Your drivers for financial focus

Hi All,

Was just thinking what drives people to investing and what drives them to continue persisting and working hard to do better overtime with investing.

Everybody is different, but for me and my family, I found that we wanted to have a strong foundation in Australia and having place to call home one day was a big driver to keep focused on investing. There was a lack of comfort and desire for a better life than experienced before.

However, what I have found, for the lack of a better word, annoying is people around us who say they want to do real estate investing and they don't. We know somebody in the extended circle who saw us for input in 2013. They went away saying they will buy in Sydney and didn't take any action. Now they are back, this time willing to buy in Brisbane and have asked us to just point to the "right" property and they will buy with their eyes closed (and they wouldn't pay a buyers agent interstate to do the same). Well, it's hard to say to someone to buy X without them understanding. If they really really wanted it, they would have done it already...and it's not like these people don't have the funds or servicing.

I've just realised that people won't do something unless they badly want to do it. And if they have a desire. If they are really comfortable with their life, more often than not, most would continue going down their existing comfortable path....

For that reason, I feel, that I'm happy to have slight discomfort as I'd rather go get the results than off load the responsibility for my decisions to somebody else.

The above is my take. Your experience may be different...open to hearing how you handle these situations.

 

Yeah, but that is a rarety.

Although Ive 'learned' not to share too much detail. From time to time I keep finding myself on the giving end of information. Just to watch it either be completely ignored, or worse, being used against me (you know the guy from work who asks you about investing then hits you up at the bar for a beer "cos youre rich and can afford it" - when last week he was quite happy to buy a round).

I do my best just to shut it, and let them figure it out on their own. Then spend more time on this forum.

Blacky

 

It's a combination of many things for me.

I grew up with family all fighting about money. Both extended and my inner circle almost on daily basis. As grew up wanting to be well enough to not need to fight about money.

One of my colleagues passed away 5 years ago due to accident in his 30, leaving the his wife. They were planning for a family which obviously won't happened. That's kind of the wake up call. I want to be able to use the majority of my time with the people who are important to me, not spending the majority of it working. When i karked, work will be the last thing I would say I wished I do more of.

First step is the hardest, I essentially did what your client did with the first property - I force my self to buy by signing agreement with a BA. Not the best property (I actually want to choke it dead now), I still learn some. This year is actually the first time I buy without BA. People need time and do things in their own pace.

I hope I'm making some sense. Its Friday night

 

My driver is pretty simple....to one day be filthy rich, obscenely rich, absolutely disgustingly rich.

Not sure if my point is clear enough but that's about it.

 

and Miss Daisy

 

Because my Mum gave up a lot to invest in me, and her working days are numbered with no fall back. So it's a race for me to get to a point where I can support her and my own family of 5.

Edit: And I'm far happier away from work. Like most people, sure, perhaps.

 

Can I double like Bran . I relate.

 

Can't say I know a Miss Daisy. Not related to a Mrs Palmer is she?

 

I'm a little bit lazy so the thought of work/travel 10 hours a day just wasn't what I was made for. Fortunately I was a great saver in my twenties and my mum loved buying properties for me.

I've also always enjoyed accumulation as well and that's investing isn't it?

As I get older (only early 40s) I see my parents generation and how ordinary old age is without financial freedom. Unlike in your youth you don't even have time as an option.

 

Oh Datto! Reading your rhetoric will never get old.

 

I find this whole world a contrived Ponzi scheme that revolves around certain types of otherwise worthless pieces of paper being denoted the reserve currency that can be manipulated by people who manufacture it.

Money is just the medium of this real life video game. Means nothing at the end, but if no one is about to change the system to better allocate human capital and resource capital and recut the distribution to be more equitable, I might as well get good at this game.

 

We want to be able to give our children a house each, from there we want them to be responsible for managing the finances, tennants, maintenance.

We also want to be able to retire early (50 would be nice as an option but will probably work beyond this).

I'm also wary that my career can have a shorter life span than others, not many work into their 60's.

 

I believe you are a similar age to us @MsAli

We have tried to help others (from our limited experience) where we can. I also help out mates/work colleagues with DIY projects with tools, knowledge and labour.

Most of the time It's like banging your head against a brick wall because they are fired up and ready to take action for all of half an hour before they slip back into complacency.

We have also found that when we needed a bit of help in return those same people have let us down.

We find with age we are becoming less willing to help people who talk but never seem to act.

 

We are designed to grow. Ever see a tree just analyse and say "well I think this is as big as I get, I don't want to be too greedy, just comfortable"

I don't think or analyse why I just push and keep growing.

My only why is because I can.

 

Ok - just got the Miss Daisy reference.

Anyway - I have one of those kind of ironic situations - I dont think working 40hrs a week in order to pay off a house/car/holiday. Just to get to old age and downsize in order to afford to live through your immobile years is any way to live

So instead I work(ed) 80hrs a week while Im young, in order to enjoy more while I still can. And kick back in my later years without any concern for how much my baked beans cost.

Blacky

 

For me the motivation was to escape from being a wage slave.

 

I can see the results of producing passive cash flow, I'm working a lot less and not reliant on a job (other than to raise finance). So while I can still see opportunities and am in a position to take them I'll keep going. After that who knows?

I'd be willing to help others but have never found anyone interested when I tell them what I'm doing. Can't understand it myself. The person asking you to find them a property is likely to blame you if it goes wrong, and it may well do as they're not prepared to put in any thought or effort it seems.

 

Ellejay, I'd love to hear your story as your views often differ from many on here. Have you posted elsewhere?

I'd love to help others, but I'm wary until I have a proven track record. My brother is now showing interest, but my recommendations to him are nothing like what I'm doing - totally different situation, and maybe what I should be doing anyway, but Im taking a bit more of a gamble in the hope I can quickly raise some equity. If not, then the old slow trickle accumulation is going on anyway.

 

Hey Bran. I'm just not that into Aus for property investing at the moment. That's just me though, and I know it works very well for some. Despite that I'll still probably break my usual rules and buy in Melbs shortly. Between stamp, land tax, LMI, buying and selling costs I just reckon it's very hard to actually come away much better off. I like to buy multiple cf+ properties in rising markets, wherever they are, in whichever country.

I just don't like the idea of newbies buying negatively geared IP's that they'll have to work in a job for years to service, in the hope of capital gain and that's what I sometimes post. Sometimes I just want to say look wider than Aus for what's good, and also lessons on what can go very bad if you're too financially exposed.

I haven't got an exciting story. I've got 12 ips, mostly in NZ, also in UK. My only negative geared one is in Aus, and I've had good capital gains from it but I've also had the same gains in places that most people have never heard of in UK and NZ. Hence I can't get the excitement when people talk about a $600k ip that's gone up 10% this year. I've just made more than that, with very minimal outlay in an overseas market.

Each to their own though and I definitely don't need more competition so happy for everyone to carry on investing as usual For me its all about income though, how much is going in my pocket each month. If cg is crap, how much have tenants paid off my principal?

 

What appeals to me most about this (and it probably shouldn't) is tax deductible trips O/S.

We have a lot of family in Ireland and Greece, would love to buy in thise countries but are also weary about getting ripped off! (There was an English TV show I used to watch on people getting scammed buying in Greece, Spain and other countries)