When was your AHA moment....??

Discussion in 'Investor Psychology & Mindset' started by Sackie, 14th Dec, 2019.

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  1. geoffw

    geoffw Moderator Staff Member

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    So you threw away your morality and became immoral?
     
  2. Morgs

    Morgs Well-Known Member Business Member

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    I think it started with my parents. Not that they pushed me in any way but they were always fighting about money. In hindsight we had enough to get by, but they worked very hard for what ended up being very little and were never really able to get ahead. I guess that was the precursor.

    The first a-ha moment I had was coming across the concept of compound interest. I can't remember what age I was but it was young, and all I wanted to do from that point on was save money, and could see the vision that I'd have everything I wanted if I followed that simple concept.

    The second a-ha moment I had was coming across the concepts of wealth creation through leverage. Would've been late teen years. It was the realization that you could accelerate the achievement of goals by taking some "risks" beyond pure compound interest by investing in things like property.

    The third a-ha moment I had was in the late stages of my corporate career when I was overlooked for a promotion. Wasn't the first time, but I was absolutely gutted in this instance. I realized that the career goals I had were just an illusion of the success I was chasing and that this needed to change. From that point, structured a formal exit plan from the corporate world so I could concentrate more on wealth creation (and helping others do the same).

    There were probably a whole heap of mini-a-ha's, and I'm sure I've still got more a-ha moments/learnings to come as time goes on.
     
  3. kierank

    kierank Well-Known Member

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    Gotta blame the wife for that :D.
     
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  4. # 1

    # 1 Well-Known Member

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    I've always thought to myself that life is too short to work 9-5 mon-fri and life should be about having fun, being happy and exploring the world. Being "rich" sounds nice but I was more motivated to leave the grind so that I could travel and have lots of interesting experiences before I pass on. I've always thought it's better to die on your feet than live on your knees.
     
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  5. Angel

    Angel Well-Known Member

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    We purchased our first home in 1980, and about six months after we settled, it had doubled in value. Well that was easy, I thought :oops:

    Eight years later it was still worth the same, but we outgrew it and sold it and bought the land where we now live. By the time we had built the house and moved in, the land had doubled in value and the entire place was worth more than double what we sold the other one for. Bloody easy, I thought.

    17 years later we had paid off the big mortgage, so instead of doing what the herd does in that situation and upgrading to a bigger and better place, we decided to refinance and buy some IPs. It all went downhill from there.

    *Bloody Labor state governments
     
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  6. The Prestige

    The Prestige Well-Known Member

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    Like @Morgs said. Seeing a compound interest graph and the advantages of leverage did it for me.
     
  7. Sackie

    Sackie Well-Known Member

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    That's inspiring. Your mighty brave too.
     
  8. ellejay

    ellejay Well-Known Member

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    I hope @Charlotte30 will do a post on her developments. She's one kick ass business woman :cool:

     
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  9. Sackie

    Sackie Well-Known Member

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    Ditto!
     
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  10. TAJ

    TAJ Well-Known Member

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    This may come across as a morbid profile but it is certainly not meant to be so.

    My awakening came when my Wife passed away in 2015. After trying to search for answers in the bottom of a bottle, a dear friend pulled me aside and explained that my wife wouldn't want me to go on like I was.
    So, I pulled myself together and got back to my business and powered on.
    Up until then everything had been a set of circumstances that had panned out well. Moving from Sydney at the ripe old age of 20, outlaying the capital I had on equipment and working tirelessly to get the show up and going. Purchasing some IP's along the way, dumping as much as possible into Super and LIC's, just seemed the right thing to do for our future.
    I knew very early on (19) that Sydney was not where I wanted to spend my life or raise a family. Yes, we are all different.
    Thankfully, it was the best life decision I have ever made.
    Do I have any regrets? Yes, only that my wife is not here now to enjoy the fruits of our labour.
    You don't know what you've got till it's gone....

    I now know that there is something inside me greater than any obstacle! Something I didn't understand at 19.

    AHA!
     
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  11. Nodrog

    Nodrog Well-Known Member

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    When I realised Property was terrible and Shares were magnificent:). Got rid of the all investment property and now living the “truely passive” dream in retirement on LIC / ETF dividends:cool:.

    9C54D749-D6B2-48B3-A4A0-295A10164E8B.jpeg
     
    Last edited: 15th Dec, 2019
  12. TAJ

    TAJ Well-Known Member

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    Wish I would of known sooner! I have 3 IP's, 2 of which have been reasonably hands off, but the 1 in Sydney has been a continual headache. Would sell it if I didn't have to pay capital gains:eek:
     
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  13. Nodrog

    Nodrog Well-Known Member

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    Re CGT yes can be a pain for property being a lumpy investment. Makes tax planning very difficult as unlike shares it can’t be sold incrementally over a number of years.

    Thrilled to hear retirement is going brilliantly for you TAJ.
     
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  14. significance

    significance Well-Known Member

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    I had a moment where I realised that I would need to change the way I was thinking about money, but not quite in the way that you mean. We have always been reasonably careful with our money and live a comfortable lifestyle but spend less than we earn. We were conservative with the size of our first mortgage, aimed to pay it off in 15 years but actually paid it off in 10. When that was done, we started putting money each month into a "set and forget" managed fund and otherwise kept doing what we were doing.

    Then last year, my husband lost his job unexpectedly, so we were down to one income... And nothing changed. We didn't need to cut spending, and we were still accumulating money much faster than needed to retire at 65 as we planned and live out our lives with our current lifestyle. He was unemployed for 6 months, then found another good job.

    So my "aha" moment was the realisation that we needed to start thinking in terms of early retirement -- an idea that I had never really entertained before.
     
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  15. See Change

    See Change Well-Known Member

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    Day after 40th birthday .

    Life begins at 40 but back of envelope calculation made me realise i'd be lucky if it was mid 70's .

    Three days later I heard Robert Kiyosaki being interviewed on ABC radio about his book , rich dad , poor dad .

    Cliff
     
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  16. truong

    truong Well-Known Member

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    Never thought of owning an IP until we had to move home. Bought a new PPOR but couldn’t sell the old one in time, so on top of a normal loan we had to arrange for what in my mind was just a bridging loan. Stroke of luck: my sister needed a home to rent. Aha! We realised we could keep that “bridging” loan forever if she rented our old home. It was our first IP, followed by many others.

    Never thought of owning shares until we came close to retirement. Had a lot of equity in the IPs but just a paltry income from them with lots of headache. We were breaking our backs working towards a 80% of pre-retirement income target as per some mindless FP’s advice. Stroke of luck: met a guy with a fraction of our assets but more income than we could wish for, year after year. He owned AFIC shares. Aha! We could have retired a few years earlier.

    Now thinking back, I was brought up in a traditional wage earning family completely oblivious of the investment world. Even when running a business I was still thinking like a wage earner and working doubly hard. Can’t believe how much I’ve changed.
     
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  17. The Grinch

    The Grinch Well-Known Member

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    Powerful to read, couldn't imagine having the same strength to pull myself together like you did if I lost mine.
     
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  18. The Grinch

    The Grinch Well-Known Member

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    I grew up poor with a single mother who was constantly breaking her back to provide for myself and my siblings, had a stepfather for 10 years in the picture but he probably caused more harm then good in regards to the finances.

    I remember growing up and being in my early 20's always being super reckless with my money, it was not uncommon for me to gamble or party my entire pay check away the day I was paid and then having to live rough until my next pay.

    Fast forward a few years and I met my now fiance whom had a very similar upbringing to me. First few years together we continued to party our money away or just spend it needlessly.

    It wasn't until one evening when I was able to work through a ton of issues I had mentally that this light bulb clicked in my head and I realised that the only thing holding me back from anything was myself and that I had been wasting time on my self destructive behaviours.

    Almost by magic a nathan birch video popped up on my YouTube recommended the next day and the learning progress began.

    Still without a property but from 2 years ago always having $0 in my account to now being able to save up a deposit and begin this journey of wealth creation.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: 22nd Dec, 2019
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  19. NHG

    NHG Well-Known Member

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    I guess there were several AHA moments.

    (1) 23 years old. Promoted to a civil-foreman equivalent. Took a week off to celebrate in Melbourne.

    The apartment was directly across from a commercial hi-rise. Bank maybe?

    Every morning I could see this person working. At night she would still be there. All week. It occurred to me she was probably hustling for that corner office, meanwhile the owner wasn't even there.

    (2) 24 Broke the 6-figure income mark working rural. Saw my boss jogging middle of the night. Over-weight, sad looking. Looked at me, said he was stressed. That would be my future. HELL NO.

    (3) 25 Went to buy first apartment. Numbers didn't make sense. $400k apartment. $420/wk rent. How on earth do people own multiple properties? Stumbled across Steve McKnight book a little while later.

    *edit* I think this actually happened when I was 21 or 22, just sat on it for a few years.

    (4) 27, six rentals later, positive geared, yet felt poorer than ever. Two events:

    (A) Realised the investors with large portfolios were active in business.

    (B) Realised some people I knew were earning close to $1M a year.

    Bashed my head against a wall for 3 years before gaining traction.

    (5) 33, seems like everyone earns $1M+/year.

    Meeting some interesting business people. Happy, fit early 30s friends looking to crack 8 and 9 figure turn-overs. More experienced mentors sharing their life long learnings. Finding it easier to retrain my brain to learn.

    I think once you see enough people genuinely achieving things well out of your original capacity, you either reject it as bull, or you open yourself up, and get sucked up the pyramid.
     
    Last edited: 18th Dec, 2019
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  20. VanillaSlice

    VanillaSlice Well-Known Member

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    What were those people doing in order to earn close to $1M a year ?
    What lessons did you learn from those experienced mentors sharing their life long learnings ?