Hi Bob,

> As a top notch physicist, you're attracted
> by the Stored Value concept 'cuz it's rooted
> in physics:

> Stored Value = potential energy turned into
> Kinetic energy (new value and worth) by the
> catalyst of action and the spark of creative
> vision.

You're right! It's a very close analogy.... :)

The energy that drives a lot of our world is based on releasing the "potential energy" stored within natural resources, like natural gas, petroleum, coal, or even gravity which is tapped through hydroelectric dams, or the binding energy in the nuclei of atoms for nuclear power....

You almost always have to spend some energy to get the potential energy out, however.

For example, you have to light a match and get the wood burning, to tap the rest of the wood's energy when you start a campfire....

But when tapping potential energy, if you've identified your source of potential energy correctly, you can get out more energy than you put in....

And I think you're right, Bob, tapping the "stored value" in the products and ideas around you is a very similar idea to releasing potential energy....

Yes, maybe that IS why I like this idea.... :)

It takes some "sweat" and cash to tap that source of stored value.... But, if you've recognized the stored value correctly, you can get more value out than you put in!

Long term "value investing" in stocks is an example of this.... I try to buy stocks which are "undervalued." That is, I try to buy stocks which have a "stored value" (in terms of their future profits) which is much higher than most people realize.... That way, I can pick up a bargain. When people finally realize what it is really "worth," I can sell it at a good profit....

Chattel is another great example of this, and Gordon's Chattel Report tells you how to do it....

I was thinking of looking more closely at antiques, so I recently also bought the book, "How to Make $20,000 a Year in Antiques & Collectibles Without Leaving Your Job" by Bruce E. Johnson....

Here's an interesting story he tells (from p.26-27)....

Not long ago a dark, dirty, but signed Gustav Stickley music cabinet was pulled across the stage at a well-attended Midwest auction. Over a dozen dealers were in attendance, but the music cabinet barely attracted any attention, and the auctioneer could only coax a bid of $50 out of his audience.

The dealer who did buy it promptly sold it to another dealer the next morning for $200; she, in turn, marketed the music cabinet at $500, having, by this time, realized it was a signed Stickley.

Two area dealers looked it over that same day, but passed on it. A third, a rather new and inexperienced dealer, had read about the resurgence of interest in the furniture of Gustav Stickley and knew it had to be worth more than the new owner was asking. He offered $450, she accepted, and he left with the music cabinet in the back of his rusty van.

The next day he simply cleaned it, took some color photographs, and began doing some additional research.

Three months later the call came from Christie's in New York: they had sold his $450 music cabinet for $15,000.

I guess these stories aren't too common, but it shows that "stored value" really is there! You have to know how to recognize it, and how to release it....

Here's another story from the same book (p. 28)....

A young college chap who used to work in our [antique] shop had the uncanny ability to spot these great "steals," as we called them, right in the middle of the largest shops in town. He claimed it was more out of necessity than luck, since at the time he was living on stale peanut butter sandwiches and what little I was paying him.

His once-in-a-lifetime steal (I think it was his third that semester) was a small, unsigned original painting stuck irreverently in the corner of a very busy and very successful antiques shop.

Although he had no formal training in art or art history, he sensed the painting was worth more than the $35 being asked for it. Naturally I lent him the last $10 he needed to buy it, never thinking I should have bought a one-third interest in it instead.

He took the painting home, went to the art library and did some research, discovered it was the work of a recognized and collected nineteenth-century artist, took photographs of it and mailed them to five major art dealers in New York City.

Three weeks later, after a minor bidding battle between two of the dealers, he collected $4,500 for his efforts.

While that kind of story may not happen every day, it shows that unrecognized "stored value" is all around us. It's a matter of being able to recognize it, and knowing how to release the "stored value" in order to make a profit!

Thanks Bob for the analogy, it was a great one! :)

- Dien