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We weren’t handy, but we could learn, and we did, but being a landlord? No thanks. I learned my lesson well...
I was five when we moved from one town to another for my dad’s job. My parents talked about it, and decided to keep the old house and rent it out. They found a nice young couple, and for a few months everything was fine.
Then our old neighbor called and told my Dad something was wrong...didn’t know what, but something was wrong. So Dad and I got in the car to visit the neighbors, and check out our house.
Our driveways were one large drive separated with a small wall, and Dad and the old neighbors were talking and laughing, and I was drinking her homemade lemonade and enjoying having a fuss made over me. The renters came out and saw Dad, and they all started talking... and I had to go to the bathroom. So I asked the renter wife if I could use the bathroom and she said yes.
And I did, but then wanted to see my old bedroom. In my bedroom was floor to ceiling cages with little doggies in them.
I’m five. No one pays attention to five year olds. So the adults are all talking and laughing, and I take my father hand and give him a tug and he comes down to my level so I could whisper in his ear — they have a lot of doggies in my bedroom...
The dear sweet neighbor lady grabbed me and took me into her kitchen to ply with milk and cookies....
The renters were raising foxes — a multitude of foxes. The house was WRECKED. It smelled to high heaven, the drywall was saturated, so it was replaced, the floor was replaced and thankfully it was on a slab, which they did something to. Dad’s first foray into landlording.
Every time someone talks about being a landlord, I see foxes. Not for me.
I've done long distance residential but no more... the rentals I manage have at least weekly drive by and often I pay for gardening service... so I check to make sure everything is done.
It is a job... no doubt about it.
Commercial NNN leases are not so intensive and I really appreciate the business to business aspect.
Can you explain the highlight above? Do you mean that all of those things have appreciated in value, or do you mean something else?
Yes... my hobby/interest is cars and machinery... only one brand new car ever and it was a special factory order I picked up when working in Germany... so I guess I will need to keep this one a very long time.
Always liked convertibles and sports cars... things like MG or Mustang or Camaro plus antiques like Model A and T's, Horseless Carriages, Stepside Pickups, etc...
But even mundane cars such as Toyota, Suzuki Samurai… etc.
The key is to buy right...
In high school I was always trading up... buy a cheap car, clean it up so it would be spotless while looking for the next car to buy... sometimes people would give me cars... they were selling the house and had Grandma's Oldsmobile with two flat tires that had been sitting for years in the garage... I buy it for little money or Free and spend a day detailing, fresh gas, used tires... etc.
My latest passion is Antique Tractors... there are a lot of tractors from the 30's 40's and 50's that can be bought cheap and look like a million with a cosmetic restoration and some TLC
Machinery has also been very good... Bridgeport Mills, LeBlond Lathes, etc...
Of course the above is true for Real Estate too...
Do you believe most millionaires are just regular people hidden in the masses? Do you think "The Millionaire Next Door" should be required reading for Americans who want to learn the secret of managing their finances better?
Maybe it's semantics, but nothing should be required reading for Americans, who live in a free country.
Frugality isn't any secret.
A problem with the premise of the book is survivorship bias. The authors looked at people who became millionaires. They didn't look at people with particular sets of money habits and see how they turned out after 30 years. It's hard to say what portion of frugal households build up a net worth of >$1M. They're probably in the minority.
...
A problem with the premise of the book is survivorship bias. The authors looked at people who became millionaires. They didn't look at people with particular sets of money habits and see how they turned out after 30 years. It's hard to say what portion of frugal households build up a net worth of >$1M. They're probably in the minority.
That's a crucial point! America loves winners. It extols and endlessly celebrates winners... only the winners.
Consider a s scrawny kid who's afraid of the water. One day, he has an epiphany, and resolves to teach himself swimming. He paddles around the local stream, which isn't deep enough to drown him. After many reversals and frustrations, he gets the knack of it. Eventually he's sufficiently good to do laps around the local YMCA pool.
But then he decides to expand his competency towards actual participation in competition. He's a walk-on to the junior-high swim team. He makes it - barely... but is never sufficiently good as to be selected by the coach to represent the school in competition. He practices intensely, but never gets his chance to compete. He tries again in high school. When applying for college, he attempts to market himself as a swimmer - to guffaw and chortle by the admissions committee.
One supposes that for every superstar who makes the Division-1 collegiate swim team, 100 make forthright and assiduous attempts, but fail.
The problem with American wealth-culture, and American culture overall (to the extent that one exists), is the unflappable belief that hard work pays off. Simply put - no, it doesn't! Sometimes it can, but hardly always, and probably not in the majority of times.
But that's not license for surrender and laziness, either - for then we forego deniability. We MUST work hard, we must save voraciously and keep practicing our swimming-laps, knowing full well that success is elusive. Life is frustrating. It must be! We must recognize that. We can neither excuse ourselves from trying, nor delude ourselves in belief that good try will be well-rewarded.
"And I congratulated the dead, who are better off than the living. But best off, were those who were never born". Is there any wiser saying than that?
Yes... my hobby/interest is cars and machinery... only one brand new car ever and it was a special factory order I picked up when working in Germany... so I guess I will need to keep this one a very long time.
Always liked convertibles and sports cars... things like MG or Mustang or Camaro plus antiques like Model A and T's, Horseless Carriages, Stepside Pickups, etc...
But even mundane cars such as Toyota, Suzuki Samurai… etc.
The key is to buy right...
In high school I was always trading up... buy a cheap car, clean it up so it would be spotless while looking for the next car to buy... sometimes people would give me cars... they were selling the house and had Grandma's Oldsmobile with two flat tires that had been sitting for years in the garage... I buy it for little money or Free and spend a day detailing, fresh gas, used tires... etc.
My latest passion is Antique Tractors... there are a lot of tractors from the 30's 40's and 50's that can be bought cheap and look like a million with a cosmetic restoration and some TLC
Machinery has also been very good... Bridgeport Mills, LeBlond Lathes, etc...
Of course the above is true for Real Estate too...
Thanks. I thought that was it, but I didn’t want to assume.
A problem with the premise of the book is survivorship bias. The authors looked at people who became millionaires. They didn't look at people with particular sets of money habits and see how they turned out after 30 years. It's hard to say what portion of frugal households build up a net worth of >$1M. They're probably in the minority.
It is not enough just to be frugal. There has to be a certain level of income as well to increase the probability that a person will reach $1 million.
According to the authors, the median household income of millionaires was $131,000. That is a respectable income, but certainly much less than what most people would expect millionaires to make.
Even if a person doesn't reach $1 million, being frugal will still increase your financial independence in the long run. That is the conclusion being reached here, or at least that is the theory.
it wasn't until the tail end of our working years that we were even close , so i am not sure what time frame and what ramping up in pay , this number of 131k refers refers too . we hit a million but our pay for the early decades was far less than even 100k , it was likely below 50k so this 131k number tells us little about how long they are making 131k or more.
Last edited by mathjak107; 03-16-2019 at 11:42 AM..
It is not enough just to be frugal. There has to be a certain level of income as well to increase the probability that a person will reach $1 million.
According to the authors, the median household income of millionaires was $131,000. That is a respectable income, but certainly much less than what most people would expect millionaires to make.
Even if a person doesn't reach $1 million, being frugal will still increase your financial independence in the long run. That is the conclusion being reached here, or at least that is the theory.
My wife and I did it on ~$100k avg household income by age 35. No inheritance, no lottery winnings, just good old fashioned frugality.
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