We never had a dog growing up.
We had two cats at different times, "Sparkle" and "Blazer". LOL!
That all changed after my daughter bugged Carol and I for 2-3 years to get one ... and all my attempts to thwart her efforts were ultimately defeated.
My last stand was asking her to make a presentation to us with a daily timeline of how she would manage the puppy walks, food etc. with school and her dance.
She did it and it seemed believable.
Then that all went out the window immediately. Carol and I do all the walking and feeding and cleaning and vet trips and everything.
And now I love that damn little dog. She's the best.
Her name is Millie. She's almost 3 now.
That's her on an early morning walk with me up at Blue Mountain.
Nick was actually skiing that day on the hills in the background with his kids (and my daughter!!) while I walked with Millie on the Monterra golf course that wasn't open just yet.
I will say as a financial investment these dogs aren't the best, LOL!!!!
I had no idea how much the food, the endless veterinarian trips, the boarding (we have a great person who keeps Millie with her in her house while we travel), the grooming etc. etc. etc. would all cost.
I'm pretty sure we could have purchased 8-10 rental properties with what we've spent on this dog.
So I've now concluded dogs get a big "F" on their financial score. Horrible.
But luckily we are fortunate enough to afford her.
And that brings me to this week's big point:
What systems are you running in your financial life?
We've all been to McDonalds and seen that place in action.
They have so many amazing systems in place they're able to juggle the endless revolving door of teenage kids working in the restaurant while consistently producing burgers, fries and milkshakes every-single-day-forever-rain-
Day-in-and-day-out the systems at McDonalds produce revenue.
The owner of the franchise doesn't have to show up and it will still produce for them.
Here's the question for you...
What systems do you have in your life that produce revenue for you?
Most people have a single revenue system that goes like this:
Get job -> show up everyday -> get paid.
If you stop showing up then you stop getting paid.
It's not the best income generating system.
There's a single point of failure ... you.
This is why we think so highly of rental properties.
Most people think they're "investing in real estate" when they buy a rental property.
Not us.
A rental property is much more like buying a small business or a franchise.
Your business offers shelter. Your tenant is your customer.
The system is this:
The roof shows up to the business every-single-day, with or without you. It offers the service of shelter over-and-over-and-over again.
And the tenant, your customer, shows up every-single-day too.
It's quite a beautiful thing.
And it gets better.
Because it's such an amazing business system, the banks will lend EASILY on it. Heck, they will give you 80% financing on your very first shelter business.
And then if the property appreciates and/or the debt gets paid down they will lend to you again!
Yes, that's right, you can get your equity out of this business on a semi-regular basis.
Try that with another business, good luck to you.
Did we mention the tax advantages yet? No?
The interest you pay on the loan to buy your business is a tax deduction! Either personally or via a corporation.
And wait, there's more! Yes, that's right, there's more!
Your real estate shelter business has a hard asset component.
Unlike other businesses that rent their space ... your business has purchased a property! And that hard asset typically goes up in value faster than the government reported inflation rate.
And get this ... this business can be sold rather easily. Typically within a few months you can get all your cash out. Incredible right? Try that with any other business.
So to recap:
This business gets lending relatively easily, can be refinanced more easily than other businesses, generates consistent revenue without your involvement, has tax benefits for you, typically goes up in value faster than the reported inflation rate, and it can be sold relatively easily.
Many people start with one, pull out some equity after a few years, and buy another. Effectively turning one, single, down payment on this business into multiple locations.
Incredible.
Does this business come with problems? Yeah, all businesses do. But nothing that can't be managed.
You can let your business run, and if you use a property manager, you may never visit your business for years!
We know some investors, aka business owners, who have bought these businesses ... sight unseen! Crazy, but true!
You see, real estate doesn't work for you financially because it's real estate.
It works because it's a revenue-generating system that shows up for you day-in-and-day-out, largely without your involvement.
It's like McDonalds!
Cool eh?
(Quick Side Note: If you haven't watched the movie, The Founder, about the story of how McDonalds got started you have to check it out, it's amazing)
So when we ask people what systems they're using in their lives ... this is what we mean.
For Rock Star Real Estate we have systems too. It's not the fact that we're a "brokerage" that creates value. That's really not important to us.
It's the fact that we have marketing systems that produce results, day-in-and-day-out, for us.
This email that you're reading right now is part of that system. Cool eh?
Most people go through life not understanding money at a "principle" level.
They're too busy focusing and chasing "tactics" ... index funds vs. GICs vs. life insurance policies vs. hot stocks vs. option trading vs. cyrpto vs. penny stocks.
All tactics.
The people we've noticed that have time freedom and financial freedom understand money at a PRINCIPLE level.
Then they apply STRATEGIES to create systems.
Inside those systems they use TACTICS.
This principles, strategies and then tactics approach has been very valuable to us. We use it with investing, money management, business building, marketing ... everything.
We're not perfect at it and we're always learning, but it has served us well.
Today we have multiple systems in our lives that generate income for us whether we show up or not.
We'd highly recommend it for you too.
Rental properties are a great place to start. Sounds self-serving, we know.
But we truly believe it, it's why we got into this business.
Heck we started flipping properties in Mississauga and Oakville, bought some rentals and then started a whole brokerage to focus on this. We're all in.
So what systems do you run in your life?
Do you like what you see? Is it time to change them?
Only you know.
This week we have some new goodies for you...
We released a new Rock Star Minutes video about a simple jar money management system for adults.
This changed my life.
You can check it out here or it's linked below for you.
And in a couple of weeks we have our next Introduction to Real Estate Investing Class.
It's about 60 minutes over Zoom and then Nick and I stick around to answer each and every question that you have.
You can register for the next one by visiting here.
The real estate market is heating up again (surprise, surprise!) and our bet is that rates are lower at the end of this year. Fun times ahead.
That's it for this week.
Enjoy the weather!!
Tom & Nick
