A Blunt Piece of Advice About Money from Smart Old People...

(that's Nick who forgot his sunscreen so he's using sand to cover up)

I have no idea if the advice they gave me was original.

Or if they had lifted it from some book or movie somewhere.

And I didn't care.

It struck me like a ton of bricks.

When I was chasing $100K incomes and chasing my tail like a dog I was lucky enough to have a couple of smart older folk give me this advice. It went something like this...

"Tom, without money working for you - you will never stop working for money."

Bam ... it hit me hard.

Right between the eyes.

I finally "got it."

My six-figure income was nice, the 5-star sales award vacations were even better but I was always going to be answering to the man.

I decided right there and then that real estate would be my vehicle.

I had no business experience - although I wanted my own business - so the fastest route would be property investing.

I ran out and bought the first property I could find, then bought some more, then started some little businesses and then some bigger ones.

I think the advice scared me and pissed me off all at the same time.

I went to school, followed the proper path, got a job, had nightmares about my job, switched jobs, realized I needed a lot more money in my life to live like I wanted to, and went into freak out mode ... that pushed me into action.

Thank goodness for smart old people.

Now, I'm not sure Nick or myself are in the proper position to be doling out advice, and I wouldn't consider us old, but here goes...

If you do not have assets in your life that are generating money for you ... get some.

Or at least get one. Please.

And keep it for a long time.

You can choose between building/buying your own business.

Owning some income property.

Owning some paper investments like stocks, bonds etc.

Owning some nice shiny stuff like gold and silver.

They each have various pros and cons to them.

Building a business and owning real estate are, in our opinion, the hardest to own and are the least liquid.

But they have the best upside too.

We're obviously pretty real estate biased so let's focus on that category for a second...

If you do not have one income producing property in your name yet, then get one.

And get one damn fast.

Assets that make money for you are game changers.

It's funny, Nick and I run around doing all sorts of "business stuff" and our properties just sit there getting more equity in them every single year.

And we don't really work at getting that equity. It kinda happens by itself.

We know you're busy.

We know there are bills to pay, kids to take to school, emergencies that require money.

We know it always feels like the sky is falling in the real estate market.

It's felt that way for at least a decade now.

But the next time you get that bonus, commission cheque, unexpected bit of cash, start saving it so that you can add a property or two to your name.

There is stress with properties but dealing with that stress results in bucket loads of equity.

It's funny .... during the first 1-3 years of owning property you don't see that much difference in your life.

But between 3-5 years something happens. The mortgage finally goes down a little, a bit of appreciation "maybe" kicks in and you have the start of a beautiful asset blossoming.

Then between 5-10 years things really pick up speed.

And between 10-15 years you find yourself sitting on all sorts of equity. Maybe even more equity than you know what to do with.

It's like this snowball that rolls around in wet snow slowly growing until it's so big you can't push the thing anymore.

And your life changes.

My wife's grandfather was a hard-working engineer in Italy.

His drawings of the bridges in Florence were taken by the University of Florence when he passed as historical artefacts.

Super cool stuff.

He was a smart man.

Taught me how to eat spaghetti with a spoon.

When he passed away he left this amazing legacy of wealth to his family.

He had properties all over Italy. Small rentals in Rome, properties in Florence, property by the beach.

He was a smart man.

When he was alive I remember casually pondering how he could be so generous with his family.

Turns out he had his money working for him.

ALL of the wealthy people I know have money working for them.

If starting your own business is your dream then chase it.

Chase it hard.

And at the same time figure out how to get your hands on a good income producing (aka ... cash flowing) property.

There's no more commonwealth creator that we've ever seen.

That's our 2 cents.

And remember...

"Without money working for you - you will never stop working for money."

Until next time ... Your Life! Your Terms!