Available products for this strategy:

Pledged Asset Line (Schwab): borrow up to 50-70% of portfolio value at SOFR + 1-2%
Securities Backed Line of Credit (Morgan Stanley, Goldman): similar terms, $1M+ minimum
Custom Lending Solutions (private banking): for $10M+ portfolios, rates can drop to 1-2%

The accessibility tier:

If you have $100K+ in investment assets at Schwab/Fidelity/Vanguard, you can open a Pledged Asset Line. Typical terms: borrow up to 50% of your portfolio value at SOFR + 1.5-3% (current rates roughly 6-8% all-in). No fixed monthly principal payments. Interest only or pay nothing as long as the loan stays below the maintenance threshold

For someone with $200K in stocks/ETFs:
Borrow $100K at 6.5%
Use the $100K for any purpose (real estate down payment, business operations, etc.)
Annual interest cost: $6,500
Tax savings vs selling stocks: roughly $20,000-$30,000 in deferred capital gains
Net benefit: $13,500-$23,500/year in tax savings during the borrowing period

For someone with $1M in stocks/ETFs:
Borrow $500K at 6.5%
Use the $500K for real estate purchases, business equity, etc
Annual interest cost: $32,500
Tax savings vs selling stocks: roughly $100,000-$150,000 in deferred capital gains
Net benefit: $67,500-$117,500/year

Comparison to the alternative:

If you sell $500K in long-term appreciated stock to access cash:
Federal capital gains at 15%: $75,000 owed
State capital gains (varies): $20,000-$40,000 owed
Net cash to you: $385,000-$405,000

If you borrow $500K against the same stock:
Net cash to you: $500,000
Tax owed: $0
Annual interest cost: $32,500

Even paying $32,500/year in interest, you're $90K-$110K ahead in year 1 and the gap grows because your stock keeps appreciating while you hold it

The compounding effect over 20 years:

Person A sells $100K of Tesla stock at 15% capital gains, takes $85K. Spends it
Person B borrows $100K against $100K of Tesla stock, takes $100K, spends it. Stock keeps growing at historical rate (let's say 20%/yr conservatively)

20 years later:
Person A: stock is gone. Whatever they bought with $85K is whatever it is
Person B: still owns the original $100K in Tesla, now worth $3.8M. Refinanced the loan multiple times. Currently owes maybe $200K against $3.8M in collateral. Net wealth on this position: $3.6M

Same starting position. Different decision. $3.5M+ difference in 20 years

Important caveats:

The strategy works only when underlying asset is appreciating
Margin call risk if asset value drops below maintenance threshold
Interest costs accumulate over time and eventually reduce the net benefit if rates rise enough
Some borrowing limits apply (typically max 50-70% of portfolio value)

The strategy is most powerful for:

Concentrated stock holdings in publicly traded companies (especially employee stock from tech companies, founder stock, ESOP grants)
Large diversified portfolios held in taxable brokerage accounts
Real estate equity (similar strategy via cash-out refinances)
Business equity (some forms of borrowing available against ownership stakes)

The strategy is least useful for:

Small portfolios under $50K (interest costs eat any benefit)
Retirement accounts (can't borrow against IRAs/401(k)s; some 401(k)s allow loans but limited to $50K)
Assets without an established lending market (collectibles, private real estate that's hard to finance)

The reason this isn't standard financial advice:

Most financial advisors are compensated based on assets under management. They make more money when you keep assets invested. They don't necessarily make money when you optimize for cash extraction. The strategy is genuinely good for sophisticated clients but doesn't fit the standard advisor compensation model

Banks DO know about this strategy. They actively market it to wealthy clients. The Pledged Asset Line and securities-backed line of credit products are billion-dollar businesses at every major brokerage. They're just not marketed to ordinary retail clients because the minimums and complexity make them inappropriate for mass market

The threshold for accessing this strategy:

$100K+ in liquid investment assets = entry-level access via Schwab/Fidelity
$1M+ = full access to most products and competitive rates
$10M+ = access to private banking rates of 1-2%
$100M+ = Elon-level rates of essentially 0% real cost after tax deduction and stock appreciation

At each tier, the math becomes more favorable. The richest Americans access this strategy at rates that mean borrowing $1B is essentially free relative to their portfolio appreciation

Most middle-class Americans never use this strategy because:

They don't know it exists
They don't have $100K+ in taxable investment accounts
They follow standard advice that says "live within your means and don't borrow"

The wealthiest Americans use it constantly because:

They have the assets
They understand the math
They follow advice from advisors who are sophisticated about tax optimization

The gap between the two groups isn't talent. It's understanding that the tax code is written to reward holding assets indefinitely and penalize selling them. Selling = taxable event. Holding + borrowing = no taxable event. The system rewards never realizing gains

Elon never sells Tesla. He never pays capital gains tax. The IRS doesn't collect a dollar from his accumulated wealth. The strategy is legal. It's mathematically optimal. And it's been written into the tax code since before any of us were born

You don't need to be Elon to use this strategy. You need $100K and a Schwab account

(we get business owners up to 250k in 0% interest business funding, link in bio)

[Sir J (J9) @SirJarus]

Moved from a retail outlet manager in 2016 to CEO of a plc in the downstream sector within 10 years.

Outlet manager to area manager to regional manager to depot/regional manager to COO to CEO of a susbsidiary to CEO of a plc.

All within 10 years.

Sales guys 🤝 career progress

[weightlossmessiah @shredwithQpid]

My client weighed 133kg when he came to me.
Joint pain. High blood pressure. Had tried everything before and failed every single time.
He had accepted that his body simply did not respond to weight loss attempts.
His body was responding perfectly.
The approaches were just wrong every time.
One year later 42kg gone. No plateaus. Consistent progress every single month.
Here is exactly how we did it.
Thread:

[Sir J (J9) @SirJarus]

New ED at First Bank.

Checked his profile and a couple of things jumped at me:

1. Ex KPMG -many top finance and management professionals were in Big 4 at a ppint in the early stage of his career.

2. He worked in management positions Forte Oil, Geregu Power and now FBN. All Otedola interests at some point. Many people don't know this in corporate world, but it is very common. Once a very influential corporate godfather identifies you as smart and competent, they move you around anywhere they go. Otedola likely to have discovered him when he owned Forte Oil. When he divested from Forte Oil and invested in Geregu, he moved him to Geregu. Now, Otedola is the majority shareholder in First Holdings, he has brought him there again.

Superbanker Umaru Mutallab was SLS's godfather in banking. He discoevred his smartness. Although SLS had not joined UBA when Mutallab was the CEO of UBA, he was still influential enough in UBA to spot him when SLS was in UBA in the late 1990s. When Mutallab became Chairman of First Bank then, he poached SLS from UBA to join FBN in 2005 as an ED. By 2009, he was promoted to MD. When Soludo's term expired as CBN governor later in 2009, and Yar'adua wanted a replacement, he sought advice from superbanker Mutallab for a banking guru he knew. He referred SLS again. That was how SLS become CBN governor.

One of my mentors, Niyi Yusuf, who became CEO of Accenture Nigeria in 2010, mentioned the role his benefactor and highly influential former CEO and later Chairman of Accenture Nigeria, Dotun Sulaiman, played in his rise in Accenture.

I have other examples.

If you are smart and competent in your job, and one highly influential power broker in corporate Nigeria spots you, they move you around, mention your name in rooms, refer you, and, where they have near-absolute power (eg board seat because of their shareholding), they solely put you in top positions.

[Onwuzuligbo III @The_Kasinator]

@TheTennisLetter and then loose to Darderi

[Kalu Aja @FinPlanKaluAja1]

The question is this: without Dangote Cement, would Nigeria(s) have scaled local cement production? Why didn't anyone before Dangote do it? Why didn't WAPCO scale to what Dangote is today?

Same question with the refineries? Why no one before him? why could NNPC or the private citizens build a $5b refinery, (Forget $20b for now). I wonder what would have happened if Dangote and Otedola had bought the NNPC refineries years ago.

Now he wants to go into power, watch how he will scale it. He said he wanted to do steel, but declined because he did not want to be a monopolist.

It's easy to pick on Dangote, who is doing big things. There are Nigerians more liquid in FX than Dangote; their cash is sitting in a bank in a tax haven, even Keke, they have not invested in 234.

You want cheaper imports? great, that's also exporting Nigerian jobs offshore right?

Faith without FDI is dead.

[Incentivising @incentivising]

Game theory explains why working harder inside a broken system is the worst response to that system. Because a system is never truly broken. It's just producing exactly the outcomes its own incentive structures were designed to produce, whether intentional or not. Working harder inside this system increases your output in the payoff matrix, but it simply won't change the actual structure of the system's matrix. Thus, the correct response is not more effort. Instead, you must aim to identify whose interests the current structure serves and position yourself in favor of those interests rather than against them. Change the game, or play the game that is actually being played. Either way, you must stop optimizing for the game you wish it to be and start acting realistically.