Be aware! Until February we are being heavily tracked by the big bad wolves on our way to grandma’s house. ‘Grandma’s house’ for most of us is financial freedom, retirement lifestyle wealth and the ability to give to others less fortunate. We are innocent, just looking for guidance, and end up following the lead of the wolf.
The ‘wolves’ I’m talking about are the financial professionals whom are out to gain only for themselves, or worse, seem to THINK they are helping but DO NOT REALIZE they are leading you to the cave.
It’s rare I turn on the television but when I do it’s to watch hockey or ‘unplug’ my brain watching re-runs of Seinfeld. But now, in the midst of the RRSP selling season, I’m interrupted with commercials about how the financial industry is going to help me and my family retire.
If it was 2006 again for me, I would probably believe the hype and think “yea, I gotta get my act together and make an appointment to see these guys.”
You know what? I DID get my act together, in 2007 when I took on Real Estate investing as a full time career.
That wasn’t it either;
I did what 10% of 1% of 2% of 4% does: DESIGNED A PLAN to build my wealth & achieve financial freedom.
Now what does 10% of 1% of 2% of 4% mean? I borrowed the quote from my friend and broker Peter Kinch. In his book The Canadian Real Estate Action Plan, he says roughly 4% of Canadians will ever buy real estate as an investment which puts anyone who owns investment property in the 96th percentile. Out of those, about half of them will buy two or three properties to supplement their income. To further the statistic, maybe HALF of them decide to truly educate themselves bringing the total of sophisticated investors down to 1%. Finally, out of the 1%, only about 10% of THOSE investors decide to create a PLAN and treat their investment portfolio as a business.
So I am PROUD to say my wife and I ARE 10% of 1% of 2% of 4%!!!
Here we are almost four years into our Real Estate investing and our lives have DRAMATICALLY changed. Changed in so many ways I could blog for months on end straight before I ran out of examples. I look back to all the people I told when I was embarking on this new career and see them still sitting on the fence, basically doing exactly what they were four years ago.
These are the same people who now come to me for ‘advice’ on how they should structure their RSP contributions because I ‘sorta know what I’m talking about’. Are you kidding me?
Their view of my knowledge doesn’t upset me, what gets me is how they can ignore the success change right in front of them.
Here’s the kicker: “I wish I could be as successful as you one day”. “Well, you can! With much quicker results because I’ve already been through the trenches. I’ve got battle wounds and have emerged from one of our worst economic times to give you the advice and help you need” is a paraphrase of my answer.
Their reply (one of many)? “Well BNN had this report about the Canadian housing market and how it is overpriced and just about to breakdown – I think for now, I’m going to play it safe and keep my money in RSP”
‘FOR NOW’? ‘PLAY IT SAFE’? Didn’t the ‘safe market’ just rip away an average of 40% from everyone? How do these people estimate ‘for now’? How long is that? And how long have they been saying it?
I’ll stop here for now as I could go on forever. I realize today’s post is more of a rant, but when I see the commercials and talk to the same people who continuously follow the same patterns it makes me kind of sad I can’t get through to them. But on the other hand, it helps me pinpoint others who ARE ready to make financial freedom their goal. Maybe in print the others will listen!
Great Speed Forward and THANK YOU to all the veterans and their families who helped make my life as free as it is!
Thanks Dave!!!
I LOVE the video, you have the same passion to get to people as I – I’m very happy to have your thoughts here as I follow you and Julie continuously.
Great post Joey!
I couldn’t agree more with your comments and congrats on getting out of the rat race and being 10% of 1% of 2% of 4%!!! I guess Julie and I are like that too. Ah, to be unique. He he.
I am very much inline with what you said above and so I had to share one of my video’s about people and their thoughts/actions on their investments. http://lifeasrealestateinvestors.com/2010/04/get-serious-about-your-investments/
Keep up the great work/comments Joey!
Cheers,
Dave
Love to hear stories like these. My wife and I are heading in that direction but aren’t quite there I think due to needing more education on the matter rather than fear. This is my first time on your blog. When you first decided to do this full time, did you quit your day job on the spot and dive right in or did you set yourself a future date to quit when your real estate income would be sufficient?
Great stuff. This is the direction I’m trying to go in but it’s proving to be a bit of a challenge. Joey, when you decided to do this full time, did you simply quit your day job and dive right in or did you set yourself a date in the future to be doing this full time by?
Brian,
For me it was a bit unique as I sold my previous position in my company before moving into Real Estate full time. Basically, I HAD to do it otherwise there would be no income for me.
I have typically done this all my life from one career / business to the next – that is JUMP IN with both feet blindly and force myself to become successful.
I don’t recommend that strategy to anyone today because you NEED a plan, and although I followed my original “jump” pattern with Real Estate, I quickly realized how fast I could lose my capital without planning specifically for WHY I was investing in real estate.
SLOW is good Brian, do not be discouraged at all. If you are SLOW without ACTION however, that is not good. But it sounds like you are at least ins the small percentile of people who are actually taking hold of their future!
If you need any further help or have another question, I’d be happy to help!
Thanks Brian, Katia…
Fear is the number one killer of dreams – even success…educate, move forward, make mistakes and learn from them. If you do NOT make mistakes, you will NEVER know what DOES NOT work..and to me that is more important than knowing what DOES work.
Joe,
Great post! I enjoyed the Peter Kinch reference.
I think that education is the key ingredient that gives people the motivation and confidence to move forward. Without education it is difficult to progress because we continually get caught up with the same fears time and time again…
Example… Today I got a call from an investor who owns one property. He has called me on occasion for the past 3 years. He will call me maybe 3 times a year. Each time I talk to him, he asks me how things are going with real estate investing. In response, I tell him how things are going…. Each and every time he is always amazed with how much progress I have made.
He has yet to make progress over these past 3 years in buying more properties. Even though, every time I talk to him, he is saying that he wants to buy more properties.
When I compare him to myself, one of the biggest differentiating factors is that I continually educate myself with respect to real estate investment and he does not.
The fact that I educate myself, helps me to get past my fears and forge ahead. Plain and simple, education is a must in order for us to move forward.
Great post job. Keep it up!
Regards,
Neil.
It’s so true huh Neil? What a coincedence about your investor friend calling you. I was in the middle of writing my next post about ‘almost’ the same thing regarding friends who do the same thing. They however have gone as far as getting the questionairre many many times and have never returned. But, they continue to ask how things are going and let them know when a “good deal” comes along.
I guess the idea of the questionairre does it’s job.
I understand why people did not fully engage in trusting me with their money four years ago, I mean wow…a DJ who failed grade 9 math is now a Real Estate investor? But now, years later with multiple properties and a lifestyle they are looking to emulate, what is holding them back? You and I and so many others in our circle are trying desperately to educate and filter ALL of the data and research to make it simple, but still, so many just stay planted.
Great to have your support as always my friend!
Joey, are you mostly self taught or have you always had a friend or colleague to guide you along? What types of real estate purchases have worked best for you? I started off buying smaller rentals like triplexes and fourplexes but bought a 7plex last spring and am thinking of going for a larger fully managed property sometime this winter or next spring
That depends to what you are referring :). If you are asking about my Real Estate, I have had many mentors, colleagues and studied very dilgently before I invested. That is still true to this day as there is always someone doing something you want to do, so it's best to have a great network of people who will help, encourage and support you. You are well ahead of the game Brian with multi-plexes. Congratulations on that, I have yet to dive into that field, although I have studied with REIN a lot on this subject. If you are moving into that area, any education is good education. With that will come people whom you can put on your team to help you along. Does that help? If you need further assistance, I have many people that are in that field that can help point you in the right direction. I would also look at the user forum over at http://www.myreinspace.com as there is a lot of information you can pick up there.