Do you live off of your business(es) and/or investments?

[Starsky]

This forum is about learning the ways of the fastlane. Why else would someone be here?

I could actually care less about the learning about ways of the "fastlane". Because that term is relative.. What i do enjoy reading on the board are the opportunities that are out their and how people evaluate them. For example the person who has a bed and breakfast or the person who does cabins, that it more interesting to read how they are making changes for maximum profitability, and using the ideas found here to impliment into my business plans.. Instead of "oh well that is slowlane, because he's not bootstrapping it like a starving artist.

My 1st cousin is just retired from the NFL and will soon be inducted into the hall of fame, considering he's a millionaire, but he had to WORK a JOB to become a millionaire, from what i read here, thats the "slowlane" way.. Maybe he should of started a blog instead of Football lol..

 

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[SteveO]

Some people give opinions on fastlane and slowlane thinking and it is relative as you say.

It seems to me that your idea of looking at people's ideas for investing is with the intent of getting ahead. That is what the forum is all about.

People will have opinions though.

Perhaps I missed it but are people saying that making a lot of money and putting it to work is slow?

 

[Jill]

...right now we have a surplus of about 55bucks a month and that usually gets spent on the kids or gas. $55 doesnt go very far these days!

I am taking my seed money for forex out of our income tax return.

Yikes. I don't mean to derail this thread. And I don't know anything else about your situation. But you are exactly the type of person I was referring to in another thread (post 105) who could do what we did for short-term quick cash. Just an idea. If you have any other questions about it, feel free to email me or ask on that thread.

OK. Back to regular programming.

 

[Jill]

I see what you mean JScott. I do agree with it as well.

There are many different paths to the fastlane...My idea would be to save 50K and put it into an apartment deal (self serving but this is the path that I know!). Team with others and make sure you have a plan for value improvement.

You should be set after a couple of apartment turns.

See how easy it is!

You gonna be at B&P? We need to talk.

 

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[SteveO]

You gonna be at B&P? We need to talk.

I will be there. I will be in Houston the week before looking at more apartment deals along with one that I have under contract. Looks like that is almost your neck of the woods.

 

[Jill]

I will be there. I will be in Houston the week before looking at more apartment deals along with one that I have under contract. Looks like that is almost your neck of the woods.

Not too far. 5 hour drive. Have you looked at the DFW (esp mid-cities) area where there's so much drilling going on for the next 10 years in the Barnett Shale? Some estimates have Ft. Worth growing by 50K in that time. I think that's a little high. But still.

Anyway, yeah. Definitely will have to find a couple of minutes to chat! I've got my air, hotel and rental car rez made.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I was going to chime-in, but I kinda want to see how it all turns out ...:smxG:

 

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[CarrieW]

hey I want to know what I am! (be nice now lol)

I have no job so I am not an "e". only income I personally have is from ssd. my dh is an "e" I dont own a business or own a job so I am not an S or a B.

I guess I am technically already retired???

I hope to be a true "I" by years end!

 

[AroundTheWorld]

I was going to chime-in, but I kinda want to see how it all turns out ...:smxG:

Aww.

Don't chime in like that and then leave us all hanging!

 

[MJ DeMarco]

My 1st cousin is just retired from the NFL and will soon be inducted into the hall of fame, considering he's a millionaire, but he had to WORK a JOB to become a millionaire, from what i read here, thats the "slowlane" way.. Maybe he should of started a blog instead of Football lol..

Professional athletes, entertainers and musicians are all operating under a Fastlane environment exclusive of it being labeled a job. Unfortunately, the average joe-blow like me and you CANNOT, under any circumstances, no matter how much we read, study, practice, or train, cannot become athletes or sing songs in front of millions. Some "fastlanes" are off limits due to the physical demands that most of us are not endowed with. No matter how many books I read about pro basketball, Ill never become a professional doing it.

As for the other comments, I started to write comments but instead will opt to explain visually.

The whole point of a "Fastlane" is to acquire a significant amount of wealth in the shortest period of time. Plans that involve 20-35 years to work really don't qualify which is why they are inherently labeled "Slowlane" -- they consume your greatest asset: TIME. Mind you however, that BOTH Slowlanes and Fastlanes can lead to great amounts of wealth. Nobody would argue that many corporate CEOs of the world's oldest companies are filthy rich via stock options and bonuses -- the problem therein is most of them are in the 50's and 60's unless you examine Wall Street and technology companies (which itself usually is comprised of "entrepreneurial" oriented folks).

Trading my life away in hopes to achieve an affluent lifestyle in my elder years is not a plan I want.

Given a choice of being 1) Exactly where I am now or 2) Give everything up and live paycheck to paycheck with the divine knowledge that I'd win the $100 million Powerball at age 55, I unequivocally pick #1, each and every time. I think most other people would too.

 

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[SteveO]

You are a gift MJ! :cheers:

 

[Jill]

Thanks, MJ. Speed+

I'm hearing that Rod Stewart song . . .

I wish - that - I knew what I know now - when I was younger . . .

 

[Starsky]

Thanks for putting that graph up MJ, I have a better understanding of the terms in the context of how its used here. Im going to start another post based on a cpl observations ive noted..

 

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[CorsePerVita]

At this time no. I started getting heavier into investing just within the last few years. At some point I expect it to, but I'm just starting to scratch the surface.

 

[kimberland]

Love the chart MJ.
How's the book coming along?

 

[unicon]

Previous generations may have a different perspective, basically quite at age 26 a corporate job but had a feriousity to learn. It seemed like the big picture was the most challenging, learning concepts. Always worked but never had to work roaming California. Lived off of RE debt but kept acquiring just for the freedom and fixing up without understanding the total Rk technology. Thought it was to easy, no money down, creative financing, etc, etc. Needed a bigger challenge and looked at over 200 companies and finally bought one. That was my introduction to pain, a pain you cannot learn from books. Losing and coming back and losing and coming back. Like a little RK - very similiar. Realized people follow the same kind of path in the "Search". Also I always believed in "Zero based spending" which is the optimum way to learn. Glutton for pain. However what you learn is more than a Trump but no a Rk - we are talking substance here.

 

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[fanocks2003]

Well, I sell all of my businesses..hehe. So well I create, sell and invest for passive investments. But cashflow is coming from currency option premiums, other peoples businesses (dividents. Both private and listed companies). Then there are some interest income, because I usually engage in lending money to businesses from time to time.

The idea is to always recieve cashflow when I invest. That is the main goal for me. Then sometimes I engage in pure speculations to, but it is rare. I don't like it.

Building and selling companies may been seen as speculative, but the businesses are supporting me when I am trying to sell them, so the speculative aspect is pretty much ruled out. And the risk of building a business is rather small when you have done it a few times.

 

[fanocks2003]

Hey Fanocks --

Can you tell us about a couple of the businesses that you've owned? Anything we might have heard of? I think we're all curious!

I mentioned one of them before, www.smspoker.se. A service where you pay tournaments with sms messages instead of with your debit card/ credit card.

 

[fanocks2003]

Interesting...

How do you make money off the site?

I have sold that business already though (mentioned that in another post on this forum). But the way this business makes money is through sms fees and referal income. The website charges a little sum of cash for every sms it processes. Also, the business is a poker "skin" for bigger poker sites (so you can essentially call smspoker a payment processor more or less). As a "skin" you make money on refering players who deposit money at these bigger poker sites (as soon as they open up an account at these bigger sites, smspoker.se owns the referal income on future deposits from the same customers).

There are numerous sites out there being "skins" for bigger poker sites. But they are not charging money through sms. As I mentioned in the previous post I refered to above, this sms idea isn't that unique. Not something earth shakingly innovative. And it also has some limitations to it (one being the amount you can transfer every time you sms. That one issue strictly hinders what you can make/profit on the sms deposits people do. Maybe that issue will be solved in the future, who knows).

The buyer of this company thought it was something they could solve. That is the fun thing about company buyers, they always think they can do better than you. And that is a good thing. Often times they do a much better job than the founder (detached approach).

 

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[hatterasguy]

It's kind of early to say, but I'm probably 2-3 years away from living off my business.

 

[gofalls]

As of this month I am currently living off of my business’s income with the business’s running 100% hands off but I am still only about half way to my goal. It took 7 years and now I am looking for something else to do.

 

[andviv]

gofalls, big congrats!
What type of business, if I may ask?
This is the type of stories we love to read about here.

 

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[gofalls]

gofalls, big congrats!
What type of business, if I may ask?
This is the type of stories we love to read about here.

It’s a mix of a couple of things. I live comfortably on 2500 - 3k per month so really I only need about 36k after tax per year to qualify.
Small Retail Franchise store
SFH rentals
Cash in liquid investment at about 3% (need to fine tune this one)
Distributions from partial ownership in Apartment (still building)
Small cut from a Real Estate Brokerage Company (still building)
I sold the small retail franchise store recently and the agreement has me collecting a percentage of gross revenue per month for as long as they stay in business. I still won’t feel comfortable until my investment income is several times my monthly expenses. :hl:

 

[SteveO]

Gofalls and Andviv. You were both on the same conference call yesterday. I am guessing that you have met at a past get together as well. Since you are both signed up for the next B & P, you will have time to talk. :great:

 

[CMCarlin]

Wow, what a really great thread so far.

I think at this point, any desire to keep getting income from a JOB is all relative. In most cases, it's not really about how much you are making, but how much you are saving after expenses. Keeping a steady flow to gain seed money, in which you can then leverage to build your business, can be fastlane, if one tries to keep to a solid plan.

So it is all relative. With that said, if Jill has 15k in expendable cash per month, I'd say she can position herself well much more easily than anyone else who live by lower middle class or lower class terms.

Also, where I am from, $2,000 per month in expenses are enough to 'get by'. I can definitely relate this one fact to the plumber versus the lawyer in cashflow.

 

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[bosco]

Jill,


Heck, $15,000 a month seed money will build you a million net worth in 6 years
WITHOUT investing.
Combine that with investing (which you are doing)
and yeah, I'd consider that fast track.
Could you do it faster?
Maybe.
But maybe not
(corporate is a completely different animal than start up,
if you're good at one, no guarantee you'll be good at the other).

.

How does one build a million net worth in 6 years with 15K/MO seed capitol without investing?

Thanks in advance!

 

[phlgirl]

15k X 12 months = 180k

180k x 6 years = 1.08MM

Don't have to do anything but put the 15k aside each month, in a shoebox.

 

[TaxGuy]

Let's see...

Until 2yrs ago I was a student and barely an "E" as I was working $8-10/hr seasonal/temporary jobs until about 05/06 when I was working full-time as store manager at a small retail shop AND going to school. Something that was short-lived as I was about to graduate and spent my last semester in Vienna, Austria where I was a "0"(Zero Income )

After school(Summer of '07) I was an "E" that was given the keys to the epitome of an "S"- it was a small biz that depended on either hiring an employee(couldn't afford) or doing EVERYTHING myself. The problem was that as my "S" income went up, so too did my spending and while I always looked for a deal, I made a huge purchase when I bought my sportbike, something I look back at and go :smx4:

This is b/c as the thread shows I could've done a lot more with that money by re-investing and possibly putting the money towards starting a scalable and more sustainable business.

I closed down the biz in May of last yr and became a "U"(unemployed) for 4 months before starting back up as an "E" with the dreams of becoming an "S" again within 12 months :coolgleamA:

 

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