Quote:
Originally posted by VaSteve
I started reading the books "Millionairre Next Door" and Rich Dad, Poor Dad and they get me thinking.
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I also read those two books and found them, inspiring. True, the author of RichDad/Poor Dad could not write his way out of a wet paper bag. And I actually found the book
painfully ineloquent at times. But the underlying message that "income producing assets beat a day job" is, in my experience, correct and sound. The advice from "Millionaire Next Door" also taught me about frugality which has done a lot to help me acquire those assets.
- Where you live?
Worcester, MA - Fifty miles west of Boston.
- What your/your business does?
I am a very small time landlord - just two units. I have a property manager who handles most of the headaches so I can
also hold down a full time job in computers.
- How long you have been doing it?
Bought my first rental unit three years ago.
- Do you have a family and/or kids?
Nope. Zippo.
- How old are you?
39
- How much do you work?
Forty hours a week in the "day job" and then
at least another 10-16 on weekends maintaining the rental house when my property manager occassionally falls down on the job.
NOTE TO SELF: Never again buy a 90 year old house and expect to make a profit from it.
- Do you like it (seriously!)?
No. Computer programming is dull as dirt and being a landlord
can be a PITA. However, when my property manager is doing his job (which is, granted, most of the time), the landlord thing is pretty sweet. It is like pennies from Heavan. But when he screws up, I am reminded that it all ultimately falls on my shoulders.
That said, had I stuck to buying condos as rental units instead of buying a 90 year old 2-family, I'd have a LOT fewer backaches and skinned knuckles. My condo unit has 1% of the headaches of my house.
- What was the defining moment that made you strike out on your own?
When I read the two books mentioned above. They were lent to me by a far more successful colleague and I took them seriously.
- Are you accumulating wealth or just sustaining life?
Definitely the former. Even my tiny real estate empire has done more for my net worth than all of my years of wage slavery - and yes, I have made it a habit to keep track of my net worth.
- Do you have a comfortable lifestyle (buy whatever you want? within reason? unlimted?)
Aside from my admittedly rediculous car obsession, I live like a monk. No movies. No toys. No trips. No vacations. I'm saving to buy more real estate when the market collapses.
My only frivilous expenditures are for my cars. I figure no human can live without
some fun.
- How much you make? (If you choose to answer, it can be any form: sales, net, X times what an exmployee would make doing the same job, etc.)
$120k from the day job and another $20,700 in rental income. At present, every penny goes to paying down the mortages and saving for future purchases. Ask me in ten years if it was worth it.