The Ultimate Cheat Sheet For Investing All of Your Money

In the history of capitalism, this is the hardest time ever to invest. People are going broke, losing their jobs, and fear more than greed rules the news and tries to rule thoughts.

In short: people are scared. And I do think the uncertainty is going to rise quickly so I wanted to put this note together.

In 2001 and 2002 I lost all my money through bad investing. The same thing happened to me on a couple of occasions after that.

So why should anyone listen to me about investing? You shouldn’t. You shouldn’t listen to anyone at all about investing. This is your hard-earned money. Don’t blow it by listening to an idiot like me.

The most important three words in investing is: “I don’t know.” If someone doesn’t say that to you then they are lying.

I was preparing this morning for my podcast conversation I am having tomorrow with Stephen Dubner, co-author of Freakonomics and the upcoming “Think Like a Freak.” One of the statistics he points out is that CXO Advisory Group polled the predictions of 500 investment strategists and pundits. The “experts” had a 47% success rate. Good luck if you listen to any of them.

Here’s my experience (and perhaps I’ve learned the hard way about what NOT to do and a little bit about what TO do.):

I’ve run a hedge fund that was successful. I ran a fund of hedge funds, which means I’ve probably analyzed the track records and strategies of about 1000 different hedge funds.

I’ve learned one major thing, which I will repeat below: all of Wall Street is a scam.

I’ve been a venture capitalist and a successful angel investor (I was a horrible venture capitalist though – but I put that under the category of “does not work well with others”).

I can’t raise money anymore. Nor do I want to play that game. I don’t BS about my losses and everyone else does.

So I’m not in that business anymore. It’s too much work to run a fund anyway.

In the past 15 years I’ve tried every investing strategy out there. I honestly can’t think of a strategy I haven’t experimented with.

I’ve also wrote software to trade the markets automatically and I did very well with that but that industry is now dominated by the high frequency guys.

And I’ve written several books on my experiences investing, with topics ranging from automatic investing to Warren Buffett, to hedge funds, to long-term investing (my worse-selling book, “The Forever Portfolio,” which has sold 399 copies since it came out in December 2008, including one copy for the entire last quarter).

Incidentally, why publish a book called “The Forever Portfolio” during the worst financial crisis in history. I begged my publisher (Penguin) to postpone but they couldn’t. “It’s in the schedule” was their magic incantation. Publishers largely suck. The good news is: they will never make back the advance.

That said, all of the picks in that book have done excellently since then (Claudia proved this in a review of the book on Amazon but then was shamed into admitting she was my wife, which she did not at first disclose) but the one thing I am proud of is that I made a crossword puzzle for the book. I don’t know of any other investing book with a crossword puzzle in it.

So, Ok! Let’s get started. Don’t follow any of my advice. This is advice that I do and follow and it works for me.

A) Should I daytrade?

Only if you are also willing to take all of your money, rip it into tiny pieces, make cupcakes with one piece of money inside each cupcake and then eat all of the cupcakes.

Then you will get sick, and eat all of your money, but it will taste thrilling along the way. Which is what daytrading is.

B) I don’t believe you. Many people daytrade for a living.

No. I personally know of two. Maybe three. And they work 24 hours a day at it and have been doing it for a decade or more. So unless you want to put in that amount of time and be willing to lose a lot first then you shouldn’t do it.

One more thing: when you daytrade and lose money it’s not like a job.

When you go into a job you never lose money. If you show up for two weeks, you get paid. Even if you have been warned repeatedly about sexual harassment you still get paid. You might get fired but they won’t take your money.

The stock market takes your money on bad days.

Sometimes it takes a lot of your money. We’re not used to the brutality of that and it can destroy a person psychologically, which makes one (me) trade even worse.

C) Well, who makes money in the market then?

Three types of people:

1. People who hold stocks forever. Think: Warren Buffett (has never sold a share of Berkshire Hathaway since 1967) or Bill Gates (he sells shares but for 20 years basically held onto his MSFT stock).
2. People who hold stocks for a millionth of a second (see Michael Lewis’s book “Flash Boys” which I highly recommend.) This is borderline illegal and I don’t recommend it.
3. People who cheat.

I’ve seen it for 20 years. I’ve seen every scam. I can write a history of scams in the past 20 years.

Without describing them, here’s the history: Reg S, Calendar trading, Mutual fund timing, Death spirals, Front running, Pump and Dump, manipulating illiquid stocks, Ponzi schemes, and inside information. Inside information has always existed and always will exist. Those are scams from just the past 15 years. If I went back 50 years the list would be fifty times as big.

One time I wanted to raise money for one of my funds. I went to visit my neighbor’s boss. The boss had been returning a solid 12% per year for 20 years.

Everyone wanted to know how he did it. “Get some info while you are there,” a friend of mine in the business said when he heard I was visiting my neighbor’s boss.

The boss said to me, “I’m sorry, James. We like you and if you want to work here, then that would be great. But we have no idea what you would be doing with the money. And here at Bernard Madoff Securities, reputation is everything.”

So I didn’t raise money from Bernie Madoff although he wanted me to work there. Seemed like a very nice guy.

I was depressed when I left his offices in the so-called “lipstick building.” Why will I never be good enough? I thought.

Later, the same friend who wanted me to get “info” and “figure out how he does it” said to me: “we knew all along he was a crook.”

Which is another thing common in Wall Street. Everybody knows everything in retrospect and nobody ever admits they were wrong.

Show me a Wall Street pundit who says “I was wrong” and I’ll show you… I don’t know… something graphic and horrible and impossible [fill in blank].

Remember the magic words.

“I.” “Don’t.” “Know.”

D) So how can one make money in the market?

I told you about: #1. Pick some stocks and hold them forever.

E) What stocks should I hold?

Warren Buffett has some advice on this (and I know because I wrote THE book about him. A friend of mine who knows him told me my book was the only book that Buffett thought was accurate about him).

So since I don’t know anything, I will let Warren Buffett take over here.

He says, “If you think a company will be around 20 years from now then it is probably a good buy right now.”

I would add to that, based on what Warren does. It seems to me he has five criteria:

1. A company will be around 20 years from now.
2. At some point, company’s management has demonstrated in some way that they are honest, good people. If you can get to know management even better.
3. The company’s stock has crashed for some reason (think American Express in early 60s, which he loaded up on. Or Washington Post in the early 70s. Or Coca-Cola in the early 80s).
4. The company’s name is a strong brand: American Express, Coke, Disney, etc.
5. Demographics play a strong role. Especially if you can get into a rising demographic through the backdoor. I explain exactly how here.

With Coke, Buffett knew that everyone in the world would be drinking sugared water before long. Who can resist? He also started buying furniture companies right before the housing boom. He knew that as the population in the US grows, people will need chairs to sit on.

Note that Buffett is not what some people call a “Value investor.” But I won’t get into that discussion here.

F) What else?

One time I accidentally got an email that was intended for a famous well-known investor. It was from his broker and contained his portfolio. I can’t say how this accident happened but it did.

Of course, I opened the email.

This is a man who writes about lots of stocks.

His entire portfolio was in municipal bonds…

Municipal Bonds Have Become One Of The FEW Investments I Will Recommend

But you can’t just buy them and hope for the best…I came up with a very specific strategy during the last financial crisis that is very safe (and pays about 250x better than your savings account). I’ll Tell You How – Click Here

G) Should I put all of my money in stocks?

No, because you’ll never know anything about a company and you won’t get the kind of deals that Warren Buffett gets.

So use this guideline:

• no more than 3% of your portfolio in any one stock. But if the stock grows past 3% you can keep it. To quote Warren Buffett again: “If you have Lebron James on your team, you don’t trade him away.”
• no more than 30% of your portfolio in stocks (unless some of the stocks grow, in which case you just keep letting them grow).

G, Part 2) What is in a bubble?

Some hedge fund manager (David Einhorn) just said we might be in a tech bubble. Back to rule #1: He doesn’t know. It’s just a headline.

Bubbles don’t mean anything. We had an internet bubble in the 90s. Then a housing bubble. Bubbles bubbles bubbles. And if you just held through all of that, your stock portfolio right now would be about a percent from all-time highs.

So ignore cycles and bubbles and ups and downs.

And never ever read the news. The news has no idea about the financial world and what makes it tick. Any investing off the news is like taking out your eyes because you trust a blind person to drive you to work.

H) My friend has a business idea. Should I invest in it?

Probably not. But if you want a checklist, make sure these four boxes can be checked:

• The CEO has started and sold a business before.
• The business is a sector with a strong demographic headwind behind it. (or is that a tailwind?)
• The company has revenues and/or profits.
• You are getting a really good deal. (This is subjective but you can look at similar companies and what they were valued at.)

I can say this: every time I have invested with this approach it’s worked miracles. And every time I have not invested in this approach it’s been a disaster. Like, a CLUSTERF*(*K

Claudia doesn’t let me invest in a private company unless all four items on my checklist apply. It’s good to be able to say, “I love your idea but my wife won’t let me invest.”

After that, they usually say something like (….. you can imagine…) but I don’t care. I get to keep the money in my wallet and not give it to them.

Which is important because I tend to believe in everything people tell me.

I) What do you think of bitcoin?

I think bitcoin has about a 1 in 100 chance of being a survivor. So I have 1% of my portfolio in bitcoin. I can write a lot more on bitcoin. I sold “Choose Yourself” in bitcoins before the book was officially released. Bitcoin went up 500% after that.

I can explain everything about bitcoin but I can’t explain the future. So we’ll see.

J) What about metals as a hedge against inflation?

No, they have zero correlation with inflation. The best hedge against inflation is the US stock market since about 60% of revenues of the S&P 500 comes from foreign countries.

K) What about metals like gold? Don’t they have intrinsic value?

The only currency in the history of mankind that had actual intrinsic value was when people traded barley in the markets of the ancient city of Ur. Since then, we’ve developed currencies that depended on our faith in their value.

Every currency has faith and hope backing it. When people began to lose faith in US currency (in the Civil War), the words “In God We Trust” were put on the dollar bill to trick people into having faith in it.

But if you’re going to pick a metal, wait until the gold/silver ratio gets higher than it’s historical average and buy silver.

How come? Because silver is both a precious metal (like gold) and an industrial metal (also like gold, but much much cheaper). So there actually is some intrinsic value in silver.

I bought some silver bars back in 2005. But then lost them when I moved. That’s why nobody should listen to me about investing.

L) What about mutual funds?

No. Mutual funds, and the bank representatives that push them, consistently lie about the fees they are charging. I know this from experience.

One time I accompanied a friend of mine who had made some money (she was a model and had a good run for awhile) and was looking to invest it. She asked me to go with her to see her bank representative who had some “ideas.” Because she was beautiful, I went with her to the bank.

I didn’t talk at all during the meeting but jotted down every time the bank guy lied. He lied five times.

Afterwards I explained each of the lies to her.

What happened? She put all her money with the guy. “He’s practically family.” I can’t argue with a good salesman.

But he lied about the mutual funds’ performance that he was pitching, the fees they were charging, the commissions he was charging, and a few more I can’t remember now. I wrote an article about it in the Financial Times back then.

Fact: Mutual funds don’t outperform the general market so better to invest in the general market without paying the extra layer of fees.

Use the criteria I describe above, pick 20 companies and invest.

M) What are some good demographic trends?

1. The internet. Yes, it’s still growing.
2. Baby boomers retiring. They need special facilities to live in. They need better cancer diagnostics and treatments.
3. Energy. The more people we have, the more energy we will consume. Go for energy sources that are profitable and don’t need government subsidies. Whenever you depend on the government, you could get in trouble.
4. Temp staffing. Every company is firing people and replacing them with temp staffers.
5. Batteries. If you can figure out how to invest in Lithium, then go for it. I explain easy ways to invest in demographic trends that in ways other people aren’t looking in my Backdoor Investing Checklist.
6. and a dozen others. Feel free to list more in the comments. I plan on covering more in my email newsletter.

(Related Post: How I Make Money Off of Trends)

N) Is a house a good investment?

Everyone will disagree with me on this but the answer is an emphatic “NO!”

It has all the qualities of a horrible investment:

a) Constant extra layers of fees and taxes that never go away (maintenance, property taxes, etc that all rise with inflation).

b) Usually housing is too-large a percentage of someone’s portfolio. Even just the down-payment ends up being the largest expense of someone’s life.

c) Usually massive debt is involved.

If you can avoid, “a,” “b,” and “c” and don’t mind the opportunity cost in the time required to maintain your house then go for it. Else, rent, and use the money you saved for other investments that will be less stressful and pay off more.

Fact: Housing has returned 0.2% per year in the past 100 years.

(Related Post: It’s Financial Suicide to Own a House)

O) If no housing and only 30% of my portfolio in stocks, then what should I do with the rest of my money?

Why are you in such a rush to put all of your money to work? Relax! Don’t do it!

There’s a saying “cash is king” for a reason. I will even say “cash is queen” because on the chessboard the king is just a figurehead and the queen is the most valuable piece.

Cash is a beautiful thing to have. You can pay for all of your basic needs with it.

You can sleep at night knowing there is cash in the bank.

I love a stress-free life. When I look back at the past 15 years, the times when I’ve been most stressed is when I’ve been heavily invested and the times when I’ve been least stressed is when I had cash in the bank.

With cash in the bank you can also invest in yourself.

P) What does that mean, “invest in myself?”

1. It costs almost nothing to start a business. Find something people want and start posting information about it on a blog and then upsell your services on the blog.Or write 1000 small books about different topics and publish them on Amazon. You can do this on the side while you learn and have a full time job and then when you are ready, you can jump to your other passive streams of income. I have a podcast coming up soon with a guy who makes $25,000 a month doing this. Note: It takes a lot of work to find “passive” income but when it happens, it’s worth it. These are some ideas. There are many others.
2. Invest in experiences rather than possessions. Figure out interesting and unique experiences you can have or places you can go to (but they don’t always have to be places). Experiences pay much higher dividends than an extra TV or a nicer car.
3. Books. Reading is the best return on investment. You have to live your entire life in order to know one life.But with reading you can know 1000s of people’s lives for almost no cost. What a great return!

Q) Should I save money with each paycheck?

No. Just try to make more money. That is easier than saving money. I find that whenever I try to save money I end up spending more. I don’t know why that is. I’m a horrible spender, which is probably why I’ve gone broke so many times.

Better to just make more with many streams of income so you don’t have to worry about going broke. And then saving will come naturally as you make more money.

Don’t forget that a salary will never make you money. After taxes and the daily grind, and your exhaustion and the feelings of “I hate my job,” and then inflation and then new expenses (kids), you will never be able to save. Avoiding Starbucks every day won’t make you a millionaire, that’s a fact.

I say it glibly, “try to make more money.” I know it’s not that easy. But in the long run, if you have a constant focus on alternative ways to make more money, then you will.

(Note: Every month I give multiple ways to make different streams of income in my newsletter, The Altucher Report)

R) What else should I do with my money?

Forget about it.

Money is just a side effect of health.

I talk a lot about the daily practice I started doing when I was at my lowest point.

I know now after years of doing it that it has worked. I’ve done very well with it, and I started doing it when I was dead broke, lonely, angry, depressed, and suicidal.

I didn’t start it from a position of privilege.

Here’s the whole thing: stay physically healthy in whatever way you know how (sleep well, eat well, exercise). Be around good people who love you and respect you and who you love and respect, and be grateful every day.

Think of new things each day (or all day) to be grateful for. “Gratitude” is another word for “Abundance” because the things you are most grateful for, become abundant in your life.

And finally, write down 10-20 bad ideas a day. Or good ideas. It doesn’t matter. After exercising my idea muscle for six months, I felt like an idea machine. It was like a super power that just wouldn’t stop. More on this in another post.

Money and abundance in your life is a natural side effect of the above. I know this for myself but now since writing about it for almost four years I can tell you from the letters I get that it works for others.

S) What’s in it for you?

I don’t know. I used to write about money stuff because I wanted investors in my hedge fund, or I wanted to sell books, or get speaking engagements. Now I want none of that.

I hate writing about finance now. Because it’s almost all bullshit and I don’t want to be like the other BS.

But I get worried that in a world of increasing economic uncertainty that more and more people are getting “stuck” and getting lied to and are scared about what is happening.

Most people will think I am giving bad advice. That’s fine. I just am trying to avoid the BS and I hope you do also.

Too many people I know are nervous and depressed.

There’s nothing else to know about investing your money. If your bank tries to give you any advice just say, “thanks but I’m OK.”

If they want you to put your money in a savings account, even “so you can get the interest” I would politely decline. There’s a reason they are asking you to do this and I have no idea what it is but it’s not good for you.

You won’t get rich investing your money but you can do very well. And if you combine that with investing in yourself, you will get wealthy.

But only if you remember that financial wealth is a side effect of real inner wealth.

This is the most powerful investment you can do with your time and your life.

You can always make money back when you’ve lost it.

But one single split moment of stress and anxiety you will never make back again.

Investing in the future will never bring back the past.

To be able to sit and not have a million stressful thoughts racing through your head. To be able to appreciate everything around you for the abundance it is.

Most people think they need to say “thank you” to the world.

But the world is constantly saying “thank you” to you for being alive, for creating new things, new energies, new experiences.

Every day give the world at least one more reason to whisper “thank you” to you.

If you can hear that whisper, everything else, every gift in life, becomes expected. You earned it.

Just take it.

Romania la 1933

Un album fotografic a fost publicată în 1933, la Leipzig, sub titlul "România", semnat de fotograful Kurt Hielscher, un album fascinant care a captat atmosfera  războaielor din țara noastră.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Definitii ale democratiei

​​

Ce este DEMOCRATIA

Democraţia este încrederea nefondată în înţelepciunea colectivă a prostiei individuale.

Democrația nu înseamnă numai dreptul de a-i trimite pe toți în pi…. mă-sii,
dar și obligația de a pleca acolo, dacă asta vrea majoritatea.

Democratia se bazeaza pe trei principii: libertatea cuvantului, libertatea cugetului
si intelepciunea de a nu le folosi pe cele doua precedente.

Democratia baga poporul intr-un joc controlat, dar in care poporul nu
are controlul asupra jocului.

Democratia este calea de mijloc, care trece peste tot si nu duce nicaieri.

Democratia e ca un slagar pe care toti il canta, dar caruia nimeni
nu-i cunoaste textul.

Democratie este atunci cand turma de oi crede ca il conduce pe magar,
care e condus si el ...

Democratia este forma politica in care fiecare cetatean primeste ceea
ce merita majoritatea.
 
Democratia iti da dreptul sa injuri pe cine vrei dar nu-ti da mijloacele
sa judeci corect inainte de a condamna/injura,

Democratia este ca o bariera: javrele si jigodiile se tarasc pe sub
ea, lupii si leii sar peste ea si doar boii si bivolii raman in fata ei.

Democratie este atunci cand vaca are dreptul sa-l aleaga pe acela care
o va mulge.
 
Votul democratic este alegerea intre lac si put.
 
Prin vot democratic va fi ales acela, pe care bogatii il pot manipula.
 
Votul democratic ne garanteaza ca nu vom fi mai bine guvernati decat o meritam.
 
Daca votul democratic ne-ar aduce noua ceva folositor, sau vreo schimbare in
bine, nu am mai fi lasati sa votam.
 
 

"Sa nu crezi nimic din ceea ce auzi sau citesti, nu conteaza cine a spus-o sau scris-o,chiar daca am spus-o eu,
doar daca rezoneaza sau face sens cu gandirea ta."-- Budha 563BC - 483BC
 

Pustnicul din Rarău care vindecă oameni trimişi de medici: „Dacă staţi o zi la mine pe munte, uitaţi ce vă doare“

Sinziana Ionescu

Dintre cei 68 ani pe care-i are, Ioan Baron a trăit 4 ani într-un bordei săpat în pământ pe Muntele Giumalău din Bucovina, până s-a hotârât să iasă iar la lumină. Îşi lăsase în urmă la Iaşi viaţa de mecanic la CFR, familia cu doi băieţi mari şi un trai aşezat.
Dar liniştea din suflet nu şi-o găsise încă, nici după ce ieşise la pensie. Ceva îi dădea ghes să-şi ia lumea-n cap, nu ca un aventurier, ci ca pustnic. A vrut să se retragă la mănăstire, dar preoţii au considerat că nu-i de el viaţa în monahie. „Mai stai şi lămureşte-te“, i-au zis ei.
Şi a mai stat, dar tot pe lângă ei. Din tinereţe îi plăcuse să fie curios, să caute, să cunoască. Aşa învăţase câteva leacuri băbeşti care să înlocuiască pumnul de medicamente pe care lumea îl lua la primul semn de boală.
Iar acolo, pe muntele Giumalău, natura i-a dezvăluit în întregime secretele din farmacia ei verde, aceea care vindecă rănile cu plante înfiripate din seva pământului şi din aerul curat.

Cum a devenit „fratele Ioan“

Cu ierburile culese din munţi, Ioan Baron a început să prepare, să combine, să găsească tot felul de remedii. Azi a dat cuiva beteag să încerce o tinctură, mâine a alinat durerea cu un decoct, poimâine a oblojit cu o alifie. Lui Ioan i s-a dus vestea pe la mănăstirile şi schiturile din jur, iar călugării şi măicuţele au început să-i bată tot mai des la uşa colibei din munţi cerând ceva de leac. Ei l-au numit „fratele Ioan“, în semn de accept în lumea lor cea tainică, departe de oameni, dar aproape de nevoile lor.
„Aşa a vrut să mă cunoască şi părintele Iustin Pârvu de la mănăstirea Petru Vodă. Trimitea vorbă prin măicuţe să vin la el, dar eu le refuzam mereu. Ziceam: «Dar de ce vrea părintele să mă cunoască pe mine, un nevrednic?». Iar măicuţele plecau supărate: «Cum, îl refuzi tu pe părintele Iustin?». Nu înţelegeau cum vine asta. Au venit apoi cu doi preoţi după ele, dar tot aşa am refuzat. Pân` la urmă m-au luat prin înşelăciune, să duc nişte leacuri. M-a certat părintele Iustin: «Hai, lasă, nu te mai alinta că eşti nevrednic! Voiam să văd cine eşti»“, povesteşte Ioan Baron.

Vindecarea: 90% de la Dumnezeu

Dacă îi displace vreo denumire, aceea este de „doctor al mănăstirilor“: „Eu sunt Ioan. Ioan de la Rarău“. În anii de când stă pe munte nu i-a fost dor de nimeni şi de nimic. Cumva, îi era dor de el, de aceea s-a dus în pustie, să se regăsească. „Vă spun eu: după o oră-două pe cărări pe munte, nu te mai gândeşti la nimic. Vin la mine tot mai mulţi tineri cu suferinţe psihice, stres, supărări. Îi ţin o zi la mine în pădure, îi plimb pe munte, îi hrănesc cu ce mănânc şi eu, iar ei uită de ce-au venit. Mă întreabă: «Dar nu mă mai doare nimic, ce aţi făcut?». Aşa mă întreabă mereu şi medici, oameni cu şcoală, care vin la mine să vadă cum fac eu bine oameni. Mă şi mir că vin ei, doctorii... Dar eu le zic tuturor: «Doar 10% e de la mine, restul de 90% e de la Dumnezeu»“, spune „fratele Ioan“.

Fiecare cu rânduiala lui

Nu-i pare rău după vremea când era în lume. De atunci îl bătea gândul să facă altceva cu viaţa lui, pe care spune că şi-a trăit-o din plin, cu trăznăi în cap şi aventuri prin toată ţara. Dar întotdeauna i-a plăcut solitudinea munţilor.
„M-am plimbat prin toată ţara cu trenul, era o viaţă foarte frumoasă, dar şi grea, cu multe examene profesionale. Dar mi-a plăcut muntele din tinereţe. Şi, când am ieşit la pensie, primul gând să mă duc la o mănăstire, la Sihăstria Rarăului, să-i ajut la construcţie. Le aduceam ce aveau nevoie, mă mişcam uşor că nu plăteam trenul. Ceream ajutor de la şefii mei de la CFR, îmi dădeau şi ei ce materiale le rămâneau. Nu vă gândiţi că duceam ceva furat la mănăstire!
Aşa că gândul meu a fost să intru şi eu la mănăstire. Preotul de acolo mi-a zis că trebuie acordul soţiei, a venit la Iaşi să stea de vorbă cu ea, soţia n-a fost de acord, ce scandal a ieşit... Dar eu tot m-am dus acolo. Eram tânăr pensionar, ajutam la treabă, nu ceream bani. Am stat aşa două veri, mă pricepeam la toate. Întrebam preoţii: «E bine să intru la mănăstire?». «Mai aşteaptă», ziceau ei. «Cât?» - voiam eu să ştiu. «Până la Dumnezeu». Şi uite-aşa m-au dus cu vorba. «Lasă-l să stea acolo, că are rânduiala lui», spuneau duhovnicii de la mănăstire“, povesteşte Ioan Baron.
Familia i-a respectat rânduiala. Fiii săi îşi văd de viaţa lor, unul lucrează la penitenciar, altul lucrează prin străinătate. Când l-a vizitat odată unul dintre ei, taică-su l-a pus la treabă, să care nişte brazi de munte. „Mi-a zis: «Ştii ce? Am primit un telefon de la muncă, trebuie să plec urgent». Şi dus o fost“, râde Ioan de la Rarău.

Remedii testate pe propria piele

Chemat tocmai la Constanţa de Fundaţia Sfinţii Martiri Brâncoveni, să dea ajutor unor oameni cu tot soiul de suferinţe, Ioan Baron a venit cu leacurile sale. Iarba-tâlharului, papucul Maicii Domnului, pedicuţa sunt doar câteva dintre plantele folosite de el. Întâi le-a folosit pe propria piele, ca să le testeze puterea, şi spune că a obţinut pentru răni rele vindecări nesperate, în timp foarte scurt. Aşa a scăpat de vătămătura de la picioare, cu care s-a ales atunci când a căzut de pe stânci şi şi-a fărâmat oasele şi carnea. Iarba-tâlharului, mai ales, este panaceul în care „fratele Ioan“ crede cu tărie. Folosită cum trebuie, alină dureri şi vindecă răni din cap până-n picioare - afecţiuni externe, dar şi interne.

Dar pustnicul recunoaşte sincer că el nu dă verdicte medicale - nu asta e priceperea lui. „Eu nu contest medicina tradiţională şi nu mă pricep să pun diagnostice. De aceea, cine vine la mine este bine să fie văzut înainte de un doctor, să aibă un diagnostic. Pe baza lui, vedem cu ce îl pot eu ajuta, cu leacurile. Asta vreau să fie foarte clar“, apasă vorbele „fratele Ioan“.
Iar oamenii l-au năpădit cu ofurile lor. Au vrut să ştie dacă, nu cumva, este vreo şansă ca boli precum cancere, psihoze, artroze, scleroze în plăci, hernii de disc, afecţiuni femeieşti şi bărbăteşti spuse cam cu jenă, chiar şi probleme stomatologice se pot vindeca fără doctorii, fără cuţit, fără pierderi ireperabile? Pustnicul nu i-a amăgit. „Eu am leacuri pentru aproape orice. Dar sunt limite şi aici. La unele afecţiuni, dacă bolnavul este prea bătrân, peste 80 ani, vindecarea este foarte grea, dacă nu chiar imposibilă. La oricine, dacă are vas de sânge întrerupt, nu se mai poate repara. Dacă nu, sunt şanse. Vin cu mâna strâmbă, cu defecte de vorbire, apoi îşi dau drumul. Au venit oameni cu bani, mi-au mulţumit, mi-au adus mănuşi. Dar cum să culeg eu plante cu mănuşi?“, se miră el.

L-a vindecat muntele

Pustnicul a făcut un calcul: sunt câteva mii de oameni care i-au trecut pragul în fiecare an. Au luat tratamente de la el, dar nu toţi s-au vindecat încă. „M-am confruntat cu bolnavi din toate categoriile sociale, chiar şi politicieni. Sunt spitale private, dotate, dar ei refuză să mai meargă acolo. M-a uimit asta. Eu păstrez legătura cu ei, mă interesez dacă ţin la stilul de viaţă mai ordonat. Ei trebuie să facă mereu controale, doctorii au rolul lor. Dacă ei n-ar da diagnostic corect, nici eu n-aş şti ce leac să dau oamenilor. Mă aşteptam să am reacţii negative de la medici, dar mă sună, vor să mă ajute, vin cu bolnavi, mă întreabă ce am nevoie. Mai ales cei de la Cluj şi de la Bucureşti“, spune „fratele Ioan“.

Pe el, muntele l-a vindecat. Statul departe de grijile lumeşti, izolarea, meditaţia, aflarea limitelor, munca pentru ceilalţi au fost leacurile sale. Nu ştie dacă el a găsit locul sau locul l-a găsit pe el. „Au venit doctori, au făcut măsurători. Au luat probe de apă, de sol, au analizat puritatea aerului. Au zis că aşa ceva n-au mai văzut. Şi pe mine m-au verificat unii veniţi să măsoare pe acolo. De curiozitate am stat. M-a distrat într-un fel, că la noi nu mergea aparatura lor modernă. Ziceau că iese o energie pozitivă prea mare, care le dădea peste cap acele. Când m-au pus la aparat, pe ecran apărea un schelet aşa, iar în dreapta scria că eu am 26 ani. Doctoriţa se mira, cică «nu înţeleg ce se întâmplă, că n-a mai făcut aşa». Am rugat şi o maică să stea şi la ea la fel a ieşit. «Ceva nu-i în regulă aici», au zis ei . Şi-au strâns aparatele şi-au plecat“, se amuză Ioan.

„Îi sfătuiesc pe oameni să aibă credinţă“

De acolo, de pe muntele său, pustnicul nu coboară decât rareori, la sărbători, când merge la mănăstire. O excepţie face: dacă este cineva foarte beteag care nu se poate deplasa, atunci Ioan se duce la căpătâiul lui. Lumea ştie unde să-l caute, în ţinutul Sucevei, la Câmpulung Moldovenesc, lângă Vatra Dornei. „O să pară greu drumul, dar n-o să mai vrei să pleci“, mustăceşte pustnicul.
Dacă există un remediu sigur pentru depresii, acela este mişcarea în aer liber, activitatea fizică, mersul pe jos. „Recomand ieşirea în natură, prin locuri izolate, sălbatice. Sunt tot mai dese cazurile de depresii. Vin elevi, profesoare care suferă de asta, acum vin şi medici. Noi îi purtăm prin munţi. Pe locuri accidentate, asta merge cel mai bine, unde el să fie atent unde pune piciorul, iar atenţia să-i fie distrasă de la problema lui psihică. Alt remediu mai bun nu am găsit, chiar dă rezultate. Şi efortul fizic este foarte bun. Vin tinere şi tineri fără somn, cu tot felul de vedenii. Îi punem la crăpat lemne şi nu le mai trebuie nici mâncare, nici alte gânduri. După un efort din ăsta dormeau tun şi nu mai vedeau nimica“, zice pustnicul Ioan Baron.
De unde vine puterea „fratelui Ioan“ din Rarău? „Odată, în tinereţe l-am întrebat pe Iosefini, maestrul iluzionist de la circ, cum face scamatoriile lui. El mi-a arătat ceva, apoi am încercat şi eu să fac hipnoză, dar mi-a înţepenit două ore mâna dreaptă. M-am speriat, am ars toate cărţile pe care le citisem pe tema asta. Mă mai întreabă lumea tot felul, dacă să creadă în radiestezii, în terapii din astea, în vise. Eu nu dau importanţă. Morţii trebuie pomeniţi permanent, nu doar când îi visezi. Pe cei care vin la mine, eu îi sfătuiesc să aibă credinţă şi o viaţă curată“, mai spune Ioan Baron.

Romanii Exporta Cozonac cu rahat...in engleza

hai sa mai bullshitim si noi pe ei...,ca de varza de Bruxelles suntem satui !

 

 

 

Privind imaginea, nu poți să-ți dai seama dacă avem de-a face cu cel mai tâmpit translator din România, cel mai bun autor de poante sau de un biet salariat, care a vrut să se răzbune pentru puținii bani primiți. Oricum poanta este enciclopedică!