Before you go home from work today don’t forget to finish all the things you have started there. Keep doing this for a while at home and at work you will be too exhausted to start anything. Then you will be happy not with what you had or what you will have but with what you are having at that moment. It’s a state of “Innert peace”![:p][]
My daughter woke me up this morning asking for $10. I had only $5 in my bag. [] I wished I had $50. It must be a nice dream last night with thounsands of $50 notes.[]
I’m a big spender. Usually I don’t know how much I have in my bank account. Once work didn’t pay me for weeks I only found out when I run out of money. Can’t help it. Let’s see what I can do with $50:
With $50 —-> charity or
1000 * $50 —-> charity + parents + DIY renovations
2000 * $50 —-> charity + parents + deposit PROP for 1 kid
5000 * $50 —-> charity + parents + deposit PROP for 2 kids + deposit for 1 IP
The rent for my IP in Sydney has been decreased by 5% in the last 2 years. However rents have been increased heaps in Canberra, more at the low end, less for city apartments.
Thanks Bron, we’ve been doing whatever we can for his family since. The shock has made us to re-assess our priorities in life. It’s a good lesson for us.
Thanks all for your inputs. I agree that all helps that we can give to our children are good but still fear it can result in disasters if not handle properly. It’s a question of how to help our kids effectively and without bad consequences.
My thoughts are :
1. Educate them : like Steven’s children, mine achieve highly in academic but know nothing about finance/wealth. I don’t know what to teach them other than some basic finance management principles. I know wealth is a “want”, not a “need” and it can bring us both happiness & unhappiness. Most people don’t know how much is enough. Needs and wants are two different things. We often have to give up one thing in life in order to get another.
2. Become a guarantor : I have lots of worries about this option, similar to what Wrappack wrote. I only do it when I feel it is a must and there isn’t any other option. I may know my children but I don’t know their future partners.
3. Lend/give money : I lend money to family members and friends up to an amount that I know I could afford to lose without feeling bad about them. I don’t like to see money matters damage good relationships.
I want to give my children money when they need than to leave them money when I die. I’ve seen in many cases parents give money to their children then think they have the right to control/ interfere into their children’s family affairs. I’ve also seen many children in return don’t value what they’ve got and become lazy and dependent. Money when comes easily often goes easily.
30 years ago my father offered to send me money so I could buy a house and established myself in Sydney. I could even buy 3 houses there with the money he wanted to send over. I was a student then, married with 1 kid. I didn’t even have $2 to pay for the hospital fee for my son’s treatment but I refused his offer. The reasons were I didn’t want to rely on my father and I didn’t want him to have any chance to interfere into my family life. My father lost most of his money in the war and he is still struggling to help my brothers using his last lot of money without any good result or appreciation from them. I try to talk him out of it but he insists. At his age his children should look after him not the other way around. I feel sorry for him. Looking back I think I made the right decision but feel sad because I can’t give him lots of money as I wish I could. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I accepted the money! I’m in my father’s shoes now and try not to make the same mistake.
Hi Julian, It’s not easy but why not! Some smart people can achieve both. I like your motto.
Personally I don’t like gaining wealth in the expense of losing other important things in live. Recently I lost a good friend. He started late so he worked so hard to build up wealth for the family. He did very well. Within a few years he bought a beautiful new house, expensive cars. He paid them off quickly and built up a good investment porfolio. At the same time his relationships with his spouse, teenage children went through hell. Toward the end it was not unusual to see him worked 80, 90 hours a week. I met him a few weeks ago. I could feel that something was not right but he insisted he was in good health and could handle the stress. He asked me for some tips on house renovations because he just bought another investment property. He looked happy and we had a great time together with other friends. He ended his life few days after that. I know he loved and adored his family so much so why did he do that? If I made an effort to met him and talked things over after that night would he change his decision? What could I do better as a friend? I’m still having hundreds of questions in my head and still grieving over it.
Thanks Melbear & Bluecat, I will check and proceed with the change-over before I feel sorry for the existing agent again.
Regards
Huey
PS. Hi Melbear, I was flat out with cleaning up the house to make room for my son’s family to move in. They’re already with us and settling down comfortably. Apart from that and the busy Christmas & 2 New Years celebrations we experienced some sad events.
We can lose good friends when :
1. We don’t have time to see them as we used to.
2. We can’t stop talking about Property investing when we see them.
3. The degree of our arrogant attitude increase with the number of property we acquire.
We will lose over-jealous friends but they are not good friends anyway.
We will have new friends, some good ones with the same interest, some bad ones only interest in our wealth.
The higher we are in the wealth ladder the lonelier we are. I prefer to have 0 property and 101 friends than to have 101 properties and no friends.
Their stocks are in top price ranges because they select good locations & good developers. I wanted to get 2 but only could afford one. I bought it 2 years ago. It’s neutral geared but good capital gains. I’m not sure if we can achieve the same if we buy in today market.
I will print the list & stick it on the wall or somewhere that my hubby can see. I’ve been covered with spider webs and dust from cleaning the garage since this morning. I need a month to catch up with all those tasks.
I will buy that book. I will contact you for coffee next time we make it there. Currently we have lots of concerns about our IP in Sydney. Your advice will be most welcomed. Pls send me your mail address at tranvh2000 at yahoo.com.au.
I bought 1 through them. They are nice people. They select good properties from a number of well known developers and sell for them. They receive commissions from the developers just like other real estate agents. You pay the same as if you approach the developers yourself. It’s convenient when you want to buy properties interstates.
Hi Dingo, instead you should look around and post to us details when you find more +ve cash flow properties than you could handle.
… but hang on guys! Don’t you think that we should support the locals?
Hi Mini, your posts has created a miniwave similar to Steve’s book has make a hugewave causing another property boom in the last few months. I also think Steve’s book has an effect of slowing down the predicted properrty bust. It works both ways.