How did your upbringing shape your attitude to investing and money..

of course! Paid back $60 after a fortnight. She earned interest at the rate of 40% per annum if my maths is correct.

 

You're not alone there, @skater I have a love/hate relationship with all those DIY and reno shows - I love houses, too - buying, renovating, decorating (it's just a pity that so much of it only goes on in my head).

 

I was lucky (?) enough to see both sides of the coin from my parents.You'll see why I'm not sure if it was 'lucky' or not in the next few paras.

I was exposed early on to business/investment. My parents had grown a portfolio of residential and commercial properties and were heavily involved in business. It is hard to pin-point the size of the portfolio, but as an indication, one of several blocks that they had was in St Kilda and had 56 1 and 2 bedroom units. My dad's brother who we are very close to, had even more (including CBD freeholds, motels, etc). I was surrounded by valuable sources of influence.

The big BUT comes, as during the early 90s 'recession we had to have' all that disappeared. We very literally went from a nice house, Benzes and a Roller, to a basic rental and a beige Datsun 200B with no aircon. Lucky I was too young to realise the difference!

Ultimately though, I saw how my parents slowly rebuilt their portfolio. This time they took a slightly slower, less risky path which I managed to closely observe step by step. The money may have gone, but the mindset was still there. Having seen this journey, I think that many dinner table conversations have definitely resulted in my picking up an 'investment focused' mindset.

 

Everything little thing combined gets me to invest.

I grew up as the youngest in the middle class one income family. We are not lacking anything, except that 2 family members has spending issue. One is serious addiction to gambling and another is obscene spending. Both leads to many many many fights along with threats on divorce. Dad work in family business (with some of my uncles) and business were growing, we were in a better condition financially. Yet the fights never end.
That leads me to promise that in my household, we will not fight over money. Husband and I are pretty at managing our money, so that helps

I'd say despite all the issues, parents are doing extremely well. They managed to send all daughters overseas for education, paid all living cost until we graduate. Obscure spending by other member got me to only spend my pocket money on things I really want and save the rest.That's where the spending 'ok' habit came from (I think).

Growing up being told "money don't grow from trees" and lots of fights on the topic somehow lead me to Rich Dad Poor Dad, trying different things like affiliate marketing, MLM, HYIP, Google Adsense, Forex, etc. And now, property.
I got here somehow

 

Very good advice. For me personally, I have not experienced the implication of a recession and really need to commit to having a sufficient buffer to really survive if things go pear shape.

 

I'm going to go back a extra generation.

My family don't talk about it much, but I think my grandfather on my dads side was a bit of a deadbeat. They always rented, never had much money, 7 kids... There has been mention that he won a lottery (fairly significant), but lost it gambling. My Dad walked into a trade easily (as it was at the time), and eventually became a TAFE teacher. He always worked hard and I guess he wanted to avoid the life he grew up with, but didn't really see past the work hard/get a pension thing until he and my mum were 50+ and the thought of not working occurred to them. They outsourced to a financial adviser and have done a little better than gov pension.

My my mums dad had to support his own family from when he was 13 - his dad died from pneumonia. He always worked hard and was incredibly frugal, but no investing or financial growth. My mum stayed home until we were all in primary school, then worked customer service.

I never wanted for anything growing up, but we were certainly not rich - no overseas trips, our holidays involved a tent, never a hotel. I was the first of my extended family to go to uni. My salary was higher than my dads after about 3 years in the workforce. I credit that to me learning a strong work ethic from my parents - just do what needs to be done and get the job done.

BUT, no investment knowledge, pretty poor spending habits. A good thing is my wife is a very good saver. Bad thing is she is incredibly conservative with no interest in investing or property.

It is only quite recent that I've put in some decent effort to educate myself about these things and actually do something about it. Having some specific goals has certainly helped my spending habits, and given me something to focus towards. Just need to progress the action part of things a bit more.

Cheers,
Inertia.

 

My sibling and I were brought up the same way and yet whilst the family are all strong savers, she is a real spender.

Sometimes environment has nothing to do with it.

 

What gravitates you towards savings/ investing? Any specific experience?
Just because you grew up in the same house, doesn't mean you experience the same thing.

 

Came from a middle-class family, however parents bought an investment property in a volatile market in the mid 90s. Paid 1mil, was offered 1.8mil at the peak but did not sell. 15 years later, that property was sold for 1.1mil. Meanwhile, it cost them $3000-$4000 a month to hold as rent money wasn't enough to cover mortgage payment. It didn't deter me and my partner to invest in property as the Sydney was less volatile & numbers stacked up when we entered the market (late 2000s).

Had an uncle who was really successful in late 80s and 90s from business and property investing, new Merc every couple of years and had at least 5-6 cars in the garage. Was inspired by him sitting in his Merc, that one day I would like to own a Merc and invest in property too.

Another family member, husband was working as a cust service rep for 30-35 years, wages no more than 55K. Wife was only part-time, so around 30K a year. However saved up and also won a lottery (200K surely helps) and slowly building their portfolio in the 80s, 90s and early 2000. They are retiring soon, and most of them are paid off. Total of 9x investment properties plus one where they currently live. The rent monies are enough for them to live off, and travel overseas annually. Slowly but surely got them to become a multi-millionaire.

 

My mum facebooked me tonight. "Are you going to sell all your Sydney properties?" I reply, "no, no. Why would I want to do that?"

"Because you need the money for your new place."

She even asked if I was going to sell what I regard as my bullet proof, incredibly high yielding near city property. I can't believe it.

Is she just trying to drag me down to average??

So I've asked her to never talk to me about selling properties ever.

 

Generationally different mindsets. I have a totally different mindset to my siblings but the same as Mrs No Mates.

Her siblings are the same - hand to mouth existences.

 

Just tell her you sold them all and never discuss your financial matters with them again.

 

That would be good except she'll look for all my listings... she even monitors my airbnb bookings (just as much as I do and i'm the owner). She even found my West Ryde listing and I didn't tell her. She has too much time on her hands because they are retired.

 

I agree. Sometimes it's best to not tell people your business/money matters at all.
You won't respect their opinion, nor do you want to hear it. Apart from bragging or reassurance, I've learnt it's now best to just shut up and say 'yes, I just have a toyota and I can't afford anything else. I'm hopeless with money I guess'

 

My folks migrated from Southern Europe back in the 60's with one suitcase. I doubt if that suitcase really had much in it. I suspect it was full however of dreams for a better life. And a better life indeed they achieved. They worked hard in those early years. My father realised early on that, to really make something, you had to make it your self and so moved away from factory work and set up business for himself. He ran cafes and a small restaurant in the inner suburbs of melbourne . He made enough to buy his home and pay it out very quickly and to ensure that we didnt go without. The trade off for me was that he insisted on education and forbade me from getting a job as a check out chick! He also decided early on that although he was a migrant in this country and greatful for the opportunities, he most certainly wasnt going to rely on the pension from the government in his retirement and set out to invest in property. He could see how some of his friends were too reliant on their jobs and could see ultimately they would be relying on a pension and he wasnt going to be a part of that. Too proud! He didnt want that for himself. He wanted the freedom to live how he wishes. He didnt end up buying alot. Just one commercial property. And I questioned him once as to why he didnt buy more . " If I have too many, then the goverment taxes me more. Happy with one" Thats his mantra. But it had / or still has a dual income supply and provides my parents a very nice income stream that allows them to live very comfortably and travel back to their mother country every couple of years. My father decided he was going to semi retire at about 55 and he did. He is now 75 and has no regrets. He is paying for his own way and that makes him happy. My attitude is: If my folks can do it whilst dealing with language, cultural and money barriers, then I think I can do. Its this attitude in dad that motivates me to make money and become self sufficient.

 

Yes, running your own entity, be it a business or something else, is the smart way (possibly yhe only way).