What does Tiger Woods, Scotty Pippen, Brad and Angelina, Larry Ellison and Paul Allen have in common? In addition to being in either the 1% or 1/10th of 1% crowd, they are all mega yacht owners. I've been studying these vessels for the last few years as I absolutely love the architectural details, burl woods and the custom furnishings. Several months ago, I was in Palm Beach looking at a very exquisite vessel known as Diamonds Are Forever. It was absolutely the most blingingest yacht I'd ever seen so I decided to look it up for some additional details. I found out that the designer; Evan K. Marshall, was also the genius behind another yacht called The World is Not Enough. Each one of these vessels is highly respected in the yachting world for their jaw dropping opulence and nothing-left-to-chance details.  

Evan K. Marshall

As much as I was impressed by the yachts and their storied owners, nothing remotely blew me away like finding out that the designer is NYC born now living in London and he is black! Come on now, you know you didn't expect him to be Black. Yes, I know we have everything from a Black Entertainment Television to Black Life Coaches and I'm very familiar with yacht shows in Ft. Lauderdale, Monaco, Dubai, etc but there are hardly any Blacks there. So to find out that the man behind the machine is not a part of the general ownership society caught me totally off guard. I found Marshall by reading a book entitled Grand Ambition by Bruce Knecht which highlighted Trinity Yachts building of America's most over the top vessel Lady Linda, also designed by Marshall, for a private equity mogul named Doug Von Allmen.  At a recent yacht show, I encountered Von Allmen twice in passing but Marshall was the man of the hour. After he wrapped up conversations with movie producers looking to document his life's story, I presented him with The Investment Forum's 2013 E Pluribus Unum award. Instantaneously, the crowd knew the stars of the show had arrived. It was flashing lights and groupie love from there.

Can Your Kids Draw? Can You Decorate?

Your kids certainly have a better chance at being Evan. K Marshall than they do Puff Daddy, Lil Wayne, LeBron James and even President Obama. When Marshall was a small child, his parents, who were also Columbia University professors, owned a boat. They kept it long enough for his fascination in drawing them to set in. He went on to study residential architecture at Hampton University before studying naval architecture in Maine. He worked on some of the most luxurious yachts designed under Australian born Jon Bannenberg who helped design the 413 foot Octopus for Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen and Oracle Bad Boy, Larry Ellison's 453-foot Rising Sun. Should you have a youngster or if you yourself seek a new career with your artistic talents perhaps consider the wonderful world of mega yachts. It's worth noting that these yachts tend to come with very liberal interior design budgets. If you can hook up a stunning entry foyer or design a dining room fit for royalty, you may be able to find yourself amongst the $100k a month after tax spenders. There's a reason my book is subtitled 86 Your Current Life and Pursue the Lifestyle You've Been Dreaming Of.  

The Source of $tupid Money

If you're like many, you want to know how on earth someone is dropping $40 million on a vessel then spending % 15 of the purchase price every year to keep it afloat. The most common way is to create or buy a business and increase the revenues until you move onto the radar of the big boys in that industry. Once they see you, they'll likely offer to buy you out to eliminate your competition. At that point, you tell them your sales price is 10Xs your expected annual revenues. They'll get angry, call you lots of names and find an investment bank to write you a stupid money check. Then you do it again...and again...and again like the multiple super-yacht owning, Aventador driving Von Allmen. You must have a repeatable process or a well-oiled machine for mega wealth. It's classic Jay Pendarvis and Cerebral Solutions government IT personified.  

Folks, what's of most importance is for those who assume I have some type of special powers to make this stuff happen you don't have to take a back seat to me. I knew none of this until I spent $9 (S&H included) on Amazon.com buying a book and then my curiosity and Gorilla Grind kicked in. Reading is not only fundamental, it's influential. Note to Dominique Harrelson: 1. Yachts need photographers. 2. You can track down successful business owners all over the world with High Impact Presentations. Yall wanted the millionaire mindset, there, I just gave it to you. Let's Work!

Mark D/Keith W: In the words of our Georgetown Investments professor, "I swear I'm not making this stuff up."  

Mike Jenkins - Von Allmen's yacht has some brand new suede couches!